Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Shell Shocked
Tags: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Nov 1st, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (title page) | 1 - 4 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Brief history lesson. When Fox recently made their attempted reinvention of the Ninja Turtles series, which came to be a success in its own right (though nowhere near as much as the original), Konami, in turn, felt it only natural to pick up where they left off with the TMNT-licensed videogames. It’s been far too long since we’ve heard the battle cry of “Let’s kick shell!”, and a comeback would be more than welcome. The only problem is, Konami apparently didn’t remember what was so great about the original games.
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The console games blew, and the handheld game, while decent enough, retained only enough of the original games’ charm to remind players what they were missing. In the follow-ups to these games, Konami has tried to improve on what was lacking in the previous installments, but in the case of the GBA game, their “improvements” have only succeeded in distancing the game further from the original titles. I suppose that doesn’t need to be a bad thing, so long as the game itself is good. The problem is, in the end this game is being played against its strengths.
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To be fair, they’ve added some options for co-op and competitive multiplayer gameplay, which was one of the key elements to the old arcade games. However, it’s more of a distraction than a major element of the game, limited to only minigames, and not the story mode. Now, don’t get me wrong, the minigames are great and all. Race mode plays out somewhat like Konami’s classic Game Boy game Motocross Maniacs, and Battle mode is a fun little challenge to see who can collect the most crystals in a small arena before a time limit runs out. However, neither of these is really adequate enough to hold your attention for any extremely long amount of time.
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The story mode is where the bulk of this game is, and that’s where the problems lie. You see, there are two types of ninjas in the world of entertainment. There’s the sneaky, stealthy kind, as best demonstrated in games like Tenchu, and there’s the unstoppable ass-kicking kind, seen in games like Strider. Now, ask yourself, which of these two types of ninjas seems best fit to a group of laid-back slang-talking anthromorphic six-foot tall turtles? Doesn’t quite seem to fit the stealthy type of ninja, does it? Apparently this fact didn’t occur to Konami.
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A standard mission in the game begins with your turtle unarmed, forced to duck into doorways and behind walls to hide from enemies. You see, not only are we placing the Ninja Turtles in a situation inappropriate to them, but already we’re removing one of the Ninja Turtles’ distinguishing features, their unique weapons. Upon getting past the somewhat-annoying stealth bits and finding your selected turtle’s weapon, the second half of a given level plays out more like the first GBA game, only now you’re fighting your way through a level filled with ridiculously inept enemies. The term “glass jaw” would be very fitting if it even mattered where you hit them. And though all four turtles have an impressive array of moves, it hardly matters when any move will suffice. The only departure from this is the occasional bosses, who are still easy enough to deal with, with predictable and easy-to-learn patterns.
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The story mode is broken up with occasional side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up missions. The sad thing is, these are the best part of the game. While far too simplistic to be compared to the likes of something like Konami’s recently-released Gradius V, they still have a charm to them that’s missing from most of the rest of the game. It seems odd, though… that something so ill-fitting the license is the high point of the game.
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The graphics, sound and presentation are all about on par with the first game, which is to say good and fitting to the new cartoon, but not especially impressive. There was a lot of work put into the story and voiceovers, though it seems largely wasted when most people will want to get straight to the action. Even more of a pity, considering the action itself just won’t be what people were hoping for. And even if you didn’t have any hopes or expectations for this title, it still feels like it’s fighting against itself, and when it hesitates to put its best foot forward, you’re stuck with parts of the game that just don’t feel right.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Decent presentation + Side-scrolling shooter stages are fun + Minigames are a nice distraction |
6.9 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- Story mode is full of annoying stealth and pointless combat - The game's best parts are just a small part of the overall game - Too much of the game is ill-befitting this license. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| There are bits and peices of a good game here and there, but whatever that game may have been, it wasn't the Ninja Turtles, and it's all drowned out by the boring stuff anyways. | |
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Tags: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Posted by Jake McNeill on Nov 1st, 2004 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
