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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Sun, 1st Apr 2007
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Platforms: PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PCPublisher: UbisoftDeveloper: Ubisoft MontrealRating: PGPlayers: 1-4 players Wi-FiWebsite: tmntgame.us.ubi.com/

By the time you read this, TMNT the movie will be out, the game will be out and everyone will be revelling in TMNT hysteria! So, how do our little green ninja friends stack up on the PS2? Quite well in fact, and all without a single hint of age!

TMNT takes you back… way back to when the turtles had less than half shells and were only baby ninja turtles. Although it comes off as a cutesy attempt to show you how things were for the turtles ‘way back when’, I’m not entirely convinced it was a good move for the game. If you’re a big fan of the turtles, be prepared. The turtles go through a lot of changes in the game. This of course, was inevitable because it is now 2007 and obviously things in the world are changing – even if it is in the world of animated ninja turtles. Raphael is now called the ‘Night Watcher’ – a vigilante who fights evil. Apart from the mysterious persona, there’s really no big change to his role as a turtle. As for Leonardo well, he’s now in Central America whilst Michelangelo and Donatello actually have ‘real’ jobs. So as we said, changes happening left, right and centre for the little green guys. I can’t help but think that with all this change is there anything left that we, the TMNT loving public, can relate to?But don’t despair – everything comes together when evil returns and the legendary TMNT are called upon once again to do their thing as a team – and Cowabunga to that we say! The arcade feel to the game is unmistaken as is the influence from the ‘Prince of Persia’ franchise with the jumping, running alongside walls and superb combat sequences. There is a lot of running and fighting sequences in the game with a lot of repetitive game play. Perhaps this is something you might want to consider if you’re not a fan of repetitive game play with lots of fighting and traversing difficult terrain.The different levels and environments are varied and should keep you interested and entertained for at least a few hours. You may find some of the more challenging areas either really fun or really frustrating, depending on what your personal tastes are. Some of the physical challenges facing the turtles were made to test the best of us, even if you do consider yourself something of a PS2 guru!The turtles are all eventually unlockable and work best as a team for furious tag-team combat action! This is really one of the highlights of the game and something you should definitely work up to doing as you adventure. The enjoyable aspect of this is unlocking the turtles but also learning a little about who the turtles are behind those colourful masks.

Pros: •  It’s the return of the TMNT! That’s gotta be a good thing!•  The wall climbing and tag-team combat sequences are great funCons: •  Re-playability is probably a little on the low side•  Too much repetitive game play will wear away at even the biggest TMNT fan