Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Are the turtles still heroes in a half-shell, or just shell-shocked?
Tags: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Dec 10th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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I have to keep telling myself as I’m playing this game that it’s not the eighties anymore. I keep wanting to measure this up against my childhood memories, and you just can’t do that. Especially with this game, it would be just plain unfair, because this isn’t based on the old cartoon with Cam Clarke, but the new one playing on the Fox Box morning cartoons.
It also wouldn’t be fair because this game isn’t done in the style of the isometric beat-’em-ups that were one of the shining gems in the arcades of old, but instead the game is a side-scrolling platform beat-’em-up. Still, after all the times I told myself not to let nostalgia become a factor, I couldn’t help but think about the old games. And even though I shouldn’t be thinking about the question, “How does it hold up?”, it was inevitable that it would happen anyways. As for the answer? Not great, but not bad.
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Players take the reigns of Leonardo (the turtle in blue with the swords), Donatello (the turtle in purple with the bo), Michelangelo (the turtle in orange with the nunchakus), and Raphael (the turtle in red with the sais) first in a series of four levels specific to that character, followed by a series of levels that can be played by any character. Leonardo generally has some of the more elaborate fighting moves, Michelangelo can do wall jumps, Raphael can scale walls, and Donatello can jump over large gaps. As a result, each of the turtles feels somewhat different than the others.
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The actual action through most stages seems to be roughly 90% fighting and 10% platforming. Unfortunately, there isn’t much variety in the enemies, which makes the fighting very monotonous. There also isn’t much variety in the terrain, which makes the platforming very monotonous. In addition, every time you come into a group of enemies, you HAVE to fight them, which takes the monotony and moves it to a slow pace. I suppose the same could be said of the old arcade games, but those at least broke up the action with new things strewn about the level, like giant bowling balls falling down stairwells and the sudden unexpected appearence of a miniboss.
While most of the game takes place in these fighting/platforming stages, every character has a section or two where they’re doing something else, like motorcycle racing or skateboarding through the sewers. While generally nothing fantastic, they at least help a little to ease the monotony that otherwise permeates the game.
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The game’s graphics are a mixed bag. Some of the animations, in particular Leonardo’s fighting moves, but in general just about anything involving the fighting, look incredibly fantastic. Unfortunately, this seems to be where most of the effort in the visual department was spent, as the levels and enemies often look completely generic.
Those (like me) that go into this game with the weight of nostalgia will find that it works for and against this game. In general, the design of the game works to bring up memories of those old titles, however it tends to trip up a bit in the details. I miss the old Ninja Turtles theme song playing in the levels, and I find the new one kind of annoying. Also annoying is the use of ooze canisters for health instead of pizza. If I were to take a completely impartial view of things, I’d probably have nothing but positive things to say about the game’s presentation. The game makes good use of voice, it tries to work in the new cartoon’s storyline, and generally keeps the “extreme” tone I assume the new TV show must have. I just have to imagine it’s old farts like me that frown upon these little details.
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For the most part, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a decent game that suffers mostly from the same problems that the older games did. Namely, it’s too repetitive and monotonous. Unfortunately, while the older games were fresh and new, and had just enough variety sprinkled in them to make it work, this newer title doesn’t seem to make as much of an effort, bringing variety in after the fact with the various racing levels rather than infusing it into the main game. Pushing the issue of nostalgia aside, this is a decent title that should satisfy fans of the new show, although it’s nothing particularly fantastic.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Good presentation + Battle animation is very nice + Good fighting engine |
7.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Everything seems too repetitive and monotonous | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Those looking for a good game based on the TV show should be satisfied with this title, but those looking for something that measures up to the memories of the old NES and arcade games should probably keep looking. | |
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Tags: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Posted by Jake McNeill on Dec 10th, 2003 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.
