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Mutant madness, or mutated mess? Full review.
November 21, 2005 | 2:21 PM PSTby: Andrew Chappellie
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have continued to survive through the years; be it through hiding in sewers, shining in the limelight of a great cartoon series or even in the form of a never-ending line of action figures and poseables. And now the Turtles have made a showing once again in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare.
The story follows that of the new cartoon series and the previous games in the current-gen TMNT line. The Triceratons wage war against humanity, ol’ Shredder is up to his usual hijinks, and a warped scientist is trying to breed alien busters. The Turtles’ job, as the protectors of modern society, is to stop all of this madness before it has a chance to get off of the ground.
Features
Turtle Power
Fans of the TMNT cartoon will be greeted with a familiar theme song and a new CG intro highlighting some of the action and secrets that players may have a chance to discover for themselves. Upon starting a new game, players will choose the Turtle best fits the players’ liking. Each Turtle, while starting out essentially the same, will grow over time to become radically different and stand out from the others as an individual, rather than just being a different colored copy.
As players progress through Episodes, the game’s story, players will defeat countless enemies, and from the fallen, collect crystals. Players will then be able to head to an upgrade shop in-between game missions where players may freely spend any crystals collected by the Turtles. Here, players may purchase skills, upgrade existing combos attack combos, or equip various Ninja Scrolls.
While the game’s menus have virtually zero load times, it becomes increasingly annoying when players find themselves wanting to buy an upgrade for each Turtle. If players wanted to purchase say, an upgrade which allows a Turtle to hold extra shurikens, players must select the Turtle, choose the “Acquire Skills” option, find and purchase the skill, back all the way out, and choose another Turtle to repeat the whole process. If players have collected a copious amount of crystals, which is entirely possible, players may then choose to upgrade the Turtles numerous times. The simple inclusion of a means to scroll over from the skills screen, or any other screen, to another Turtle would have saved so much time and frustration from the upgrade process.
In order for players to find these numerous skills and abilities available to purchase, players will need to progress through the story. Doing so will then yield “Free Battle” modes, where players may replay select past stages with harder enemies and extra secrets to find. These harder enemies will drop more and better crystals upon being beaten, and for the player that wants to upgrade all of the Turtles as fast as possible, this is a very good thing.
Also in Free Battle mode, players will find special DVDs with often funny or informational clips from the cartoon series. These DVDs are well hidden and often only found after scouring the entire map, destroying every little thing that can be destroyed. To accompany the DVDs on these Free Battle maps are Ninja Scrolls. These scrolls, when equipped to a Turtle, will give them enhanced power. Be it the power to drain life energy from enemies upon striking them, or simply to hit harder or resist a certain kind of attack.
Players will quickly find that Ninja Scrolls are a hot commodity, and the collection of them is rather important. After collecting enough Ninja Scrolls, players will be able to attain the “Ultimate Turtle Mode”. When a Turtle enters Ultimate Turtle Mode, they become tougher, stronger, and can generally plow through a large number of enemies like nobody’s business.
While the acquisition of said Ninja Scrolls is very beneficial, players will find it woefully difficult to attain them all, as it seems that the best scrolls are, typically, hidden on the most annoying, obnoxious of stages.
TMNT3
The level design is some of the worst we’ve seen, leading players on seemingly wild goose chases as they will often find themselves going in circles before a clear objective presents itself. To make matters worse, if players find the Turtles are low on health, and have used up all available recovery items, the situation becomes not only annoyingly difficult to find the objective to complete, but perilously dangerous.
While playing the single-player mode, if players die, then players will be forced to restart the level, losing all collected crystals, Ninja Scrolls, and DVDs. In several missions, players will find that when they enter a particular room, all doors lock, and players will then be forced to defeat all enemies until the doors unlock and exiting the room is once again feasible. While that’s all fine and good, it quickly becomes infuriating to be trapped in the same room over and over again if players get turned around.
To offset the forced battles against copious enemies, each Turtle has a special “Ougi” referring to a secret, or hidden technique, not meaning each Turtle has a special folding fan. As players beat the snot out of enemies, an Ougi meter that is located directly under the health meter will begin to fill. When it’s full, players will be able to execute an Ougi attack, which in Leonardo’s case, sends a shockwave forward across the ground, instantly killing almost all enemies in its path.
These Ougis can be upgraded through the ever so delightfully fun to navigate upgrade menu. Each upgrade level may cost a large number of crystals, but will be well worth it in the long run. These Ougis start off almost not worth the effort it takes to press a few buttons and execute the attack. Yet when fully upgraded, can become lethal enough to clear an entire room of enemies. While players may find themselves repeatedly stuck in a room full of enemies, Ougi attacks become an incredibly valuable means of liberation.
The story follows that of the new cartoon series and the previous games in the current-gen TMNT line. The Triceratons wage war against humanity, ol’ Shredder is up to his usual hijinks, and a warped scientist is trying to breed alien busters. The Turtles’ job, as the protectors of modern society, is to stop all of this madness before it has a chance to get off of the ground.
Features
- 4 player simultaneous play.
- 3 episodes of play, each with 15+ levels.
- Several unlockables, including the TMNT arcade classic, Turtles In Time.
- Many ways to upgrade and customize the Turtles.
- Rated E10+ for cartoon violence.
Turtle Power
Fans of the TMNT cartoon will be greeted with a familiar theme song and a new CG intro highlighting some of the action and secrets that players may have a chance to discover for themselves. Upon starting a new game, players will choose the Turtle best fits the players’ liking. Each Turtle, while starting out essentially the same, will grow over time to become radically different and stand out from the others as an individual, rather than just being a different colored copy.
As players progress through Episodes, the game’s story, players will defeat countless enemies, and from the fallen, collect crystals. Players will then be able to head to an upgrade shop in-between game missions where players may freely spend any crystals collected by the Turtles. Here, players may purchase skills, upgrade existing combos attack combos, or equip various Ninja Scrolls.
While the game’s menus have virtually zero load times, it becomes increasingly annoying when players find themselves wanting to buy an upgrade for each Turtle. If players wanted to purchase say, an upgrade which allows a Turtle to hold extra shurikens, players must select the Turtle, choose the “Acquire Skills” option, find and purchase the skill, back all the way out, and choose another Turtle to repeat the whole process. If players have collected a copious amount of crystals, which is entirely possible, players may then choose to upgrade the Turtles numerous times. The simple inclusion of a means to scroll over from the skills screen, or any other screen, to another Turtle would have saved so much time and frustration from the upgrade process.
In order for players to find these numerous skills and abilities available to purchase, players will need to progress through the story. Doing so will then yield “Free Battle” modes, where players may replay select past stages with harder enemies and extra secrets to find. These harder enemies will drop more and better crystals upon being beaten, and for the player that wants to upgrade all of the Turtles as fast as possible, this is a very good thing.
Also in Free Battle mode, players will find special DVDs with often funny or informational clips from the cartoon series. These DVDs are well hidden and often only found after scouring the entire map, destroying every little thing that can be destroyed. To accompany the DVDs on these Free Battle maps are Ninja Scrolls. These scrolls, when equipped to a Turtle, will give them enhanced power. Be it the power to drain life energy from enemies upon striking them, or simply to hit harder or resist a certain kind of attack.
Players will quickly find that Ninja Scrolls are a hot commodity, and the collection of them is rather important. After collecting enough Ninja Scrolls, players will be able to attain the “Ultimate Turtle Mode”. When a Turtle enters Ultimate Turtle Mode, they become tougher, stronger, and can generally plow through a large number of enemies like nobody’s business.
While the acquisition of said Ninja Scrolls is very beneficial, players will find it woefully difficult to attain them all, as it seems that the best scrolls are, typically, hidden on the most annoying, obnoxious of stages.
TMNT3
The level design is some of the worst we’ve seen, leading players on seemingly wild goose chases as they will often find themselves going in circles before a clear objective presents itself. To make matters worse, if players find the Turtles are low on health, and have used up all available recovery items, the situation becomes not only annoyingly difficult to find the objective to complete, but perilously dangerous.
While playing the single-player mode, if players die, then players will be forced to restart the level, losing all collected crystals, Ninja Scrolls, and DVDs. In several missions, players will find that when they enter a particular room, all doors lock, and players will then be forced to defeat all enemies until the doors unlock and exiting the room is once again feasible. While that’s all fine and good, it quickly becomes infuriating to be trapped in the same room over and over again if players get turned around.
To offset the forced battles against copious enemies, each Turtle has a special “Ougi” referring to a secret, or hidden technique, not meaning each Turtle has a special folding fan. As players beat the snot out of enemies, an Ougi meter that is located directly under the health meter will begin to fill. When it’s full, players will be able to execute an Ougi attack, which in Leonardo’s case, sends a shockwave forward across the ground, instantly killing almost all enemies in its path.
These Ougis can be upgraded through the ever so delightfully fun to navigate upgrade menu. Each upgrade level may cost a large number of crystals, but will be well worth it in the long run. These Ougis start off almost not worth the effort it takes to press a few buttons and execute the attack. Yet when fully upgraded, can become lethal enough to clear an entire room of enemies. While players may find themselves repeatedly stuck in a room full of enemies, Ougi attacks become an incredibly valuable means of liberation.
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November 20, 2009
