Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan Reviews
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.
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.
Those looking for a game that will recapture the glory days of the arcade TMNT, Turtles in Time, or Hyperstone Heist will be sorely disappointed. Those looking for a for a beat 'em up and are willing to settle for some middling gameplay with great trademarked characters might be interested in Mutants in Manhattan—ideally at a discount.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a huge missed opportunity, that should have and could have been so much more. Turtle Power this is not!
In the end, it’s a good game for being licensed but at the same time feels like it was in a bit of a rush. Activision trying to make it out in time for Michael Bay’s next adaptation, when more cooking time in the “pizza oven” would have helped.
Ultimately, all that's wrong with Mutants in Manhattan was that it couldn't meet Platinum's own stratospheric standards.
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.
Controlling the turtles is fun, but the structure of the levels, missions, and bosses leave much to be desired
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.