If you were to ask anyone
from my generation who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) were, your
question would be answered instantly and then followed by stories about
pretending to be Donatello on the playground, waking up early to watch the
cartoon, and having all the action figures including the blimp. Recently the
Turtles were revived with a new comic book, TV show, and action figures sporting
a new, updated look and an all new story. It seemed like the perfect time to
release a new game, and Konami did just that.
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles follows the TV show’s story, and almost perfectly simulates each episode
in the game. There are even story sequences that use clips straight from the
show. Events, characters, and sometimes dialogue are taken straight from the new
show.
Right from the beginning
I knew something was wrong. There are four Ninja Turtles, yet the game only
supports two players…there’s definitely something wrong with that math.
Combat is made up of two
buttons: square and triangle. Any combination of the two buttons results in a
different combo with different results. This is great, except for the fact that
the Turtles say different lines after each attack. It gets pretty annoying when
after I do my favorite combo I hear “Let’s play stickball; I have the stick, you
be the ball” every time. You can also pick up throwing stars along the way,
which are thrown with the circle button. I should mention that many times my
friend and I would pick them up, but upon pressing the circle button we found
out that the game decided to change its mind and not give us the throwing stars.
Each level is split into
areas. Sometimes between levels there is a dojo stage where you get to practice
and learn new techniques. One thing I found quite ridiculous was the fact that
you needed to go to the dojo to learn your jump attack – and second player
doesn’t even get one! The dojo stages are player one only, and the moves learned
there aren’t given to the second player. This was frustrating because the next
boss we fought was a huge beast that had to be hit in the head, so player two
was useless.
There’s also a versus
mode. At first you only start with the four turtles, but as you play the game
you’ll unlock more characters such as Casey Jones or the cyborg turtle
doppelganger. I had a bit more fun with this mode, because I was fighting
against an intelligent human rather than an enemy that’s just going to stand in
one place. If the game played a bit smoother, the environments had a bit more
character, and four people could play at once it could have been a contender for
even Power Stone – instead it feels like The Bouncer.
While the art and
animation has been slightly improved in the new cartoon, the same can’t be said
for the game. The characters have significantly less detail than even the
sprites from the old TMNT games. The level design is also linear and boring,
sporting almost no character. Bland textures are used on every surface; which
doesn’t quite give the feeling that the world is alive. I expected brighter
colors, and more of them, in a game that’s based on a cartoon.
The music in the game
isn’t very good at all. I started to turn the volume for the music and voices
down whenever I played, and at that point I just had whacking sounds so I’d just
mute it and put on my own music.
As far as unlockables go,
TMNT has all bases covered. From new costumes to brand new characters to art
work, you can unlock just about anything imaginable. While most of these bonuses
require playing through the game at least once, though, not a lot of people are
going to even see them. Plus, with the game being boring from the beginning,
getting new costumes isn’t going to help things. It’s still going to be the same
game, just with a slightly different look.
I think the true audience
for TMNT is a very young crowd. There isn’t very much going onscreen at any
given time, so they won’t suffer from any sensory overload. Also, the very
simple gameplay won’t really appeal to any fans of the old TMNT games since
they’re all grown up now. There isn’t much replay value since the unlockables
really aren’t worth it, and the multiplayer mode isn’t much better than the
story mode.
Gameplay: 4.5
Do not play this
game alone. When you’re with a friend you can at least make up little games
within the game. If you don’t heed this warning, you will become bored very
quickly. Plus, due to the lack of supporting four players, versus mode does not
make up for it at all.
Graphics: 5.8
The graphics are
mediocre, but if it weren’t for games like Viewtiful Joe that push the
boundaries of cel shading it could have looked good. The extreme lack of detail
and style really hurts this game visually.
Sound: 4
The soundtrack is
faithful to the TV series, so fans of the show will probably enjoy the music.
Personally I found it annoying along with the voice acting. The sound effects
are fine, but when that’s all you’re left with, you mid as well put on some of
your own tunes and mute the game.
Difficulty: Easy
Throughout each
level you’re confronted by enemies that stand in front of you. Sometimes they’ll
attack, but when they do it doesn’t do much damage. The only time the game gets
difficult is on boss fights where you’re supposed to hit a barrel or vase at
them, because lining up your shot is near impossible.
Concept: 6
Making a new TMNT
game for the new generation of systems was a great idea; it was just pulled off
poorly. I’m not surely exactly where they went wrong, but I think the graphics
and level design are the first things that need work.
Multiplayer: 5.3
Playing this game
with a friend helps the boredom issues, since the two of you can make up games
within the game. For awhile we had player two use the uppercut move as player
one tried to jump attack the enemy out of the air, which only lasted about 5
minutes. Versus mode isn’t much better.
Overall: 5
Even though TMNT
was a huge disappointment for me I could see this being a good game for kids, but for more experienced
gamers it’s just too boring and uneventful.
