14 DAY TRIAL // 
Reviewing games that have the Ubisoft logo on them is usually a pleasure and I only have to mention two titles for you to figure out what I'm talking about: Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia. It doesn't even matter which of the games that are part of those series I'm playing, because they all rock. However, such failure-proof producers must go wrong at some point. That time has come and the game that disappointed me was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or TMNT, because there were tons of games with this name. It didn't deliver all the things that it promised in those groovy trailers, or I must have mistaken them for the ones that advertised the movie (which was bad as well). If I were to compare with the hare and the turtle race fable, this time the rabbit wins by a mile and I'm talking about Rayman Raving Rabbids versus TMNT.
Story In TMNT the story is told through comics that appear between the missions to let you know what's happened to our beloved reptiles. It seems that introducing the plot with the aid of comics has become a real trend nowadays as every great producer is using it without prejudice. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but somehow I was expecting to see this in TMNT as well, so where's the surprise? The plot of this title is pretty basic: the happy turtle family got split and every member of it went on his own, doing all sorts of heroic acts or just enjoying some spare time with their hobbies. They won't get separated for long, as this is only a way for the turtles to grow up and become adults.
After all this soul-searching is done, they'll return to master Splinter, who will congratulate the teenage turtles and ask them to tell him what they've been up to. Raph, Don, Mickey and Leo will take turns in telling their stories and you'll be the one to play them. Join Raph as he's some sort of lonesome superhero called the Nightwatcher and he has a neat cyborg-like costume, that reminds me of Cyrax from the Mortal Kombat series. Don has been as usually attending to his inventions, collecting and creating gadgets, while Leo was on a quest in the jungle. What was Mickey doing? He was looking for Don and... being funny, as usual. Once the boys are gathered, they'll start fighting crime for the zillionth time, using their newly gained abilities.
Concept In the game's main menu you can view your stats, stuff like the completion percentage, the total play time, the longest combo you've done of the number of knockouts you've suffered. Also, you can check out the extras section, if you're a real Teenage Ninja Turtles fan and see some neat artwork and videos, that can be unlock if you have the right amount of ... golden turtle shells. That seems to be the game's currency and you'll collect these coin-like thingies throughout the environments you'll explore. Still in the main menu, you'll see a couple of challenge maps and goodies, that are unlockables. Big turtle heads, weekend weapons, Halloween baddies, these are the things that can be unlocked in TMNT. One thing I noticed right from the start are the extremely friendly menus, that will accompany you through this rather dull adventure.
This title is an action-adventure game, with a couple of platforming elements and once you'll start playing it, you'll know what I'm talking about. The action's pretty arcade, and there's even an "area cleared" screen after the mission's over. It surprised me to see that there's a good parry and weight concept in TMNT, as characters fall to the ground, once they've been hit like they were real humans. It's probably the only realistic feature of this game, but sadly it doesn't add up to the whole gaming experience. During combats, you'll be forced to do the button mashing you all hate, so you should take this game for what it really is: a way of relaxation in the weekends. There's a life meter attached to your turtle's picture and you shouldn't worry about it too much, since you can't die in this game.
Yes, you've heard me right, it's one of those games that were created for relaxation and mindless button mashing, with the excuse of being part of a franchise that has gained millions of fans over the years. It's not all combat that you'll be doing while playing TMNT, but don't get your hopes up, because there are no puzzles to trouble your relaxed brain. Instead the gameplay will test your reflexes a lot thanks to numerous wall-climbing sequences and many other stunts. As the game progresses you'd expect the enemies to do so too, but there will be no signs of that and leaving the dull AI aside, the opponents look the same, as if they're all one big family with hundreds of offsprings. After your mission is over you'll see how much time it took you to complete it, the number of enemies you've killed and how many "coins" you've found. This gets you a rating and it was usually a B or C for me, but you might be class A material.
Gameplay If there would be one thing to say about the gameplay that would be that it's fast paced and once you've taken a wrong step, you'll have to start over. Relax, because you'll never die. Instead, you'll be forced to do a silly button mashing minigame, by tapping the X button till you come back to life. In case you fall in the abyss of the environments or can't be able to complete the X tapping minigame, you'll be reset to the last checkpoint you've reached. Things tend to get frustrating when you'll be reset ten or twenty times to the same checkpoint, just because you can't complete a nasty jump. You'll play with all the teenage ninja turtles separately first and then team them up to witness the real fun. Well, this real fun is nothing much, unless you count the combos that the four heroes can do when they combine their abilities.
When you're following their individuals stories, you'll get used to each turtle's abilities. For example, Don will be able to perform extremely useful jumps over gaps that have an obstacle above them.
Mickey will use his nunchucks by rotating them above his head like a green helicopter and he'll be able to fly past areas that require impossible jumps. Leonardo has the unique ability of passing through gates, while Raph can climb any wall by sticking his knives in and using them as support. There's no complicated use of buttons: all you have to do is mash the circle button to hit the foes with your weapon or hit the triangle for a kick in the face. R1 will be used in case you want to dodge the (rare) enemy attacks. I, for one have almost never used it...Mashing the circle button and combining it with the triangle can create some combos, that hit more enemies at a time. When you'll have all the turtles in your party, so to say, you'll be able to change the character you control by pushing the square button. If you time your character changes right, you'll see some pretty interesting team combos, combined jumps and the turtles holding hands while floating in the air during a killer jump.
For a game that requires a lot of button mashing, TMNT has some pretty annoying unresponsive controls and there's a bit of lag to be felt during combat. The AI is no good and they're all target practice, unless you consider the bosses, but they're pretty beatable as well. There are a couple of predefined attacks that will surely please you. I enjoyed pressing the circle button and holding it for a second or two in order to see any of the four turtles running at high speed towards the enemies, taking one at a time and striking them. It was all Japanese-style animation, with fast running and deadly hits. The whole game is based on the notion of karma, getting focused, meditation and all these oriental concepts that help a warrior fight better. Well, since we're following such unwritten rules, why are you allowed to hit an enemy when he's down? Don, Raph, Leo and Mickey have different weapons and that can be seen and felt during the gameplay, but you shouldn't worry too much, since none of these weapons is precise enough.
Combine the laggy controls with a weapon that hits its target about 60% of the time and you've got: a frustrating gameplay. It makes you want to mash the circle button the entire game, watching some football match, or reading a magazine, as this would have the same effect as fighting for real during the combat sequences. In case you ever get killed by the "deadly" AI, remember one thing: kick them and while they're down use the character's weapon to smithe them. See those stars next to your health meter? Once you kill ten enemies and don't receive damage, you'll be able to perform some sort of slow-motion combo, that will basically kill any foe with a single blow. Combat sequences are separated from the rest of the game, because they're announced before and after they start. The bad guys? They keep coming and spawning out of nowhere, fall from the sky or enter doors...
If not dying in a game isn't enough for you, there's even a way to replenish health: meditating. That's right, good old Mickey will have to time out and think about what he's done so far and "bam!" the life meter's full again. Combats are not much in the game, instead you'll enjoy very much the gripping, jumping, stunts, walking on the walls and all the other actions that any ninja must do. There are many things to do with Leo and company, ranging from wall-walking, to spinning while holding your hands on a bo staff or throwing Raph's daggers far far away.
Video This is the most important flaw of TMNT: the graphics. The game looks just awful and I can't really understand what was Ubisoft aiming for with such poor visuals. The title was probably rushed to come out before the movie and benefit of its fame, but it's no excuse for those pixeled masses that should be environments. At least the camera's good enough to provide us with a decent gameplay. Finally, we're dealing with a game that doesn't have bad camera angles and the dynamic view adds a lot to the fast-paced action.
Also, the turtles are huge, when compared to the rest of the on-screen elements and they may be egocentric, but I want to see the enemies as well, while fighting them. I was about to criticize the fact that all the teenage mutant turtles walk around like they had a hump, but I remembered that their shell must be quite heavy, so I'll let it be. Once again, I'm against the glittering, shiny pickups, that rotate. It's 2007 people! The era of golden pickups has passed and even the first Crash Bandicoot back on the mid-nineties had better looking pickups. The cutscenes are pretty OK, they have decent graphics and those comics that are included remind me of the good old childhood days when everyone was dressing up like Leonardo and pretending to be a teenage mutant turtle.
Sound The pleasant surprise comes from the game's soundtrack, that's able to deliver a lot of positive emotions and pump up a little bit of extra adrenaline during the fights. TMNT benefits of great orchestral works and the action music we hear in quality movies. All the turtles have funny punchlines and when they kill a couple of enemies, they'll start bragging in a pretty hilarious way. When they're cooperating, the dialog's also funny, but it tends to get a bit repetitive as you play the game. All in all listening to the rock and techno tunes included in the game's soundtrack was a ball.
Conclusion Here's your average weekend game! That's all I can say about TMNT and it's a pitty, specially because it had a lot of potential and also because the PC version is far better. That's the price that games made after famous movies and comics have to pay. Look at what happened to Ghost Rider, 300: March to Glory and all the Spiderman titles. The producers are waisting the opportunity to exploit wonderful franchises, being too focused on getting the game out before the movie is released. Turtles, get back in that shell!
