TMNT review

Perpetually teenage ninja turtles kick it back to grade school and play for the kids

12DOVE Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Turtles move fluidly

  • +

    Some nice level designs

  • +

    Playing as Nightwatcher

Cons

  • -

    Easy and shallow

  • -

    At times

  • -

    the camera

  • -

    No co-op multiplayer

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When we first heard that the same studio that makes the fluidly acrobatic, lushly visualized Prince of Persia series was going to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, we were thrilled. In our minds, no other team on Earth was better suited to blend the four things that define the turtles: a dark personality (in the original comics at least), incredibly acrobatic ability to treat an entire city like a jungle gym, teamwork, and high-flying martial arts shell-kickery complete with different weapons, styles and co-op moves.

Or so we thought. Unfortunately, TMNT isn't the game we'd hoped for; the one that would finally have the teen turtles growing from the basic brawler playpen into gameplay adulthood and taking their place in the over-21 line. Rather, it's more a case of them going back to Jr High and snapping the lady turtles' training bras because they're still too immature to actually ask them out.

More info

GenreAction
DescriptionUrgh. Devoted young fans may flock to this weak imitation of publisher Ubisoft's own Prince of Persia games, but more discerning players will quickly pull their heads inside their shells and move on.
Platform"GameCube","Xbox 360","Wii","PS3","PC","Xbox","PS2","PSP","DS"
US censor rating"Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+"
UK censor rating"","","","","","","","",""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.