HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT Review

HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT is a 3v3 tag fighter set within the Hunter × Hunter universe. I’ve been interested in this one for some time prior to its release, after hearing good things from certain people getting early access, along with my overall positive feelings on Arc System Works’ fighting games. Now that I’ve sunk some time into it, I have some pretty strong feelings…

To start with, the general game feel is fantastic: movement feels snappy and has some fun tech (such as plink dashing for the MARVEL vs. CAPCOM fans). Characters all feel unique, and their kits are pretty good representations of the characters’ abilities in the manga. Anyone who’s spent much time with any of Arc System Works’ other offerings, such as Dragon Ball FighterZ or the MvC (which was developed by Capcom)series, will feel at home here. NEN×IMPACT controls pretty well all things considered, too, but I have some gripes.

Combos flow nicely, and you have a nice amount of freedom in how to combine your attacks to create a lot of unique-looking combos. There will clearly be optimal options coming out soon which the majority of the playerbase will flock to, but for those out there who love to learn interesting and unique options, there’s a good chance you’ll find some value here. 

My main issue with the general control scheme is the lack of motion inputs, with them being replaced with one-button specials. For those out of the loop, these have long been the classic system for performing special moves in fighting games, from Ryu’s signature quarter-circle forwards motion for a fireball, to the Z motion (also referred to as a DP motion) for his Shoryuken. Street Fighter 6 introduced Modern Controls, which gave the player the option to opt for a simpler control scheme with one-button specials (among other changes), and this has led to a lot of other games introducing similar systems, or opting to remove motion inputs altogether. I personally love them, but I can see the issue they pose for new players. They’re a system practically exclusive to fighting games — with a few other games using them — so they can be quite daunting.

NEN×IMPACT has fully removed motion inputs, and opts for the player to perform specials with a direction and the Arts button. This causes a few issues such as the lack of variety in the special moves and some general discomfort. The latter is referring to the traditional motion-based specials changing depending on the strength of the pressed button. For example, a heavy-punch fireball has differences when compared to a light-punch fireball, and thus leads to more variety in their use cases. The former is more related to Aura Arts, this title’s equivalent to a super move (a high damage attack which requires some form of resource to use). I found myself clumsily missing, or accidentally using supers much more than I usually do in any other fighting game, and it made the general control scheme feel harder to really get to grips with.

The system mechanics themselves all feel pretty good, but I do need to make one thing very clear: the overall power level of characters is incredibly high. Something like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat typically finds a comfortable middle ground of strengths and weaknesses for its balancing decisions. NEN×IMPACT leans into the more over-the-top style that games like ULTIMATE MARVEL Vs. CAPCOM 3 and other “Vs.” fighters often use. If that’s your thing, you’ll find something to love here, but if not, it might be best to stick with the more grounded fighters. 

This wasn’t a real problem in the long run, but more of a minor annoyance that stayed with me during my playtime (and hasn’t really gone away yet). Other issues have cropped up, though, such as the game's relative lack of content. This isn’t an uncommon thing with fighting games, but it’s still something I feel needs to be mentioned.

As far as single-player is concerned, you’ve got the story mode, which is a heavily condensed version of the Hunter x Hunter story, with screencaps from the anime with scrolling text between each fight. Each battle also gives you a couple of tasks to perform for additional rewards (which boil down to collectibles that I doubt many will even notice).

It’s not a great story mode, and I’d argue it barely even gets a passing grade. The other options beyond the training mode are the standard Arcade Mode; Heaven’s Arena, which serves as a Survival Mode, pitting you against a series of opponents with limited potential to regain health between fights; Battle Olympia which is a high difficulty series of battles with an “Awesome Prize” at the end (which I have not managed myself); Time Attack, which tasks you to defeat a certain number of enemies in as short a time as possible; and finally there are the Combo Trials. I intentionally left these till the end because they’re one of the biggest disappointments for me in the single-player side of things.

NEN×IMPACT forgoes the typical style, and instead simply gives you a goal to achieve such as dealing a certain amount of damage, or utilising a certain attack / assist. They aren’t great at teaching, and they don’t provide a particularly interesting challenge, it’s simply a glorified Training Mode. Combo Trials in other fighters typically give you a series of combos of increasing difficulty to perform. These are a lot of fun, and not only teach you the general combo theory for certain characters, and often the game itself, but also provide some really fun execution related challenges. NEN×IMPACTaiming for a more unique style is interesting, but sadly loses the value of Combo Trials on the way.

On the topic of training mode though, I have pretty positive feelings all around. It has the usual options, such as allowing you to control the amount of resources you have, along with many other typical choices. The main thing that makes training mode stand out for me though is the detail within the move list. Each move has all of its specific characteristics listed out and explained in detail, meaning it's much easier for those who may be at a lower level to get a good grasp of how certain moves work, and find their specific use cases. These also make figuring out combos a lot more fun, as you’re able to more specifically figure out what will work, and what won’t.

The online mode is really what matters most for fighting games and NEN×IMPACT… isn’t great, but it still has a chance. In its current state, the netcode is genuinely atrocious. I’ve had a majority of my games be unplayably laggy or outright disconnected. When it works, it’s a lot of fun, but that’s very rare in its current state. It should hopefully be patched soon, but if you’re specifically after the online mode, you’re better off waiting.

HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT’score gameplay feels great, which is what I think really matters for a fighting game. Its lack of single-player content is something to note, but unlikely to ruin the experience, though I really need to make it known how bad its current online state is, being fundamentally unplayable 90% of the time, so hopefully a patch is in the works to resolve this issue.

Editor's note: when receiving the code for HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT, we were told the online servers wouldn't be online. That said, by the time of our review, the Advanced Access period was already in full motion, so we are uncertain on whether the critiques are based on this — things might change.