They’ve starred in comic books for
more than 25 years, raised shell on the silver screen and sold enough action
figures to invade a small country. Now, the heroes in a half-shell have returned
to another familiar medium.
Yes, dudes and dudettes,
major-league butt-kicking is back in town.
Those of us with inexorable
nostalgia and selective memories know Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s
incomparable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had starring roles in some of the
best side-scrolling brawlers of all-time, from Konami’s original 1989 arcade
game to 1992’s Turtles in Time. They’ve also dabbled in fighting games with
success — 1994’s Tournament Fighters was flawed, but it was a lean, mean and
green variant of the two-dimensional fighter when the genre was at a creative
and commercial zenith.
Indeed, the Ninja Turtles have
always been well-suited for simple games in which fighting is the modus
operandi. Ubisoft was wise to put them back into a fighter, a decision resulting
in the best Ninja Turtles game I’ve played on a home console in years, but this
pizza could’ve used more toppings.
A lot more toppings.
It’s difficult to criticize Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up from a gameplay perspective because they’re
aren’t many negatives to find fault with. Developed at Tokyo’s Game Arts by the
same people who worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Smash-Up looks and plays
virtually the same as Nintendo’s flagship mascot brawler. This causes Ubisoft’s
effort to feel like a blatant rip-off, sure, but being a rip-off of one of the
most beloved and well-made fighting games of our generation is more a benefit
than a blemish.
And believe me, “rip-off” is
anything but an exaggeration. Anyone who has played Smash Bros. should have an
idea what to expect from Smash-Up.
The premise is simple — choose a
fighter, choose a stage and beat your opponent to a pulp. Like Smash Bros.,
Smash-Up uses a simple form of 2D combat fueled by only a few buttons, a
contrast to the elaborate schemes of traditional fighters, and allows players to
choose between multiple controller options. Game Arts did make a few alterations
to the Smash Bros. formula, however, and as minor as they are, they do shake
things up a bit.
First and foremost, Smash-Up’s
biggest change is one of objective. While Smash Bros. is about increasing
opponents’ damage levels enough to send them flying off the screen, Smash-Up’s
approach is more traditional. Players drain their opponent’s health bar until
it’s empty, and the player left standing wins. The other change is an addition
to the combat — unlike Smash Bros. games, players can cling to walls briefly in
Smash-Up, climb upward and unleash a leaping off-the-wall attack that packs a
devastating punch.
But that’s all, folks. Aside from
those tweaks, the two games are virtually identical. Hardcore Smash Bros. fans
who memorize move sets and count animation frames may notice a subtle
difference, but the majority of players probably won’t. Indeed, at its most
basic level, Smash-Up is a Smash Bros. clone substituting Nintendo’s elite
mascots with Ninja Turtles characters.
Note how “elite” describes
Nintendo’s roster, not that of the Turtles.
While there isn’t much to criticize
regarding Smash-Up’s gameplay, apart from perhaps a lack of originality, its
content is another story. It has half the levels of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and
literally a fraction of the collectibles and unlockables. Smash-Up’s figurines
are the Ninja Turtles equivalent of Brawl’s trophies, for example, but there are
only 12 of them to collect.
For comparison, Brawl has more than
540 trophies.
But as I hinted earlier, Smash-Up’s
most glaring deficiency is its character selection. It features 16 characters to
choose from, already half the amount offered in Brawl, but only 13 are from the
Turtles universe — the other three are from a completely unrelated Ubisoft
franchise. Why Game Arts chose to make such nonsensical additions is a mystery,
particularly when the Ninja Turtles franchise has dozens of characters
overlooked for inclusion.
For what it’s worth, the 13
characters are mostly good selections. The four Turtles are obviously included
alongside the Shredder, Master Splinter, April O’Neil and Casey Jones, and Game
Arts added a few obscure characters to please fans, most notably an armored
Utrominator, Foot Clan heiress Karai and Raphael’s vigilante alter ego the
Nightwatcher. They’re great additions, but the Ninja Turtles franchise has
spawned countless characters over the last quarter-century — are these 13
characters the best they could do?
Where are Bebop and Rocksteady?
Where is Baxter Stockman? Where is the Rat King? Where is Miyamoto Usagi, or
Krang and the Triceratons? The list of Ninja Turtles characters that could’ve
been added would span several pages, but for the most part, the franchise’s rich
history has been ignored.
The problem runs deeper than simply
character selection. Much of what makes Smash Bros. such a great series is its
celebration of Nintendo. The games themselves are fun, but the magic lies in
their commemoration of the source material. Long-forgotten characters lost to
the passing of time stand alongside the company’s most popular icons, and it
seems every Nintendo game ever released is somehow referenced. More than
fighters, Smash Bros. games are like memory boxes and love letters to Nintendo
fans.
Smash-Up isn’t a love letter. It
plays like Smash Bros. games, but it lacks their devotion to their characters.
Though the Ninja Turtles’ storied legacy is worth celebrating as much as
Nintendo’s, Smash-Up doesn’t seem to care. Indeed, perhaps this game’s biggest
flaw has nothing to do with gameplay, graphics or controls, but that it doesn’t
grasp how great it could’ve been.
And that, dudes, is a serious
bummer.
Still, Smash-Up is a technically
proficient and fun-to-play game. It boasts some slick-looking character models,
and despite some occasionally blocky geometry, the environments generally look
good, too. Some of its effects are notably eye-pleasing, particularly when
rushing water blasts through a storm drain and knocks the combatants into
another section of the sewer stage.
But again, where is the Technodrome,
TCRI lab or Dimension X? Decent as the graphics may be, why exactly are the
Ninja Turtles fighting on a train?
Fortunately, Smash-Up includes many
of the same multiplayer options that make Smash Bros. such an enjoyable game to
play with friends. Up to four players can duke it out in a variety of
multiplayer modes, including standard battle royal, tournament and swap-out. To
its credit, Smash-Up actually has Smash Bros. beat in one key aspect — online
multiplayer. Each of its local modes can be played online, as can the survival
mode, and unlike Brawl, Smash-Up played with nary a hitch or moment of lag in my
experience.
The game’s ample multiplayer options
make up for its disappointingly brief arcade mode, a single-player quest with a
story, as Ubisoft boasts, done by Peter Laird and the artists at Mirage Studios.
Unfortunately, this was a huge letdown — told via drawings done in the Ninja
Turtles’ comic style, the art is fantastic, but there just isn’t enough of it.
The story lasts only minutes and, much to my chagrin, serves only to connect the
fights in this short mode.
I was disappointed in Smash-Up not
because of what it is, but because of what it isn’t. As a disciple of the
amphibious heroes, I just expected more.
Make no mistake, Smash-Up is a good
fighter, but it’s not the celebration of the Ninja Turtles I’d hoped it would
be. Casual fans and Smash Bros. lovers looking for a good Brawl alternative
should be pleased, but diehard Turtles fans will probably come away from
Smash-Up asking the same thing I did.
Dude, where are the toppings?
|
Review Scoring Details for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up |
Gameplay: 8.0
When you copy a great game verbatim, some of that greatness is going to rub
off. Smash-Up plays virtually identically to the Smash Bros. games, with the
same fast-paced, frantic and addictive two-button combat gameplay.
Graphics: 7.5
It’s not as pretty as Brawl, but it definitely holds it own. Character
models look particularly good, but some of the environments are a mixed bag.
Sound: 7.0
The voices generally match the personalities of the individual characters,
and the background music, mostly comprised of hard rock riffs, isn’t bad.
Difficulty: Medium
Some modes offer more challenge than others, but it’s not too difficult.
Concept: 7.5
Few franchises are robust and storied enough for a Smash Bros. clone, but
the Ninja Turtles certainly are one of them. It’s a shame the people at Game
Arts don’t feel the same way — the game is rife with missed opportunities.
Overall: 7.5
Those who approach Smash-Up hoping for a solid, enjoyable alternative to
Smash Bros. will be pleased, but Turtles fans hoping for a celebration of the
franchise will probably be disappointed by the game’s shameful “scratch the
surface” approach to Eastman and Laird’s storied 25-year-old franchise.
