TMNT, not to be confused with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (it's a different game), follows the crime-fighting turtles on yet another adventure. This time retold by the turtles themselves as we play through the story from each of their perspectives. The story of the game is told through a series of comic strips with narration from each of the turtles. Their story is of an event in their lives that almost tore the gang apart, but ultimately leads to them growing closer as a family and stronger as a crime-fighting quartet.
Initial impressions of the game is that the developers have gone for a cel-shaded cartoony style. Everything has quite strong black outlines and feels very much like a comic book or the original cartoon series. However, it's done with style and doesn't at all detract from the gameplay. Different levels are given different shades of colour to add atmosphere to the game. For example in the first level you play as Leonardo as he navigates his way through a lush green jungle full of beautiful natural colours. In the next level you take to the city streets at night and suddenly the city takes on much darker shades of gray, with the little colour around being the red streak left by Raphael's mask as he runs through the streets.
TMNT is made by Ubisoft and feels a lot like their Prince of Persia games. The turtles can run, jump and perform combinations of attacks as is standard in most platform/fighting games. However they also have the ability to swing from pole to pole, run short distances along walls to navigate holes, and wall jump to gain extra height. The Prince of Persia games do pull these manoeuvres with a touch more finesse than TMNT but then TMNT does feel like it's been slightly toned down to appeal to a younger audience. Not to say that it is in any way an easy game to complete. TMNT proves challenging to novice and expert gamers alike. Using the wall running ability to navigate holes takes some work as it's all too easy to overshoot the platform you are aiming for and end up falling into the next hole.
TMNT distinguishes itself through the special move that each turtle has and the team attacks that can be performed. Leonardo can phase through certain walls and doors (not sure about this ability personally, it doesn't really fit in with the reality of the turtles). Raphael can use his sai to climb certain walls. Michaelangelo can spin his nunchucks to fly short distances. And Donatello can use his staff to launch himself across gaping chasms. Team attacks depend on the active turtle but can be very useful in boss fights, in fact some bosses can't be beaten without them.
Perhaps this is my only criticism of the game; that some bosses can only be defeated by using the turtles combined attacks and it's not always obvious which ones. I may have missed the moment when team attacks were introduced but I went all the way through the game without understanding how they worked or what purpose they served, until I came face to face with a boss who could only be defeated with a combined attack. Of course once I knew what I was doing everything made sense!
The game doesn't take too long to complete. I finished in about 6 hours but I'm sure it can be done in less if you know how to defeat the bosses. There are some extras to unlock, mostly the in-game videos and some artwork, but there's a couple of unlockables to invest in: the Weekend Weapons and the Halloween Enemies. I won't spoil the fun by telling you what they are, but they are the best unlockables that I've found in the game. There are also challenge levels that are unlocked by achieving A ratings on each level.
Overall, TMNT is a great game for younger games and fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's a well made game without any major flaws but it is relatively short, even with the unlockable content. If you are looking for a more challenging similar game I would recommend trying any one of the Prince of Persia games, I'm currently playing through Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. But if you happen across TMNT in a bargain box or at a car boot sale then definitely pick it up.
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