Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The license lottery produces a decent title.

	Version PS2, All	Developer Ubisoft	Publisher Ubisoft	Genre Action

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Alternating between the brothers for the initial levels provides a means of introduction to the abilities of each, from Don's Bo Vault and Mike's Nunchuck Helicopter to Leo's Shadow Warp and Raph's Power Climb. Later levels combine their skills, for what use is a quadruple of mutant turtles if you cannot link-up for co-op team play? Unfortunately, in what is the titles only significant omission, there is no multiplayer mode. Only one turtle is on the screen and controllable at any one time, with a quick press of the square button switching to the next.

The respect of your brothers must be gained first though, through impressing them with the style and grace of your moves. Only then, once your family bond meter is full, will they join you in your current task. You can then combine moves to reach seeming inaccessible places, typically by one brother hurling another across vast gaps which are otherwise too wide to cross.

Combat is as much a part of turtle life as scampering across rooftops and thus at certain points within each level enemies appear to slow your progress. Each turtle is as agile in combat as they are in movement, which is a necessity as whilst the regular henchmen are easy to defeat, they are many in number. The bosses on the other hand are the opposite - few and far between but a lot tougher, often requiring the turtles combined skills in order to deplete their energy bar.

The simple, yet effective fight mechanics mainly involve mashing the circle button to build up combos or using the triangle button to perform a spin kick, giving yourself some breathing space in the process. Triggering a co-op move whilst in combat will perform a super family attack, damaging many enemies at one time or causing massive damage. Like a regular co-op move outside of battle, mistiming your attack will lose your brother's respect causing him to temporarily leave the team. He will soon rejoin though once you have recharged your family bond meter.

Despite being considered last-gen, the graphics easily hold their own with more modern hardware and include some beautifully realised locations. Undoubtedly this has been aided in part by the decision to fix the camera angle and perhaps because of this the sense of scale is impressive, from the Central American jungle temple to the NYC cityscapes. Even with the arrival of the PS3, its older brother still has plenty of life left in it - TMNT shows just what can be accomplished with more limited hardware if you are aware of where the boundaries lie and use these limitations advantageously.

As well as the lack of multiplayer, another downside is the limited replay value, although the designers to their credit have tried to rectify this with collectible shells that only appear the second time through each level and challenge maps which are unlocked by achieving an A grade. The shells can be used to unlock goodies such as movies and artwork whilst the challenge maps provide for combat and agility arenas which must be completed as quickly as possible.

On the whole what we have is an entertaining game that is more than the sum of its parts. A game which knows its weaknesses and plays to its strengths, balancing one against the other. As Splinter would probably agree, this is just like any good team should be and that which raises something that would otherwise be average into something far, far greater.

Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL 8.0 8.5 7.5 7.0 8.0 7.5

THE VERDICT: Despite its linearity, TMNT is a fun game which grips the player with its speed, ease of play and nimbleness. Fairly soon into the game and one even loses sight of the fact that they cannot deviate from the path. However, it is still worth considering what might have been - a Crackdown style world with Ninja Turtles abilities and co-op multiplayer? That would surely be worth a cowabunga or two.

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