Reviews for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The boys are back for some more shell kickin' fun.

Strengths: Easy to pick up and play, young and old alike.

Weakness: Very repetitive. Go into one area, clear out the bad guys, then head to the next area and do the exact same thing until you reach the boss. (Not surprisingly, this repeats EVERY level)

As a child growing up in the late 80's/mid 90's, I grew up watching the old TV shows featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (referred to as "TMNT" hereafter) and their exploits with the courageous news reporter April O'Neil.

Of course, they were pretty 'kid friendly' back then but they were the coolest heroes out there, until their popularity waned (like all things do) and were replaced by the other franchises like the "Power Rangers".

Anyway, after nearly a decade or so of hiatus, the TMNT boys are back. Sure, they've gotten an overhaul in terms of visuals, as they're a bit more 'up-to-date' and not as cartoony looking as they were in the early 90's.

Gameplay:

It's typical Konami 'brawler' style gameplay. If you've played any of the classic 'beat-em-up' games like "Final Fight", "Double Dragon", "X-Men" (not the Street Figher II like fighting game by Capcom) or the "Punisher", then you'll be in very familiar territory with TMNT for the XBox.

Graphics:

Cel shading is a major part of how the game is played. Sure, when you look at still images of the gameplay footage, you can only think "Why does that look so ugly?" but that's the whole idea of the cel shading graphic techniques; they're meant to capture a certain 'feel' of a game or character, yet, be ultra smooth in terms of actual animation.

Since TMNT is based on the recently re-done animated series of the same name, Konami has done all they possibly could to make the player feel as if they're watching an episode of the recent TV series.

Does Konami succeed? They sure do, and they top things off by having exclusive animated clips directly from the animators of the TV series.


Sound/Music:

Well, since this is a TMNT 'brawler' game, you an only go so far in terms of an audio palette. You've got your four Ninja Turtles that almost constantly have 'battle crys' like "cowabunga!" and "rad!" mixed in with the typical "oomph" and punch or "clang" sound effects. The music is also a bit on the forgettable side, since the soundtrack is kind of generic. (Most of the music is an 'arranged' version (music re-mixed) of pieces straight from the recent TV series, which, IMHO, didn't sound too good anyway) giving a slight feel to the TV/game series connection.

Overall:

Not a bad little time waster, but you shouldn't really expect too much for games like these nowadays, unless they're games like Segas "Spikeout: Battlestreet" or even some of the classic titles like "Streets Of Rage".

You'll get your money's worth, as long as you don't spend too much on it. How much is too much? I would have to say anything over $19.99 for this particular title.

Not one of the greatest TMNT titles out there, but certainly one of the more visually stunning ones.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Strengths: Good cartoon graphics, decent sound and action

Weakness: Only two player mutliplayer, annoying music soundtrack

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a decent action title.

It's a simple beat-'em-up, with the four ninja turtles selectable for action. The graphics are decently well-done cell-shaded graphics, which does a nice homage to the arcade game of the 90's and the cartoon series. The sound effects are good enough, though the soundtrack is a bit annoying and repetitive. The action goes on long enough with all four of the turtles, so there's some decent replay value.

The multiplayer is limited to two-player co-op and versus mode, though four player multiplayer seems like a bad omission.

For fans of the TV series and the old arcade series, it's worth a look, as well as for some action fans. For others, it might be worth a rental first.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Half-baked edition. . .

Strengths: Neat cel-shaded graphics, 3D beat-em-up action, 2-player co-op mode, kid-friendly

Weakness: Simplistic button-mashing game play, repetitive enemies and sound effects, limited replay value, no unlockables

The first 128-bit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game leaves the series with a whole lot of room for improvement. While the graphics may hold your attention for a few minutes, you quickly realize that the simplistic and repetitive game play can't begin to match the visuals.

The problems begin when you realize that your character only has a handful of moves at his disposal. Forget about using any fancy combinations here. Also, the enemies and environments begin to repeat almost immediately, and you get to hear the same sound effects all the way through.

Granted, some children will like this kind of game, but more mature players and fans of the tv series and films will be disappointed. The fact that the game is really short (maybe five hours total) and has no unlockables or replay value doesn't help matters.

If one or more of the old SNES or Genesis turtle games had been included (perhaps the old 2D arcade game) as unlockables, we would have had a bit more to work with here, but as it stands, this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game leaves much to be desired. Only children and hard core fans need apply. Everyone else save your money for the mildly improved sequels.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Where's the Pizza?

Strengths: Easy to learn controls, great game for kids.

Weakness: No four player mode and the levels are too simple.

This is a great basic beat-em-up game and does a fairly good job of representing the Ninja turtles. The graphics look great and this is a fun game to play with a friend. The huge dissapointment is that there is no four player mode. having co-op two player mode is good but does suffer from camera problems when the players are in opposite parts of the screen.
Overall a decent beat-em-up game for all ages , but as an adult. I found it a bit repetitive with simple levels and predictable enemies.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Nothing spectacular

Strengths: Fun title for smaller kids or fans of the TMNT

Weakness: Everything in the game is subpar

This game is more geared towards smaller kids. The gameplay contains no gore or anything too violent. It is very similar to the old school arcade version. The graphics, controller response, and just overall desire to play this game are pretty low on the scale. I would say this is a game you should pass on unless you are looking for a linear game for smaller kids that doesn't have a bad rating of any kind (ie- M for mature, etc).

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Strengths: Coop mode...

Weakness: Bad game--Would not pay $5 for it again.

Gameplay is ridiculously bad. You cannot do anything you want to do. The only positive thing this game has is coop mode--however you still can barely control your characters. I heard the 2nd Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was supposed to be better, but I have not played it. This game MIGHT, MAYBE be good for smaller children as there is no gore or anything like that...

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Testseek.com has collected 1 expert review for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the rating is 65 of 100. Click below and use Testseek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 2.2 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #7,124 game of all time, #152 game of 2003 for the Xbox and #718 Xbox game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 37 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click...

Read Full Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (xbox)

If I invested all the quarters I plopped into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games -- especially the incredible Turtles in Time -- I'd ... well, I wouldn't be writing this review because I'd be too rich to work. But instead of investing thousands of quarters in tech stocks, I played the games. It's easy to understand why; those coin-op classics featured addictive gameplay, sweet graphics,...

Read Full Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (xbox)

It's been a while since we've been able to kick some shell with four giant, ninjitsu wielding, turtles. Spawned in 1984 by a healthy dose of green ooze and two hardworking artists, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the Mutant Ninja Turtles started a nationwide craze. These rat educated turtles popularized words like cowabunga, radical, and totally tubular. Everything from animated series, toys,...

Read Full Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Published by Konami and developed by Konami, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a action game for the Xbox. It has an ESRB rating of EVERYONE.

Read Full Review