Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hasn’t had the most favourable history in the videogame industry, the hard as nails NES classic has earned cult status, but put-off many due to its unforgiving difficulty; then in 2013 we had the questionable Out of the Shadows and more recently the disappointing TMNT: Danger of the Ooze, which is based upon the recent Nickelodeon hit TV series.  But when it was announced that Platinum Games were to develop the next TMNT outing, it was greeted with much optimism and rightly so, given the fact that Platinum are responsible for games such as Metal Gear: Revengeance, Bayonetta and Transformers: Devastation.

 

Much like Transformers: Devastation, TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan shares a similar visual cel-shaded art style with it being based upon the IDW comics.  Looking at the many gameplay videos that were released prior to Mutants in Manhattan hitting the stores, it was easy to assume that this title would share the same refined fast and frantic, hack ‘n’ slash gameplay that was present in Devastation.  Granted, Mutants in Manhattan is fast and frantic, but sadly, the gameplay is by no means refined.  I have also heard that the Platinum Games team responsible for Legend of Korra are the team that developed Mutants in Manhattan, and it is not the same team behind Devastation (which makes a lot of sense).

 

 

In a nutshell, the gameplay is a mess.  With so much going on screen at one time, it’s hard to keep track with what’s going on and you’ll easily lose track of which Turtle you’re in control with at the time, certainly amongst all the mayhem.  During the campaign, you are in control of all four Turtle brothers, with you being able to switch between the four on the fly.  Each turtle comes with their own selection of special abilities called Ninjutsu.  The abilities can range from stat and health increases, combo attacks and more.  Before each mission, you can swap and change the Ninjutsu abilities as you please within the Loadout.  It would be wise to keep them as varied as possible between the four brothers, as each power will need a recharge once used, and while they are on the recharge, this is when you might want to select a new Turtle to control.

 

To a degree you can forgive the gameplay for being somewhat repetitive, after all, it is a hack ‘n’ slash, but that doesn’t mean the gameplay shouldn’t be of a high standard and keep you hooked throughout.  While the gameplay style might have its limitations, other than the gameplay of course, arguably the key asset to keep the player hooked in this genre is by engrossing them with an interesting storyline and level design.  However, while the story of Mutants in Manhattan isn’t the problem.  The Shredder and his Foot Clan with the aid of the Krang plan to take over New York and eventually the world, and it’s up to the Turtles to wedge a Sai into their plans.  It’s the good old TMNT formula that fans love and expect.

 

 

The biggest problem for me is the level and mission repetitive design, especially the second visit to the sewers about midway through the campaign (it drags let me tell you).  While each mission will be procedurally generated, meaning the mission objectives should differ somewhat with each playthrough, the mission objectives themselves before you reach the boss fights are nothing short of boring.  You can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that you’re going to have to defeated a group of enemies (which is fine), roll bags of money to the bank, save an ATM machine or defuse a bomb.  Most of which just seem like random objectives and don’t seem to have any real purpose in the story-arch, they just feel like poorly thought-out filler.  Which is a shame, because when you do reach the boss fights, they may have predictable patterns, but they are still fun, somewhat.

 

It’s almost as if the only factors that were really considered were the visuals and the boss fights, and everything else is just plonked in there to stretch out the campaign as much as possible, which alone is only around 4-5 hours on your first playthrough (I’ve heard of some that have done it in less time).  Granted you can replay each mission to earn a higher end of level rating and you can bump into the odd secret boss or two, but this game could have and should have been so much more.

 

 

Even with its repetitive missions, the fact that you can control all four Turtles on the fly, but 4-player local co-op wasn’t included is frustrating.   I saw in a video interview that a reason given for Mutants in Manhattan not having local co-op is to allow the game to hit 60fps.  Now I haven’t got the means of testing out the fps, but I can tell you just at a glance there is no way this game comes anywhere close to hitting 60fps, in some cases it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes below 30fps.  So why on Earth do we not have local co-op?  Laziness?  Probably.  You can however play the game 4-player co-op online, which is something at least, but it would have made the game a little more fun being able to play the game locally with my son.  It’s a huge and baffling missed opportunity.

 

Even though simplistic, much like the hack ‘n’ slash genre, the cel-shaded visuals do have their limitations.  However, with the game being based upon the popular IDW comics, they are very faithful to that series and are almost perfectly replicated in that respect, and as a collector of the comics myself, it’s something that I appreciate.  Although the same sadly, might not be said for those that aren’t familiar with IDW comics and as a result, some may struggle to form an attachment with this adaptation of TMNT.

 

 

I don’t know if my expectations were set too high, but I expected Mutants in Manhattan to be so much better.  In fairness, I have played far worse games.  Regardless of whether you’re a fan of IDW or not, it shouldn’t really hamper the gameplay experience.  In my personal opinion, taking Transformers: Devastation into consideration with its 80’s theme, it would have been awesome to have this game based upon the 80’s TMNT series, with visuals, voice actors and theme tunes to boot or at least based upon the recent Nickelodeon series.  But no matter how the game looks, it doesn’t excuse its repetitive and boring gameplay.

 

In my humble opinion, if a certain standard can’t be reached with a 3D hack ‘n’ slash title, it may have been better suited being an old school 2D side-scrolling experience, like the classic arcade title from 1989 or Turtles in Time from 1991, but it’s not.  If I was you’d I’d hold out for the inevitable sales for which TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan will likely drop its price by half, until then, I’d spend your cash on Transformers: Devastation, if you haven’t already.

 

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