2009 marks the 25th anniversary of my two favorite pop culture phenomenons; Ghostbusters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In celebration of this I have decided to review all of the Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles games that I can get my hands on. Throughout the year I will review at least one game per month. I will start now with the Ninja Turtles game based on the 2003 cartoon for the Xbox. This game was also released on the Playstation 2 and the Nintendo Gamecube.
Konami continued to produce Ninja Turtles games when the franchise was resurrected in 2003 as a Saturday morning cartoon on Fox. This first installment by Konami was one of the best TMNT games of the 4 that were based on the 2003 cartoon. The game featured a storyline that closely followed several episodes from the series, but it added some new stuff. The game splices in clips from the television show, in particular the episodes; Things Change, Notes from the Underground, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Return to New York.
You pick one turtle to control and you guide him through the levels by yourself or with one other player. There are several levels and each level has 5-6 areas. You will get a solid 4-5 hours of gameplay from the main story but it must be remembered that this is a kid’s game so adults will beat it quicker and easier than children who may take 8-10 hours. There is the co-op story mode but then there is also a competitive multiplayer where you pick your character and face off against anothe
r player or even a CPU.
The gameplay itself is fun if a little repetitive. The “B” button jumps while the “A” performs a weak attack and the “X” performs a strong attack. The “Y” button throws shurikens if you have them. The enemies include mousers, purple dragons, foot ninja, and monsters in the underground. Most enemies take 2-3 hits to defeat, they disintegrate when you defeat them (it’s a kids game after all) There are boxes throughout the levels that you can smash open to get power ups, scrolls, or health. The power-ups will boost your defense, your attack, or your speed. The scrolls can be used to level up your abilities and open new combos. The health comes in the form of soda, hot dog buns, burgers, or pizza. Each one gives you back a different amount of health I have listed them in order of least powerful to most powerful. You are given 6 lives and if you are even decent that will be more than enough. There are also training stages in the middle of levels called “Dojo stages” where your character is given a specific challenge to increase his stats.
The graphics are just right for this type of game; they correspond well to the cartoon animation and they are nice and colorful. The game could have used more use of the other characters in terms of the gameplay, as we will see in later installments, it could have had the other 3 turtles as NPC’s or it could have allowed for on the spot switching between characters. For what it is (a kid’s game based on a cartoon) it is very good. If you are a fan it is a must have.
Konami continued to produce Ninja Turtles games when the franchise was resurrected in 2003 as a Saturday morning cartoon on Fox. This first installment by Konami was one of the best TMNT games of the 4 that were based on the 2003 cartoon. The game featured a storyline that closely followed several episodes from the series, but it added some new stuff. The game splices in clips from the television show, in particular the episodes; Things Change, Notes from the Underground, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Return to New York.
You pick one turtle to control and you guide him through the levels by yourself or with one other player. There are several levels and each level has 5-6 areas. You will get a solid 4-5 hours of gameplay from the main story but it must be remembered that this is a kid’s game so adults will beat it quicker and easier than children who may take 8-10 hours. There is the co-op story mode but then there is also a competitive multiplayer where you pick your character and face off against anothe
r player or even a CPU.The gameplay itself is fun if a little repetitive. The “B” button jumps while the “A” performs a weak attack and the “X” performs a strong attack. The “Y” button throws shurikens if you have them. The enemies include mousers, purple dragons, foot ninja, and monsters in the underground. Most enemies take 2-3 hits to defeat, they disintegrate when you defeat them (it’s a kids game after all) There are boxes throughout the levels that you can smash open to get power ups, scrolls, or health. The power-ups will boost your defense, your attack, or your speed. The scrolls can be used to level up your abilities and open new combos. The health comes in the form of soda, hot dog buns, burgers, or pizza. Each one gives you back a different amount of health I have listed them in order of least powerful to most powerful. You are given 6 lives and if you are even decent that will be more than enough. There are also training stages in the middle of levels called “Dojo stages” where your character is given a specific challenge to increase his stats.
The graphics are just right for this type of game; they correspond well to the cartoon animation and they are nice and colorful. The game could have used more use of the other characters in terms of the gameplay, as we will see in later installments, it could have had the other 3 turtles as NPC’s or it could have allowed for on the spot switching between characters. For what it is (a kid’s game based on a cartoon) it is very good. If you are a fan it is a must have.
Gameplay: 8
Story: 7.5
Replay Value: 8
Graphics: 9
Overall: 8.1
Check back soon for more and have a happy healthy start to 2009!
No comments:
Post a Comment