TMNT, To My Nostalgic Time
By: The Almighty Bobfish Posted on November 26th, 2008 under TMNT, WiiOKAY, BY NOW I would expect we are all, at least in some way, familiar with Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael. Arguably the four most skilled artists the world has yet seen. So skilled, in fact, that the four teamed up several hundred years after their deaths and banded together to fight crime and injustice under the tutelage of a little chip of wood they…
Uhm, sorry, I went completely somewhere else for a moment there. I was thinking of entirely the wrong people.
Okay, let’s start again.
Approximately twenty-four years ago a short series of comics was released featuring four man shaped turtles. They had, apparently, been mutated by some kind of strange, glowing green liquid which it as later revealed took the basic genetic makeup of the host and whichever animal had most recently touched it (in this case, four turtles and a ninja living in the sewers who spent most of his time around rats) and kind of spliced them together. Thus leading to four man-turtles and a man rat who took the babies as his own, training them in the arts of ninjutsu.
Later, it was altered slightly so that Splinter was a rat who had been a pet of a ninjutsu master who learned the arts by watching from his cage. Which, to be honest, I actually find to be just a little bit too silly. I’ve had pet rats and, whilst they are undeniably extremely intelligent animals, they simply do not have the capacity to learn something that complex. This may seem overly critical for something which is, essentially, a childrens cartoon, but I was there for the initial Ninja Turtles craze, and it feels a lot like the way Michael Bay Butchered the Transformers (though the change to the Turtles was much earlier).
However, this is mostly irrelevant to the review itself.
The game plays well, looks fantastic, and is superbly acted. It takes it’s story from the 2007 film entitled simply TMNT, and takes place in the form of flashbacks narrated by the four turtles and, on occasion, their Sensei Splinter. Spread across sixteen levels and a number of interesting and, though essentially repeated textures, surprisingly diverse environments. From the jungles of South America to the streets and rooftops of New York city.
Initially, you play as each of the turtles in sequence (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michaelangelo), with each of them telling something of what their lives were like in the aftermath of their defeat of the Shredder. But from the sixth level onwards (apart from a few points where the story shifts in favour of Raphael as The Nightwatcher) you have the ability to call on all four turtles. First by performing enough acrobatics to fill a “family” bar, and then from about level nine or ten (I forget exactly which) they are all there right from the outset.
You also have the ability to perform certain family moves, such as Michaelangelo using one of his brothers as a weapon by spinning in circles holding him at arms length, or by calling on one of your turtle brothers mid jump to propel your forwards across large gaps. The latter can be irritating at points, as I found whilst mid battle. I would press the B button to switch to another turtle, but be propelled forwards because I had just jumped to avoid an attack. But as this was entirely caused by my own trigger happy finger, we can’t really hold that against Ubisoft.
Something, however, that we can hold against Ubisoft is their attempt to do a little too much with the game. To highlight the superb agility and creativity of the four heroes, they have been given the ability cling to ledges, jump from wall to wall and run along walls (much in the same way the Prince has done in Ubisofts other franchise). It’s the latter which causes all the problems. Whereas, with the Prince of Persia games, you had to press a button to do so, with TMNT it happens automatically. Which, in itself, would be no major problem, if not for the fact that they seem to have had a severe case of hatecentredcameraitis whilst making the game. So that when jumping from ledge to ledge, keeping the analogue stick centered left or right (or whichever way you happen to be traveling at the time) will have you slowly drifting towards either the wall or the camera itself. Especially annoying as you tend to travel much further than the next platform whilst making the arch across the wall, thus falling to a lower level, or more often, death.
Despite this, however, the game is still an extremely fun one to play. With enough there to satisfy the more serious gamers (including map challenges and concept art and the like to unlock) as the more casual players alike. The combat system is simple and flows nicely, it’s fantastically well animated for a Wii game and the turtles in fight banter can be really amusing. Often helping to take the edge off during the more frustrating battles (of which there are some). Unfortunately, it’s rather short. The whole game being finished in only six hours on your first play-through. Though the extra content does add some replay value.
It’s unfortunate, however, that there were no attempts to make this a multi-player game. There are, after all, four turtles to choose from, and if the Ben 10 game allowed you to have two Ben’s on screen at the sane time, why could Ubi not allow two (or more) turtles even if the plot says they are not supposed to be there. Normally, I would let a lot of this slide due to the quality of the rest of the game, but as this is from Ubi, who really should know better by now, I’m going to have to lodge them as more serious complaints. Still, I enjoyed the game, and I would say that even people who are no fans of the Ninja Turtle franchise will also be able to find something to make the game worth playing.
Graphics: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Audio/Music: 8.5/10
Plot/Scripting: 8.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
This game also earns the Bobfish award for bringing a nostalgic tear to the eye.
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