Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It's difficult to believe that the TMNT are now over 25 years old. I can recall the days when they first appeared on European shores with the foursome being renamed the Hero Turtles in the UK to prevent children from adopting the Ninja lifestyle. Controversy aside, the turtles (created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) were unstoppable and, as well as the original comic-book strip, they also had movies, a TV series and just about every type of spin-off merchandise you could think of. Not all of these were successful but one product that did stand out was the incredible arcade machine which delighted gamers in airports, cafes and rest stops the world over. Attempting to replicate this level of fun and action has proved to be an impossible task over the years, but has Arcade Attack done the impossible?

Gameplay

Arcade Attack will no doubt take older gamers back to the days of Double Dragon and, like the arcade classic, it is a side-scrolling brawler. You begin each stage by selecting two of the turtles, one of which you control and the other is controlled by the wonders of AI. Your fighting buddy isn't too bad either and he'll repeatedly throw himself into dangerous situations even if you opt to simply stand around and watch. This will cause him to run out of energy though, forcing you to revive him sapping your valuable health. You'll be most effective though fighting as a duo, which is a plus because that's all you can do and each level is filled with wave after wave of henchmen. The only time you'll deviate from this is when you interact with the odd destructible object, which will reveal food (for energy) or some type of weapon.

It's all over very quickly indeed though and given that the Story Mode is the main part of the game, far too quickly. Stage Mode allows you to revisit any one of the various stages to rack up your best score whist the self explanatory Survival Mode tests your fighting skills challenging you to 'stick around' for as long as possible. There's even a Boss Rush, which throws boss after boss at you (from the Story Mode) until you collapse. There's also a Multiplayer but unfortunately as this requires two copies of the game, you are unlikely to ever actually play against another 'real' player.

Controls

Given that this is an arcade style brawler, you'd expect there to be a fair few combos available using the various buttons and there are a lot of attacks at your disposal here. Unfortunately, due to the slow and clumsy movements, nothing really works as it should and while you can jump, attack, block and even use weapons, the result is simply a frantic button basher that requires so little in the way of skill that you can clear some levels without looking at the screen at all.

Graphics

While the environments are impressive they are of a 'fixed' 3D rather than fully interactive, open levels so you won't be able to wander around freely. The character models are also 3D (which we've come to expect these days) and they are well animated but the level construction makes your movement somewhat restricted. The highlight here though is the black and white, animated comic-book cut screens which allow the story to unfold with a great deal of style. It's just a shame the rest of the game isn't like this.

Sound

While the music is perfectly suited to an action title of this nature, it seems to be disconnected from the on-screen action so outside of the main theme music, everything seems to be incidental. The kind of music that plays during a film when nothing is really happening. The sound effects are best described as average and there's no voice acting at all which is a real shame as little of the turtles humor comes through with text alone.

Dual screen

Other than selecting menus, nothing.

Final comments

Apart from the above average production values, it's difficult to say anything positive about TMNT: Arcade Attack. The gameplay is incredibly bland and linear and there's no sense of achievement when you complete a stage. Worse still, the stages are almost identical. In fact, the whole thing looks and feels like a technical demo released as a full-blown game in error. Movie and TV tie-ins already have a very bad name in the gaming community and this has to be one of the greatest examples of why that's still true.

Pro: Nice Comic-Book Style Cut Screens.
Con: Simple, Linear, And Repetitive Gameplay
Final score: 3.2

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