[REVIEW] Mighty No. 9 (Wii U)

Mighty No. 9
Played on: Wii U
Genre: Action platformer
By: Comcept / Inti Creates / Deep Silver

After a protracted development period that saw many early supporters turn to non-believers, Keiji Inafune's spiritual successor to Mega Man proves it wasn't really worth the wait after all.

Mighty No. 9 follows closely the formula of Mega Man X games, with an initial stage followed by eight freely selectable master robot levels. It strays where it matters the most, however, as the level design spans the spectrum from passable to absolutely atrocious. Unlike masterpieces like Mega Man 3, the difficulty spikes feel supremely forced instead of organic, making some of the sections an exercise in frustration.

The game introduces a dash mechanic that is actually a pretty neat idea: you first weaken enemies, then have the opportunity to quickly dash through them to get temporary power-ups. Sadly, other gameplay details are less then acceptable. There's the inability to change weapons while paused, for example. Or the E-tank replacement that inexplicably vanishes after each death, preventing hoarding and pretty much completely undermining the item's usefulness.

Then there's the fact that the game looks, in a word, horrible. The graphics are all blurry, filled with low-definition assets and those already infamously bad explosion effects.

If you're a fan of Mega Man (like I am), Mighty No. 9 can scratch the itch for a few hours. After that, chances are you'll feel so unenthusiastic that it's gonna be hard even finding the will to see it through.