The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has seen quite some incarnations across all kinds of media. What started out as a small comic book blew up big in the 90’s when it got its own Saturday morning Cartoon. Since then it has seen movies, a live-action show, multiple incarnations of the cartoon show and naturally video games. Throughout the 80 till now companies have been pumping out video game and it seems TMNT has seen some better success back in the day. The arcade Beat ’em ups from Konami are still considered as some of the best Beat ’em ups ever made. Fast forward to today where TMNT games aren’t doing so well anymore. But the people at Platinum shine a ray of hope onto the franchise as their licensing team gets the opportunity to take on the legendary franchise. Sadly what had the potential to be an amazing game turned out way worse than anyone could have expected.
Shredder is up to something… And the pizza’s getting cold.
Mutants In Manhattan much like any Platinum games doesn’t really have a story. It’s not that necessary in games like these but what is rather important is that they at least kind of nail the Turtles’ personality. Sadly the Turtles are rather two dimensional and the dialogue is very childish. It’s trying to entertain kids which makes sense considering the series was aimed at children. However, considering the depth and the way the game plays is a bit too complex for children; which seems to contradict its writing. Mutants In Manhattan is well written and while it’s not something that’s necessary, it would have been nice if the game had some good sense of humor.
Most comedy revolves around bad pizza jokes.
So close, yet so far
Mutants in Manhattan technically plays well. It’s a character action game where you play as one of the four Turtles. You have the standard light and heavy attacks, a jump and a block. While the combat isn’t as deep as other character action games it’s fun in concept. The animation and impacts of the hits are great and the flashy moves are awesome to see. That is if you see it.
This is where the main problem of the game rears its ugly head. While the combat is basically as solid as any other Platinum game; the forced 4-player co-op is what destroys it. When playing with friends or AI, the screen gets messy. All four heroes are usually attacking the same enemy making it almost impossible to see what’s going on. The weaker enemies die after usually two hits because everyone is wailing on them. When you get to fight stronger enemies you are all huddled up so close that you can’t really see the reads enemies make and end up getting hit most of the time.
The new block/dodge system isn’t without its problems either. When holding the block button the green reptiles will retreat into their shell. This depletes a meter to avoid hiding infinitely from enemies and when pressed just before an attack will deflect the enemies’ attack. Players can also try to stop blocking at the right time to perform a parry. Doing these maneuvers is essential at higher difficulties and is fairly challenging. Players need to learn and see the enemy attack pattern to react accordingly but as has been stated before it’s pretty hard to see or learn patterns when everyone is huddled up close.
Combat could have been fun if players weren’t forced to play with the other Turtles. But even if there was only one playable character on the screen there are still some problems. Players will start with one level they get to finish and after that, they are free to tackle any level they want until they unlock the final boss. When a level is selected they will be dropped into a big, open and very empty level and have to complete random missions to fill up a bar on the top of the screen. Once that’s done players will be able to fight against the boss of the level. There are only around four different levels which get recycled over three times with little changes made to them. And of the four levels two are just a drag and not fun to play on.
The bosses range from relatively fun to annoying. There also are items and charms which are supposed to boost the player’s abilities. The items are pretty useful and manage to get you out of a pinch when things get too crazy. The charms however don’t matter. The impact is so minuscule that they might as well have not been there. Mutants In Manhattan could have been serviceable for TMNT fans if you played as one Turtle alone but even if that was the case there are still too many problems with the game that would keep it from being actually good.
Combat is hectic and a mess.
As stylish as Platinum does ’em.
Mutants in Manhattan is a Platinum game in presentation through and through. The game uses a cell-shaded art-style similar to their Transformers game. The game makes some nice use of colors and looks great overall. The special moves have great visual effects and look cool. The cut scenes also have that specific Platinum feel to it. A lot of cool slow motion shots. When there is no action in the cut scenes, they have that certain Platinum shaky cam footage. The music however is very dull. The tunes fit the setting but usually are just about ten seconds long and repeat the entire time throughout the level. It never really gets annoying but a ten-second loop isn’t exciting either. On the presentation side it hits its marks. Platinum at least managed to nail the presentation aspect if that is any consolation.
Visually the game looks great.
Conclusion:
Mutants in Manhattan could have been a fun little romp for fans of the franchise. Instead, the 4-player co-op keeps it from being really fun. With four Turtles on the screen at almost all times, it makes the game a muddled mess. Weaker enemies die really fast because four characters are beating on them and the stronger enemies’ moves are hard to read and predict because the screen is a mess.
The special moves have some great visual fidelity but the charms and items feel pretty useless at most times.The story doesn’t really matter in these types of games but most of the dialogue is unfunny and characters are as 2 dimensional as they come. As far as presentation goes it has that Platinum feel to it. There are some Platinum signatures in most cut scenes. And with the exception of one cut scene which is animated very poorly, every cut scene looks good.
TMNT Mutants in Manhattan is an interesting game. It had everything you would want from a Platinum developed TMNT game but there are a few kinks in the game that keep it from being enjoyable and a drag to play. Having a bad TMNT game stings. Having a bad TMNT game developed by Platinum Studios is just rubbing more salt in the wound.
5/10
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