Well it’s been quite a journey for Mighty No. 9. After reaching well past their funding goals, getting delayed multiple times, asking for more money, and having a terrible trailer, it’s amazing that the game is finally released. Three years since the kickstarter launched, the action platformer by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune has released to…mediocre scores by critics.
The scores range from 5 to 6, with IGN giving it 5.6, GameInformer a 6, Gamespot 5, and Destructoid a 6.5. The Metacritic score right now is at a 60, and although the user reviews haven’t come out yet, it doesn’t look to hopeful for Mighty No.9.
A common critique of the game is how it looks. Many reviewers did not like the drab environments and dull colors, which really clash with the colorful hero Beck. The overall consensus was that the enemy and level designs were uninteresting and unoriginal. The IGN review noticed some framerate issues, which for a game that isn’t that graphically impressive is pretty bad.
For a game that was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the 8-bit Mega Man series, Mighty No. 9 failed to capture the basic elements that made those games challenging. Many of the critics stated that the special abilities you obtain from defeating bosses weren’t very useful in the game, and using the standard blaster was much more effective. The bosses do have a certain special weapon that they are weak too, but many reviewers found they could mow down all the bosses with the default blaster.
One positive remark about the game was how the dash ability added a good sense of speed to the game. Players could chain together combos with the dash ability, although the combo window was so long that reviewers could get massive combos very easily. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t provide the player with enough challenges to utilize the dash ability, so it’s more for just taking out enemies. It’s also given early in the game, which makes the special boss weapons even more useless.
It’s a shame that Mighty No. 9 failed to live up to the high expectations of its kickstarter backers. Even with two crowdfunding campaigns and several delays, the game is more of a cheap knock off than a spiritual successor. There was also a new launch trailer for the game, featuring the same voice over from the last terrible trailer.
The funny thing is, we already have a kickstarter-funded, spiritual successor to Mega Man, it’s called Shovel Knight.