Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan Reviews
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.
Not a Megan Fox in sight... and it’s still terrible.
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.
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.
Mutants in Manhattan does just enough fan service to make TMNT fans almost forget how mediocre this game is.
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.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan’s charming visual style doesn’t make up for repetitive level design and combat that would leave even Master Splinter frustrated.
Perhaps after such goodness in licensed games such as 'Arkham' and 'Mordor' I have become spoiled, but I really thought Platinum could deliver a great (or at least good) Ninja Turtles title, especially after their decent work with the Transformers. Sadly, I was mistaken. This is a very short and very weak rendition of the Turtles. With the exception of perhaps the youngest and most devoted fans of the pizza-loving reptilian brothers, it can be easily skipped.
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.
In the end, Platinum didn't need to do much to make Mutants in Manhattan a worthwhile experience. All it had to do was respect the source material, create some satisfying combat mechanics, and honor the series' local multiplayer origins. It failed largely at all three.
But even with the admittedly enjoyable boss fights, all the letdowns of Mutants in Manhattan gave me an impression that this was just another rushed game. The mechanics were simple to understand; but it surely lacked the local co-op mode, and missing the satisfying achievement that each hack n’ slash / beat ‘em up game should always have.
There is absolutely no reason to turtle up the $50 for this game.
It's with a heavy heart that I have to say that this game is utter garbage of the hottest variety.
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.
You could refer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan as the best TMNT game in years, but that really doesn't mean much. While there's a moderately entertaining co-op experience underneath the lazy level design, short game length, bland missions, occasional bugs, and minor kinks in the combat system, the quality and value most certainly aren't in line with what we expect from a $50 game. Sure, it could be worse (look at the last three TMNT games, for example), but it's especially heartbreaking considering Platinum's history of delivering fantastic action games. This is not Bayonetta. It's not even Transformers: Devastation. Don't shell out your hard-earned cash when you could spend it on delicious pizza instead.
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.
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.
I’m looking forward to Platinum Games returning back to what they do best—creating original games with unique settings and fast character-action with crazy combos to learn. They can certainly make these licensed games look fantastic, but nearly everything else they leave little to desire.
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).
Controlling the turtles is fun, but the structure of the levels, missions, and bosses leave much to be desired