A game I hadn't expected decided to pop up in Konami's booth this year. I had long since given up on playing the SNES versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The arcade style was fast paced, but lent itself to boredom after a while. Just when I thought I was through with these green heroes, I was exposed to Konami's latest installment in the series. Due out in October, the cel shaded 3D arcade action game will certainly thrill audiences if they can figure out how to make the combo system work.
According to Konami's press release,"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings the full cast of characters - including Splinter, Casey Jones, April O'Neil, Baxter Stockman, The Shredder and more - to a thrilling game that will delight players young and old. Cel-shaded graphics, an engaging storyline and an unbelievable variety of moves make for a super-fun gaming experience. The games will also feature character voices from the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV show airing on 4Kids Entertainment's FOX BOX on Saturday mornings."
The FOX BOX version of the series is the closest they've come to the original comic books, according to co-creator Peter Laird. This means that the game will be a bit darker and a lot less goofy than its predecessors. The pizza eating and wisecracking will evidently be kept to a minimum this time around. I applaud the efforts of the creators to push the series back to its roots. After being treated to one too many Ninja Turtles sequel movies (not to mention the live action tour), I think fans deserve the kind of brooding and depth that comes with the original feel of the series.
To this end, the game itself just plain looks right. The darkness comes through in the foot soldiers and the mousers just as you might expect. At times, though, they do offer up a bit of humor to keep things from delving too deep. A gigantic creature made of assorted garbage sports a head fashioned from a monitor that presents a smiley face. When you hit any of these creatures, it feels like a comic book. The standard "THOCK" and "WHACK" emanates from wherever you strike. Whether you're playing it on the Xbox, GameCube, or PS2, you'll be treated to some of the best TMNT action ever presented. Even the GBA version has some pretty sweet looking graphics and playability. Fans of the original titles on the Game Boy will be well served by the new version. The backgrounds, the characters, even the health bars look like they belong in this incarnation.
The control itself, well, that's one of the only things that leaves something to be desired. I was only able to pull off a two or three hit combo in the time I played because it seemed like all I could do was swing, stop for a second, and then swing again. Jumping provided little reprieve from this as landing a jump kick proved to be a painful endeavor. I can easily assume that I was doing something wrong, as several of the screen shots show upwards of 25 hit combos. I also wasn't using the special moves that require several button presses because it wasn't clear how to do them. Apparently you can use these in addition to others you gather throughout the game in the form of scrolls.
The other thing that was sadly missing was the inclusion of four-player gaming. The Xbox and the GameCube both have four controller ports and it just seemed odd that they would leave the game at two players when the potential is there for so much more. There are four turtles in the group, and hence it would naturally follow that there would be four-player capabilities. The only reason I can fathom that they limited the players is that waiting for all of your teammates can sometimes be a hassle, as was evidenced in Interplay's Hunter: The Reckoning.
he inclusion of all of the classic characters, the cel shading, the sound and even the feel of the game itself all contribute to make this a great title. I sincerely hope that my issues with the control were merely due to a lack of understanding rather than poor decisions made in the design process. The multiplayer limitation is forgivable considering the waiting issue, but I still wish that they could change their minds on that before the release date. Konami has fared well at this year's E3, and I'm looking forward to several of the titles they've shown. Despite a few small disappointments, I think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be a strong addition to their fourth quarter lineup this year.
