Mighty No. 9 PS4 PlayStation 4 Reviews Round Up 1

Mighty No. 9, the crowd-funded Mega Man-inspired platformer, is looking like a bit of a stinker. Bet you'd never have guessed, eh? We're still boosting through baddies, but our review should be with you imminently [It's up now - Ed]. In the meantime, the rest of the industry doesn't seem overly impressed with Keiji Infafune's latest. Don't take our word for it, though – here are the scores!

Push Square - 6/10

Mighty No. 9 appears to be caught in two minds about whether it wants to make a Mega Man-style game for novices or veterans, and that indecision unfortunately prevents it from being anything close to mighty. Combine the release's well-meaning but misguided attempts at accessibility with sub-par graphics, puzzles, and an insane difficulty spike towards the end, and you end up with a title that's not very mega at all.

Game Informer - 6/10

Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be the game that sated our long-starved appetite for a new Mega Man entry, but it instead just made me want to play the old games again. I still think there's room in the gaming world for a new, classically designed Mega Man experience, but it can't just be a faceless and creatively sapped clone. Games like Shovel Knight feel more like a spiritual successor than this half-baked misstep.

IGN - 5.6/10

Despite its pedigree, Mighty No. 9 doesn't seem to have a good sense of what was fun about Mega Man, or 2D action-platformers in general. There are brief moments where its pieces come together, but even then it's hamstrung by its visually joyless art and animation. The soul of the Blue Bomber just isn't here, and worse yet there's no endearing personality of its own, and as a result, Mighty No. 9 feels much more like a second-rate imposter than a spiritual successor.

GameSpot - 5/10

For a game that's meant to bear the legacy of a classic series, Mighty No. 9 barely succeeds. It may rouse excitement from time to time, but by and large, it lacks a pervading sense of artistry, both in its level design and presentation. Platformers--and even Mega Man-like games in particular--are readily available. For one to stand out and leave a mark, it has to do something novel that speaks to the player and the conventions of the genre; something to spark wonder and excitement. Mighty No. 9 is an inoffensively average game sprung from the memories of the past, with little to show for its position in the present.

The Jimquisition - 4/10

What's perhaps most annoying about Mighty No. 9 is that Inafune clearly knows how to fix many of the problems present in the game. There's a DLC transformation that allows attacking upwards from the beginning of the game and an additional DLC boss which throws out the gimmicks and just relies on skilled combat movement to fight.

Are you still gunning for this side-scroller, or have the reviews stolen your hype's last life? Hop, skip, and jump into the comments section below.