The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for the most part, skipped me by in my younger years. The Power Rangers were my heroes of choice, but I was well aware of the exploits of Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo.
Fast forward to the present and a chance to control a team of ass kicking turtles on modern day consoles sounds pretty fun. So here we are with XBLA release TMNT: Out of the Shadows from Red Fly Studio, which is based mostly on the Nickelodeon cartoon, and is, in all fairness, a fairly bad game. It is a game, which has so much potential, but is unforgivably flawed. An overcomplicated fighting system, a terrible camera, extremely questionable visuals and inconsistencies in gameplay mechanics come to its downfall.
The game revolves around its fighting system. And while there are options for stealth knockouts the vast majority of the time you’ll end up in full combat with multiple enemies. From what I can see, the game is aimed at a younger generation who are currently enjoying the TV series. But while the story line and style of presenting it through cartoon slideshow cutscenes is justified with that in mind, it should be coupled with a system that is child friendly aswell. I have recently played the latest Batman game, which continues the series success with the simplistic and superb fighting system. What TMNT does though, is provide too many buttons to use. There is one for your weapon, one for kicking, one for jumping/rolling, one for a counter, another for using an equipped item, then combinations of buttons and stick movements for other moves. When you get it right, it just about makes sense, but I can count on one hand the amount of times I got it right, so for the life of me I can’t see how children would enjoy playing something like this. And as a package with the camera angle it just doesn’t work. The game adopts a camera angle which follows your character too closely. So you’ll find yourself fighting more than 3 enemies and not being able to see them properly, and your combos will diminish when a counterable (I think I just made that up) move hits you but you couldn’t see it due to where the camera is placed. And if you find yourself against a wall or fence, you can see even less of what’s going on around you. Even when you are walking around the levels the camera feels sluggish to manoeuvre.
Let’s move on to the visuals. On first look they look pretty decent – a nice cartoon style and fairly slick animations for each individual turtle during the fight sequences. Then why can’t I walk down a corridor without juddering and seeing my shadow jump all over the place?! It is very strange that a simple thing like walking through the levels can show such a glaring visual flaw. Another niggle I have with the gameplay is that I’m controlling a turtle that can clamber up walls, jump over building, and yet I can’t hop over a small waiting room style chair. I know it’s nothing huge, but after listening to the consistent trance soundtrack which is present throughout try not being annoyed by it. If I have to listen to the soundtrack one more time I may have to rip my ears off my head.
This is a pure linear action game. There are slight deviations where you can go to pick things like health boosts and throwing stars up, but apart from that you’re walking from one place to another through a lifeless world. There is an edge of comedy involved which is to be expected in a children’s game and the dialogue brought a slight smile to my face at times. There is co-op online and local, if you want to go through the frustration with others. And also an arcade mode, which plays a bit like an old school Streets of Rage type game – which is probably the best part of the game.
I can’t recommend this game to anyone, young or old. Too many issues cripple what could be a fun little game.
