Mighty No. 9
Score: 55% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Deep Silver Developer: comcept Inc. Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Platformer (2D)
Graphics & Sound: Releases like Mighty No. 9 upset me. These are games that have every reason in the world to succeed… and fail. What started as a promising spiritual successor to a legendary franchise has now become a massive stain on the history of crowdfunded games. Is the game straight up terrible? Well, not quite. It’s got its merits, but they are few and far between. And worse yet, what little the game has going for it is all too often buried under an avalanche of bad design decisions. Bland. Bland, bland, bland, bland. Mighty No. 9 is a bland looking game. Its visual presentation is as barebones as possible, picked completely clean by the vultures of blandness. This is in stark contrast to what the game initially looked like, which, again, reflects poorly on the game’s notoriously troubled development cycle. The world of Mighty No. 9 is vaguely anime-inspired, but it does absolutely nothing to set itself apart from everything else that happens to be anime-inspired. Cutscenes are particularly offensive; you can literally see every cut corner. Characters don’t even animate. They stand completely still and flap their gums while the voice actors plod through the script. Mighty No. 9 may as well not even have sound. For a game considered by many hopeful Mega Man fans to be the Blue Bomber’s spiritual successor, this might sound unspeakably blasphemous. But alas, it’s the case. Mighty No. 9’s synth soundtrack seems to strive for a legacy diametrically opposed to that of its inspiration. Instead of being catchy, it’s kinda forgettable. Instead of being expertly mixed on the same level as some of the best tracks of the NES era, it’s almost completely lacking in theme, movement, or impact. And incredibly, it's the work of Mega Man veteran Manami Matsumae; after hearing her work in the incredible Shovel Knight, this amazes me. Voice work is slow and patronizing. While storytelling has rarely been the main thrust of Mega Man, it’s distracting to hear a group of talented actors plodding through exposition with the speed of molasses in January.
Gameplay: A legion of robots designed for a diverse set of industrial applications has gone amok! It's up to the one robot that didn't go haywire to fix the situation. Sound familiar? Yes, Mighty No. 9 essentially lifts the entire narrative framework of every Mega Man game ever and takes it as its own. It’s okay; again, nobody really plays this kind of game for its story. It’s all about gameplay, and Mighty No. 9’s is mediocre at its very best. You are cast as Beck, one of Dr. William White's finest creations, the titular Mighty No. 9. -- whose name seems to have been chosen with silly Mega Man-esque wordplay in mind, as his partner's name is Call. Get it? Doesn't matter if you do or if you don't: Mighty No. 9 plays like a Mega Man game. You traverse each environment, blasting bad guys and avoiding deadly hazards. And at the end of each level is a boss robot, ready to face off. One of the biggest problems with Mighty No. 9 is that it fails to learn from the mistakes of its decades-old spiritual predecessors and doesn't move the genre into the modern day. Part of what made me so excited for this game was the promise that it would be a contemporary representation of this particular type of game. And save for the coat of paint, it really isn't. Simplicity is fine, but only to an extent. When we're seeing the same one-hit kill traps and the same environmental themes on top of gameplay that doesn't include any noteworthy innovations, it becomes apparent that maybe things are getting a little stale.
Difficulty: Mighty No. 9 exists on a razor's edge between incredibly easy and incredibly difficult. Much of the game is comprised of sequences that have Beck running through mostly empty space and gunning down enemies that are borderline helpless. But at a moment's notice, he finds himself facing down a combination of inconvenient enemy emplacements and tricky platforming sections that forbid even the slightest error. Your first time through each level may very well end in defeat once you reach each particular deathtrap, and you might expend your entire stable of extra lives before you finally figure it out. But by the time that happens, you'll have to go through the rest of the level first. There's a distinct rhythm to Mighty No. 9, or at least there's supposed to be. Certain weapons work better in some situations, but by and large, it doesn't take much of that into account. If you've got the reflexes of a cat and have a lot of history with this particular subgenre, you'll probably feel right at home.
Game Mechanics: First things first, Mighty No. 9 eschews the standard Mega Man "boss order" tradition. While this game certainly apes the tradition of stealing the powers of each boss you conquer, there isn't really a correct or preferred order to the levels. You're essentially equipped to make it through, regardless of which one you select at any given time. That might sting for some longtime Mega Man fans. Apart from that, Mighty No. 9 is an almost spitting image of the objects of its action platformer legacy. I would actually suggest that it's somewhere between Mega Man 6 and Mega Man X in terms of the evolution of the series. In fact, I'd peg it as much closer to Mega Man 5 in terms of innovation. Where X featured a whole new move set and some special equipment, Mighty No. 9 cuts much of that out and stays almost strictly to simple platforming and gunning. However, the developer attempted to place a bit more emphasis on speed than classic Mega Man games are generally known to do. When Beck inflicts sufficient damage on an enemy, it will change color and a special effect will telegraph its status. Dashing into the enemy will destroy it and provide a burst of speed. It adds a bit of flair to the otherwise predictable combat rhythm and, in its best moments, kind of feels like a puzzle game or a time trial. But it unfortunately isn't enough to elevate the gameplay enough to help differentiate it from its brethren. I enjoyed Mighty No. 9 more than the last two Mega Man games, but considering the fact that I despised those games, make of that what you will. As much as I wanted to like Mighty No. 9, it just kept giving me reasons not to. And sadly, I suspect most of its audience will feel the same way. For a project that was conceived and backed with such genuine enthusiasm, it's disheartening to see a finished product that's just going through the motions.
-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos
Related Links: Official Website of Mighty No. 9 Game Vortex's Mega Man Coverage Mighty No. 9 on Amazon
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