Platform: PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, PC
Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1 - 2

There was a point in my life where I was a pretty avid comic book collector,
and it seemed that there was no satisfying my avarice for the medium. I do
recall at one point, the local comic store owner giving me a glance at a new
title that he was extremely excited about: Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles. Thinking that it was in fact the stupidest title I had ever heard, I passed, content with my stack of X-Men comics. Little did I know that TMNT was to become a huge juggernaut in the world of comics, moving to the world of cartoons, toys, and video games. That was back in the 90's though, and most of us thought that the Turtles were dead to the world, that is, until someone got the idea to revive the series for the new millennium. What that means however is new video games as well, and the Turtles are going from their old school look to a new incarnation for the next generation platforms.

If you're unfamiliar with the back-story, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are
a collective of four turtles who were mutated by toxic chemicals, taking on
human traits, Named after famous artisans, the Turtles, Michelangelo,
Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael were trained in the ways of ninjitsu by their
master, a mutated rat named Splinter. The turtles later befriend April O'Neil,
and take to a life of fighting crime.

As far as the game itself goes, you'll start by picking whichever of the four
turtles you'd like to play. Each however does have a slight difference with
their fighting style, as well as what weapon they use to take out the criminal
element that runs rampant on the streets. But, you don't have to go at it alone
either, and can instead choose to team up with a friend in a two-player story
mode and take down enemies much quicker. The game is divided up into stages, of course, with sub-stages in each. Since the overall design is taken from the new
animated series, each stage is similar to watching an episode of the cartoon
filled with enemies, bosses, and even cut scenes to add to the storyline.

And the animated series shows heavily as the graphics in the game are done in a
cel-shaded fashion, very similar in fact to other games such as Sly Cooper,
Robotech, and even XIII, but it's not just the in-game play that's done this
way, but in fact, it's the entire thing. However, TMNT also goes for a bit of a
comic book feel, adding in some of those important action words while pummeling foes, so expect to see "bam", "pow" and all similar words. It's also one of those features that owes a great deal to the original Batman television series. The graphics may not be up the same level of excellence that Sly Cooper was, and again I will have to say, that's going to be a hard game to beat, it's much better than Robotech was, but so are most things.

The game play itself is very similar to the old Capcom standby Final Fight, but
in this case, that's not really a good thing. While it's a sight better than
the old 2D game, the idea and logic behind it are exactly the same. You roam
the streets, fighting wave after wave of enemies. Though the game is more than
the simplistic, one-button, punch gimmick, it's still not very entertaining.
The real difference here, aside from graphics and a more 3D approach, is the
fact that you have special moves that you do and even weapons, but there isn't
much else.

The AI in the game is very simplistic, and for the most part, it isn't too much
of a challenge to discover what the pattern of attack is. Most can be mowed
through without worrying about using your weapons or special moves, and those
are better spent on some of the harder bosses, although most aren't too much
more difficult than the street fodder you went through to reach them. Though
the combos are a nice touch, it doesn't do much in the way of creating fun game
play. There are bonus stages as well, dependant on your performance through the
mini-stages, but most of the stages themselves are so easy that getting the
extras just aren't a question of if you will get them, but how soon. The game
becomes even easier as the amount of power-ups and health icons seem to be off
the scale most of the time. And if you think that playing a two-player game
will increase the fun, well, it really doesn't. It just makes things go that
much quicker as you repetitively progress through each stage.

If there's anything that's positive about the game, I think that the only thing
that I really appreciated was the fact that you can destroy a few things that
you find in stages. The only problem with it being that most of the time, I was
just a bit too close and took out not only a huge amount of enemies, but myself
as well. And, the cel-shading does work quite well with the game, and the
graphics look very similar to the animated series, but that's really the extent
of things here.

I really don't think that my dislike for this title has to do with having
outgrown the game concept of endlessly beating foes into submission. In fact,
there are games that fall into this category, such as Dynasty Warriors, that I
absolutely loved, but in those cases, there was at least a more interesting
story, and even a variety to the action and enemies that were faced. Here however, it's just too much recurring action with very little offered in the way of ingenuity. If you're into games that don't require much thought at all, or are just in the mood to waste away hours with mindlessness, this is probably the thing to do it. Though I think maybe kids might enjoy the title, as it isn't too complicated, I also have to wonder about the degree of difficulty as some stages prove to be a little more challenging than you would think.

The saddest part about the whole TMNT situation is the fact that cartoons and
toys have made it virtually impossible for any of the fans of the original
comic to ever see that incarnation. TMNT was never meant to be what it became,
and it was, at one point, a much more adult title that it currently is. Though
I'd love to see these turtles crawl back into the sewers from whence they came,
it's something that probably isn't going to happen at any point in the future,
and even if the latest version fades from mind, I'm sure we'll see them
resurrected again at some point. If nothing else, it's at least worth a rental,
but don't expect too much.

-mike-