And here we are. Another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game releases and I spring for a copy hoping just hoping that maybe this will be the game that won’t disappoint me. Maybe this will be the TMNT game that redeems the qualities that the past few games have lacked. So does it? Nope.
The newest entry in what has become a disappointingly bland series of TMNT games is not a sidescrolling beat-em-up with Activision and Magic Pockets instead going for a “dungeon crawler” gameplay style a la Diablo. Some of the similarities you’ll find include a health bar, special abilities bar, xp bar, currency, and minerals. My favorite new feature in this game is being able to craft new weapons with varying abilities and stat boosts for each turtle using the minerals you’ve gathered throughout the game. For example if you find acid you can craft a new set of katanas for Leonardo that inflict more damage as well as continuing to deal damage while you fend off other enemies. You can then choose to break down old weapons into materials for crafting new ones which is awesome, but simple—painfully simple. But hey, this is a kid’s game after all. The pacing obviously differs from previous games and is generally slower which may be offputting to some. Rather than button mashing and beating every enemy in sight as you push through to the right side of the screen you’ll have moments of no battles with the general gameplay involving running through hallways, beating a few enemies, entering a room and beating waves of enemies to discover what goodies await in the chest. It’s different for a TMNT game but not bad.
Thankfully there are varying enemy types consisting of well armored brutes, throwaway grunts, and ranged attackers. As you progress deeper in the game you come across enemies that are protected by a forcefield provided by one or a few drones that you need to take down first. Another thing I like is that you can switch back and forth between turtles on the fly which is needed in the heat of battle. While you play each turtle has their own health bar but the neat thing is they all share the same XP bar which enables them to all level up as a unit. You’ll need that switching ability and will be thankful for that shared XP further in the game as enemies become more difficult and when you encounter some of the bosses which I will not reveal here. 🙂 As you can imagine each turtle has their own unique play style. Raphael is the muscle, Donatello is good against clusters of enemies, Michelangelo is fast with attacks and more agile in dodging, and Leonardo is the most well rounded fighter. Every member also has a special ability that is unlocked throughout the game. For example Mikey can use his chained chucks to enter lower sections of the sewers and Donnie can hack into some locked rooms. It’s a neat way to keep you cycling between characters when you’re not battling it out.
As I said at the beginning this game is not without it’s faults and one of the more obvious ones is the dialogue. Like in many past TMNT games it is so damn repetitive and makes me wish I had the ability to disable it altogether. For the most part the environments are pretty barren and uninspired like the soundtrack. But perhaps what annoys me the most is the unnecessary animation when a door across the level is unlocked or when the door behind you closes as you enter a new room. When this happens the game pauses while the camera pans from you to the door and back again. It’s only a few seconds but seems unecessary with the provided minimap, indicators, and arrow guiding you to the next objective. It also gets annoying because you’re entering new rooms a lot. This game is also very short with only fifteen levels, however, there are challenges that are unlocked as you play through the brief campaign. Overall I don’t think this game is worth the $30 asking price due to it’s flaws and short campaign even with the included challenge mode. I’d have to say I had more fun with the last TMNT game released on 3DS based on Nickelodeon’s excellent animated series. Here’s to hoping TMNT: Danger of the Ooze developed by the awesome people at WayForward can really give us TMNT fans a game worth playing and reviewing. You can buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for 3DS here on Amazon.
