Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Good
With the return of the Ninja Turtles to comic and tv it made perfect sense to license once again the videogame adaptations to Konami so as to once again cash-in on the license with their trademark beat'em up gameplay, but a few things have changed for the better in this next-gen Turtle game. Juiced-up for the next generation of gaming machines, this particular game is far from the classic 2D titles of the SNES era in terms of look and features, with a fully polygonal cel-shaded engine that makes the game look incredibly good and fluid while also having that "ripped-out-of-the-tv" look so popular nowadays, plus the addition of comic book-like "Bang" "Slam" and assorted pop-up signs that give the game a distinct comic-booky feel that makes the game a unique experience in it's kind.

The other big improvement for games of this kind these days are the additional features and extras, and TMNT delivers the goods. Whereas the earlier games only featured little more than the arcade mode and the possibility for 2-player cooperative gameplay, this time around you have a story mode (single or 2-player), Vs mode (one-on-one fights between the turtles and bosses, also 1P or 2P), a challenge mode (endurance fights against every possible character in the game) as well as a gallery of conceptual art, pin-ups, character sheets and behind-the-scenes stuff that includes stuff from the animated series and toys, which you unlock by collecting special items in the story mode. Furthermore, the story mode is more than a glorified arcade mode, with moves unlocked as special dojo stages are cleared, with different and extra boss fights depending on the turtle you select and a gameplay arc that requires you to finish the game with all four turtles to get to the final challenge. All with added footage from the cartoons between the action and full voiceovers from the entire cast.

As mentioned, the gameplay involves unlocking moves and abilities such as jump attacks for the turtles, but the basic attacks have changed quite a bit from their original console roots, with each turtle playing differently from each other and with a selection of unique combos that can be quite rewarding for the proficient player (my record was a 35-hitter with Don!), also you have a collection of shurikens with different abilities that you can use to give you an edge anytime, and a special screen-clearing attack that becomes a key feature in the final fights.

The Bad
As expected, this game tackles the new continuity in the Ninja Turtles story, which is much truer to the original comic book roots and thus darker, grittier and much more urbane, without any of the Dimension X crap we knew from the old cartoons. The game takes you through a stroll through what's essentially the first big story arc in the cartoons, going from the humble beginnings in the streets to the encounter with the Foot clan and Shredder. The problem with this is that this is handled as a showcase of highlights from the show instead of a full-lenght campaign, and as such leaves anyone without an intimate knowledge of the show in the dark as to what the hell is going on. On one level you are cleaning the streets from clan ninjas and the next you are fighting robotic monsters created by some stupid scientist, while the next you fight against a robotic turtle... at least the earlier games followed a simple arc that took you across the city while Shredder threw all his monsters at you in boss fights but this thing mixes everything up expecting us to know what the hell it's talking about.

Furthermore, the levels themselves are pretty boring, and just as the original Ninja Turtles games, they are a fun diversion, but not much else, Also the Vs mode needs a bit more balancing, as usually it only takes you to be the first one to connect a combo to win the match due to their raw power.

Finally, the turtles have the nasty tendency to spout catch-phrases and one-liners whenever you are fighting. Problem is they each have like 3 phrases and repeat them with an excruciating frequency, enough to drive you mad or kill the audio and put an album in the background as I did 99% of the time.

The Bottom Line
Despite some minor flaws this is a great title to relive those simple-minded, head-bashing days of 16 bit glory with all the flair and improvements today's technology allows for.

Yes, it's not the most brainy game of the universe, and it doesn't break any new ground, but who cares about that when you can be a giant ninja turtle bashing street punks in the head with a bo stick?

The Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 for the NES was one of the first (and sadly, only) games I owned, and somehow, I never ever got bored of it. Whether I played it alone or had a friend with me, I knew the ins-and-outs of every single level, I had it down to a math. I knew just when to smack that fire hydrant that would blow the cap off it, knocking down a row of foot clan ninja dudes, I could deflect Krang's blows way before he knew what was going on, and Shredder never stood a chance. I was a true Ninja Turtle, baby.

And while I think this latest addition falls a little short of the "fun factor" that I felt when playing TMNT2, it's still a great beat'em-up, true to the series and complete with multiplayer coop!

First of all, the art direction is wonderful. A cell-shaded game that looks and plays like it's coming right out of the cartoon or comic book, with "krash!!" and "slash!" and "kapow!" appearing in comicy letters over various cartoony explosions and fights. With tons of levels to play through and a story that unfolds as you play a long, four characters to choose from with their own combat styles, this game is hours of great fun.

The Bad
Unfortunately, I have a few gripes about the game. I'm not certain, but I heard somewhere that this game is based off a new cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that is supposedly more true to the comic book series. I've never read the comic, and the only 'Turtles I know are from that old Saturday-morning cartoon, so the change in characteristics in this game is a bit awkward for me. Between stages, you're treated to animated cutscenes that may or may not have been taken from this new cartoon version. They're...okay...but they're not nearly the level of quality of the old version. April O'Neil looks like a ditsy valley-girl, Casey Jones is just a dumbass, and the Turtles all seem to be way too similar. In the old cartoon, Raph had a temper (and made terrible jokes), Leonardo was the wise leader type guy, Donatello tinkered, and Michaelangelo partied and stuff. Now, it's still there in these cutscenes, but it's been very, very dulled. If it weren't for Donatello mentioning "technology" every now and then, or Leonardo saying "I don't think that's a good idea" once or twice, the only way you would be able to tell the Turtles apart would be by the color of their headbands. And the animation hasn't improved after all these years, either. It just doesn't look like as much effort has been put into this one, aside from some 3D post-production effects. It looks more like an anime than my favorite Saturday morning cartoon.

I wish there had been more varied, or interesting levels in this game. One level is played on the back of a semi truck racing down the street, another level takes you into some underground cavern, and one level you're in some sort of Tron-esque world, but other than that all the levels are pretty boring and hard to tell apart. They're just boring and uninteresting. Why couldn't there have been more levels like the truck one? That one rocked, but it was far too short.

The game saves your place after every stage completed, but it doesn't save your spot after every level, meaning, if you play through seven levels within a certain stage, die at the end-boss, you've gotta play through the entire thing again. I suppose this beats having to play through the entire game from the start like in my old TMNT2, but I've been spoiled by mordern games and I EXPECT a savegame feature, if not a better checkpoint system. The fact is, I haven't even beaten the game. I'm on the very last stage, and I cannot beat the end-boss. He's a pain in the ass, and it takes almost an hour to play through the stages to get to him, and it's aggrivating when you've done it five times only to fail each time.

Levels could have moved along a bit faster. Fighting the bad guys is loads of fun, but there's nothing more to it than rapping on the attack button until they all die, and some levels, they just don't stop coming at you. One wave after the other after the other after the other...and then you move up a few feet, fight a hundred more bad guys...move a few feet, and so on. It's fun for a while, but it just goes too slow.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of beat'em-up games, I would really recommend this one. The great graphics alone almost makes up for its faults. And any game is fun with coop!