Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan Reviews
Platinum Games and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be a dream pairing, but a co-op focus makes for a game that's strangely compromised.
Even with a super-short running time, the repetitiveness that pervades Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan makes this fight a slog. I've heard all the jokes the team has to tell and have marveled enough at the rogues gallery of bosses – both of which I could’ve done by watching this game on YouTube rather than playing it – so I'm not planning another trip to Manhattan.
Platinum Games's take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a mediocre hack-n-slash romp that ultimately fails to become anything more than just that.
Controlling the turtles is fun, but the structure of the levels, missions, and bosses leave much to be desired
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhatten is both basic and overly complex, delivering almost none of the magic that made previous four-player Turtles games so memorable.
this is the longest short game I've ever played
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).
Does a good job of showcasing the spirit of the turtles, but never reaches its potential and will let you down with repetitive combat, lack of local co-op and bland environments.
Mutants in Manhattan is so aggressively dull and sub-par there’s little to no joy to be taken from playing it. Like a coloring book, it’s nothing more than a shallow collection of non-stimulating activities and disconnected clichéd references created with the purpose of alleviating mild boredom.
Given how much I was hyped for the game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is a bitter disappointment, meeting only some of the expectations I had and feeling like it was heavily rushed through development to meet a deadline. It’s not Platinum’s worst by any means, as it certainly looks and sounds the part, but the combat and level structure leave a lot to be desired. This is a classic case of a game that is more of a cowa-bummer.
Aside from the graphics, everything here stinks, which makes sense because a lot of the game takes place in the sewers, and also because this game is crap.
One of Platinum’s worst games so far, with dull and repetitive action that doesn’t do the heroes in a half-shell any justice at all.
That exact design decision is emblematic of most everything wrong with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. It does its best to spread little content as far as it can possibly go. It's a very short game that still manages to be far too long. The anchovies on the pizza is that it doesn't even necessarily succeed where Platinum Games usually excels. Cowabummer.
The only positive point I can make is that I didn’t completely hate it.
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.
This could have been the TMNT title for which all of the fans have been waiting, but sadly it is another missed opportunity and a dip in form for the usually brilliant Platinum Games. The level design and watered down combat leaving the game feeling more like a button mashing grind than the deep combat intensive hack and slash that it could have been. What remains is a distinctively mediocre title that might appeal to some hardcore turtle fans, but from a gamer's perspective, there's very little to recommend other than some easy achievements. There are certainly better hack and slash titles out there. For a full priced title, that's not much of a return on investment despite the short campaign.
It’s not going to blow anyone’s socks off, but for a TMNT fan, this beat ‘em up is still a decent time when partnering up.
The AI doesn’t do a poor job of controlling the other teammates, it just feels more natural to have real players as part of your team.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a game that had the potential to be as superb as last year's Transformers: Devastation. Instead, due to a movie releasing this week in theatres, it's clear that Activision rushed Platinum Games to push it out quickly. What's here isn't bad, but it needed to stay in the pizza oven a little bit longer for sure.
There is no way to justify TMNT: Mutanti a Manhattan: the combats are noisy and puzzling, it looks like the system has been made to confuse the players, and it keeps reminding how shallow the game developing has been. The few good aspects just fade away in front of its low-level production.
Review in Italian | Read full review