Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (XBOX, PS2, GC)...beat-em-ups and TMNT fans reunite !!

[DJ_Mo]

I am suprised if not shocked to see that no one yet has been posting about this awesome title. I am also very upset to see so many negative reviews about this great Konami title. This title has very similar gameplay to the original TMNT games (like TMNT 4 for the SNES, TMNT Hyper Stone Heist for the Genesis), Streets Of Rage and Final Fight.

I have always been a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan since the original cartoon series aired almost 10 years ago, and loved all the games that came out on the NES, SNES and Genesis (as they were mostly in the beat-em up genre). Beat-em-ups like Final Fight and Street Of Rage, were all the rage back 10 years ago. And since then there hasn't been much titles like this released. Fans have been craving for an updated Final Fight or a Streets of Rage 4..but the new TMNT game has now finally arrived and has given us an updated beat-em-ups.

The new TMNT game is based on the NEW version of the TMNT cartoon show on FOX BOX (early morning childrens cartoon show). I watched the cartoon a couple time (mainly cause it was WAY to early for me to watch it), and I throughly enjoyed it. The turtles are much more larger and stronger..and not every colorful. This is more of a serious TMNT cartoon...more coming to age for the new generation. BTW, if you have never seen the new cartoon series on FOX you will be very suprised with the new TMNT game. As the game borrows a LOT of elements from the new cartoon..including cut scenes and pretty much the entire story line.

When you fire the game up, the intro is just like the cartoon show, and after that the menu option is pretty much standard like any other game. You have the ability to play : Story Mode (main mode), VS mode (sorta like in Tournament Fighters..one one street fighting action). Story Mode pretty much takes you through 35 levels.

The graphics are are cell shaded and are wonderful, 2D style beat-em-up for the XBOX..what else can you ask for ? The cut scenes are straight from the cartoon show..so its pretty much perfect. The music score is also good, and I believe mostly taken from the cartoon show.

Konami hasn't touched the TMNT classic beat-em-up gameplay, so old skool fans will be in joy. Now I can see the newer generation gamers might be very annoyed by the simplistic button mashing, but to me its a releif from all the complicated button/menu pressing on most modern games. The gameplay is simple..you move around and just kick the shell out of everyone..lol

You also have the ability to unlock "move scrools", so your button mashing brings in more complicated visually impressive combos. Also supposedly you can also unlock more special features in the game...but I haven't played it that far yet.

Overall the game rocks and I give it a solid 9/10. Plus the price is just right..brand new for $39.99 !! Enjoy and please share any thoughts of this game here !!

[voltz]

Pretty good impressions, I was hoping it'll live up to the classics.

Plus the price is just right..brand new for $39.99 !!

(!)

....I need money...

[kabuki]

I need info on the variety of enemy types and enemy encounters. Do you ever fight more than one type of opponent at a time? Are there some insane brawl scenes? Please share more

[Green]

A friend of mine who's a TMNT fan is getting this, which is good because I was on the fence about it anyways. One thing I don't look forward to that is a common complaint is the constant one liners. There's not that many, and they come after EVERY combo. Luckily you can turn the voices, though.

*oh wait, there's a thread about this allready.

[ferricide]

the game is thus far better than i expected. i'm not reviewing it, but i played through the first area tonight. the battle system is definitely more robust than i expected. there are real combos, and some variety of moves, and -- totally unexpected -- a juggle system. with donatello, anyway, which is the only turtle i tried, you can pop an enemy into the air with R2 and then juggle him. fun stuff. level design is somewhat bland. throw some ninja stars and some dashing into the mix and it is shockingly realistic.

still, i don't think it's a great game. unless you're a diehard fan this seems much like a solid 'wait till it hits $20' purchase, especially with the fall glut starting.

also the PS2 version seems to be locked at 60 FPS, another shocker. =)
looking good. i was hoping to get my hands on the xbox version, but i'm not complaining after playing this one for half an hour or whatever.

[Shine]

Does it suppor 4 players or is it just 2?

[SpoDaddy]

All the reviews I've read totally pan this game. If it's true that it's only 2 players (no 4 player) in this day and age, that's just plain lazy on Konami's part. 14 years ago 2 player TMNT games were acceptable, but it's 2003 now, there's still 4 Ninja Turtles and consoles have been coming with 4 controller ports for a while now (PS1 and 2 don't count as the only reason they don't have 4 ports is so Sony can soak you for a $40 4-player adapter. Plenty of Sony games are 4 player.)

[Chojin]

Does it suppor 4 players or is it just 2?

Nope. 2 player only.

I still stand by my impressions given in the PC demo thread(And I used a PS2 pad so control was no issue). Big time rental.

[DJ_Mo]

I need info on the variety of enemy types and enemy encounters. Do you ever fight more than one type of opponent at a time? Are there some insane brawl scenes? Please share more

I have only played two stages so far, and yes there are sorta a variety of enemy types. You start at the sewers destroying the original mousers, and once you reach top level. You have about 3 different style gang members..that constantly come up in the stages in looks (sorta like in Streets Of Rage and Final Fight). Also you get a different version of mousers thrown in there also. Also later on you get to see robots too.

Yes there are insance brawl scenes, when you are surround by 7-10 gang members, mousers and robots..it gets insane. Thats when you need to use the oil drums, fire hydrant and cars as stategic weapons to destoy the enemies asap. Very good stuff.

A friend of mine who's a TMNT fan is getting this, which is good because I was on the fence about it anyways. One thing I don't look forward to that is a common complaint is the constant one liners. There's not that many, and they come after EVERY combo. Luckily you can turn the voices, though.

*oh wait, there's a thread about this allready.

Yes you can turn off the voices. And you can also turn off the annoying pop ups on the screen everytime you attack an enemy (like "CLUNK!" "POW!!"..etc just like in the old Batman show..lol).

[QUOTE=ferricide]the level design is somewhat bland.[QUOTE]

The level design was replicated from the new TMNT cartoon show (I believe that was the style they wanted for the show). So I think Konami did all they could do

All the reviews I've read totally pan this game. If it's true that it's only 2 players (no 4 player) in this day and age, that's just plain lazy on Konami's part. 14 years ago 2 player TMNT games were acceptable, but it's 2003 now, there's still 4 Ninja Turtles and consoles have been coming with 4 controller ports for a while now (PS1 and 2 don't count as the only reason they don't have 4 ports is so Sony can soak you for a $40 4-player adapter. Plenty of Sony games are 4 player.)

I totally agree...but its not fair to give the game a poor rating just for this little "inconvenience".

[Daitokuji]

What sucks is Konami didn't include the orginal arcaded TMNT classic 4 player greatness hidden on that game