Today I just finished playing Ubisoft’s action adventure title TMNT. Now younger gamers are probably thinking “ what the heck is a teenage mutant nija turtle, or here we go, another movie game.” But to any of you tail end generation X’ers who spent all their pocket money in the arcade playing this franchise in the early 90’s, this game brings fans a whole new adventure complete with new villains, moves and of course next gen graphics.

The premise of TMNT is simple; the Turtles are telling the story of a previous adventure, illustrated by you, the player in the game. You play through 16 levels as either a single turtle or in a cooperative mode allowing you to switch between the characters. It’s a good old beat em up based around Ubisoft Montreal’s engine they used for the last Prince of Persia.

TMNT features a combination of platforming and fighting. As you progress through the game, you will find that at some points it may be a little linea. You may discover that you don’t have a total freedom, but hey, flash back to the arcade game and you will see that there is a nice retro feel. The combat segments can sometimes feel a little like doing the dishes, wash, rinse, repeat, but the button mashing is again a glorious tribute to a game we all loved! The new ability to do cooperative moves makes this game surprisingly fun and if you take down more than 10 enemies you will be able to enter into slow mo, dishing out punishment like there is no tomorrow.

The game is obviously aimed at a younger demographic given how simplistic and easy it is to complete. On the downside though, the game looks to be a port from the old Xbox / PS2 days. Although pretty to look at, the comic book style story line leaves you with a feeling that the developers could have done more. I found the soundtrack solid, but again if you don’t like TMNT, expect to be berated with a million and one “cowabungers and dudes”

Game time and achievements are pretty straight forward. Completion will take you no more than 5 hours, and for all you point fiends, this game makes King Kong look hard! If you are a fan of the franchise, or just love the old platform games, TMNT defiantly deserves a look in.

I give this game $65 out of $100

Dave M
NextGEN Gamers