Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan Reviews
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan's greatest sin isn't that it's a bad game that feels like the result of minimum effort. It's that it takes a great concept, and makes it unrelentingly boring in every way possible.
The developers veer beyond the cartoonish nature of the TMNT television series and straight into the absurd.
As I sit through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, why does this marriage made in heaven bore the hell out of me?
Another misstep with the TMNT franchise leaves me wondering if anyone will ever make a good Turtles game again. As is, Mutants in Manhattan works, but it’s just terribly boring.
Underneath TMNT Mutants in Manhattan’s shell are solid mechanics that could have been a great foundation for a technical brawler. Those technical elements, however, don’t get as much play as the game typically devolves into a four-turtle free for all. Add the lack of local co-op and you have a missed opportunity, especially given how the game nails the Ninja Turtles’ visuals. Overall, the game just can’t quite figure out whether to provide a solid single-player adventure or hectic multiplayer brawler.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is, at the very least, a serviceable co-op brawler infused with plenty of fun nods for longtime TMNT fans. However, its high price-point, lack of couch co-op, and repetitive gameplay are hard to ignore, making it a game which is best bought at a drastically reduced price.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is a very disappointing action game which isn't worth bothering with. Platinum didn't put its best foot forward with this one, and it's evident from the get go.
The ultimate disappointment is that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan has a solid base. A good game could’ve been made with these combat mechanics, but sadly some abysmal level design makes this 4-hour game a complete chore to play. When an uninspired boss rush level is arguably the best part of the game, then you know something went wrong.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is an utter disappointment, failing to return the game to its arcade roots. Perhaps it would have fared better as a side-scroller, dropping the regrettable meaningless tasks, and instead featuring the four turtles battling countless of Foot Clan ninjas until you reach the boss. The combat doesn’t feel smooth as the game is limited to 30FPS, instead of the typical 60FPS that PlatinumGames deserve. There are collectible comic book covers to find, but the game’s over before you know it and is almost fully priced as well.
I can only recommend this for only the hardcore of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans. For everyone else, you may want to think about putting down $40 dollars (PC) or $50 for consoles and instead try to rent or wait until the price drops. Sadly it seems that Platinum Games either doesn't excel when it comes to licensed games and should focus more on their own IPs, or at the very least take a pass when it comes to doing video game adaptions of tv shows.
As mentioned above the game is only about 3 hours long and unless you want to get an S rank on all 9 stages on all difficulties there’s really no reason to replay it at all.
One of Platinum Games’ more disappointing offerings – too short and too simplistic.
Mutants in Manhattan looks flashy and captures the spirit of the Turtles, but the campaign is over in a flash and the combat is boring and uninteresting.
Mutants in Manhattan does just enough fan service to make TMNT fans almost forget how mediocre this game is.
Not a Megan Fox in sight... and it’s still terrible.
It’s clear that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan was aiming to be Left 4 Dead with Ninja Turtles, which does sound awesome, but it’s too focused with cramming in elements from other games as well, including the classic TMNT arcade brawlers and Arkham Asylum (down to the Detective Vision and stealth takedowns).
TMNT Mutants in Manhattan stayed faithful to the comics in terms of art style and funny dialogue, but it failed everywhere else. There's a lack of innovation, and the replay value of this short game is shot by the fact nobody will want to play it again. If you just have to have your turtles fix, and can't get the NES/SNES arcade games, wait for this to hit the bargain bin.
I understand that it would have been difficult to keep free-roaming intact in a few of the levels without developing a dynamic split-screen system, but that would have been really nice to see and I can't help but feel like Platinum missed a huge opportunity there. Be that as it may, this is still a game that you'll love to play with your buddies. It's a mindless, campy, action-packed, Saturday morning cartoon that you get to control, and that's exactly what we want in a Ninja Turtles game. Rent this one first and see how you like it, or else wait for a sale - it's hard to pay $50 for a game that you can beat (on normal) in less than 7 hours. If you have even one friend who might like to play with you, though, it's totally worth it, and all of the upgrades and secrets will keep you occupied for months.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a repetitive hack n' slash that forces the player time and again into encounters with samey enemies against a paltry selection of passionless backdrops. It's really only saved by the bosses, but the amount of filler you'll need to sift through to fight them just keeps a'coming.