Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up Hands-On With Fugitoid

Still no Beebop or Rocksteady to be seen, but Ubisoft did unveil a handful of characters that have been added to the growing roster. There are a few slots left to fill, so for those who grew up watching the cartoon series, there is still hope that Shredder's two henchmen might have a fighting chance. The recent additions (as seen in the video below) include Nightwatcher, Karai, and Fugitoid. If you haven't been following, Casey Jones, Foot Ninja, Utrominator, and even one of those wacky Rabbids from Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids series have been added to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lineup. It was difficult to get a lot of time with Smash-Up at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, but we did sneak in an opportunity to test out Fugitoid.

Those who have been watching the recent TMNT cartoon will recognize Fugitoid, who is actually Professor Honeycutt trapped in a robot's body after a freak accident in his lab. With his brilliant mind and sturdy body, Fugitoid is a formidable opponent on the field. His movements are a bit slow, and he feels like a lumbering giant robot at times--which he is. He balances that out with some powerful long-range arm punches that make it easy to knock down others, as long as you keep your distance. His robot arm extends a good amount across the screen, making it easy to give opponents that extra push off the edge of any given level.

The downside is that he's not as slick and quick as a well-oiled machine and therefore doesn't do well in close-quarters combat. We spent a good amount of time lying on our back after taking a few punches to the face, waiting to get up. But because he is a robot, we won't hold his lack of ninja-like reflexes against him. Once you get a feel for how Fugitoid moves, he'll serve you well, as he did in our case, because we won the match.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like there were any new stages to check out, and not all of the recently announced characters were playable on the Comic-Con show floor. We'll just have to find another chance to revisit these fighting green machines. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is set to be released on September 22.