The Lean Green Fighting Machine is back! Too bad it's only for a few measly and slightly repetitive hours.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [teen•eyj myoot•nt nin•juh tur•tuls] noun. A family of crime fighting brothers that today's 20-something crowd spent the majority of their childhoods mimicking and spending their parents' money on. See also: nostalgia
It has been nearly a decade and a half since the lean green fighting machine was last seen on the big screen. After the abysmal Hollywood disaster known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, it looked pretty bleak whether the turtles would ever resurface. Yes, a turtle pun already. Deal with it.
Fourteen years later, first time director and fellow geek Kevin Munroe has successfully revived the brothers four once again in their completely new and computer generated film aptly titled TMNT. Fans worldwide rejoiced at the chance to see a potentially decent movie starring their favorite characters, but for a certain West Georgian video game reviewer this movie represented a slightly different glimmer of hope. It represented a hopeful return of a respectable Ninja Turtles video game.
Since the epic release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time for arcade and Super Nintendo, the market for acceptable TMNT games has sharply plummeted, especially games following the new 2003 cartoon. But with the brand new movie already out in theaters now, is it possible that the Turtles will get a much needed boost?
The quick and honest answer is yes and no. On the positive side, TMNT is a very solid game. Not relying so much on the beat-em-up type action of past games, this game insinuates the stealthy ninja characteristic of the turtles with platforming gameplay galore.
Similar to Ubisoft's other platforming and action game series Prince of Persia, the Ninja Turtles are much more agile than their virtual predecessors. Their newfound agility allows for plenty of running across and scaling up walls, incredibly fluid fights with martial arts, and altogether an improved sense of why the Ninja Turtles are so untouchably cool in the first place.
In combat, each turtle possesses a unique personality and method of fighting that reflects that personality. Michelangelo's childishness will result in him basically break dance fighting with his nunchaku while Raphael is less forgiving and more aggressive with his twin sai in hand. This personality is not only displayed through their fighting abilities, but also via voice actors who do a decent job of representing the turtles and their quirky one-liners.
But as solid as the gameplay is, TMNT has some serious downfalls that crush any chance of it being the next epic Ninja Turtles game for fans. The biggest of these flaws is the game's embarrassingly short length. The game is broken down into 16 levels, which actually sounds like a lot of levels. However with each level taking roughly five to ten minutes to complete, a truly inspired gamer could easily play through the entire game in one sitting. For a game that is almost full price, this is inexcusable.
Sure the game has a few bonus missions and secrets to unlock through the collecting of turtle coins, but said bonus missions are speed completion levels that take less than 20-30 seconds and the coins are so abundant in the game that all unlockable pictures and videos can be opened up and disregarded in no time. Adding insult to injury, TMNT is a completely single player game with no sign of a single multiplayer feature. For a series that is constantly preaching the notion of friendship, brotherhood, and all that warm gooey stuff, a lack of feature that made past Ninja Turtles games so popular is downright shameful. The point could be made that this type of fast-paced platforming gameplay may not be ideal for two players at once, but at least add a few multiplayer mini-games for the younger audience to share with their siblings or friends.
While Turtles in Time it isn't, it is still incredibly hard not to recommend this game for a quick play through. Overlooking the faults of the length, the slight repetitiveness, and a total lack of multiplayer, TMNT is definitely worth a rent. Whether it's for the youngsters or the youngsters at heart looking for their nostalgic return to Saturday morning cartoon bliss, this game is a radically solid adventure game that true Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans will enjoy.