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By now, most fans know that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made a comeback of sorts. They are back on TV, lunchboxes, and even have their own string of videogames. Much like the new cartoon, the games based on them just don’t have the same “it” factor that the originals did. They are decent, but end up second rate compared to what was offered the first time around over a decade ago. This holds true for Konami’s latest venture into turtle land with TMNT: Mutant Melee. This beat’em up tries to breathe more life into this fading franchise, and fails to really succeed, even at twenty dollars. What you get is a wannabe Power Stone, yet it is still better than Stake. Only the true die-hard turtle fans will want to wrap their shells around this one. TMNT: Mutant Melee uses a variation of the engine currently used by the previous two turtle games. This means it tries to capture that cartoon look in 3D, and does a passable job. The turtles and cast of characters are unique and well designed, pulled straight from the show. They also animate and move quite well, displaying a huge assortment of moves and attacks. What hurts this game is the confining conditions you are privy to fight in, which will make any Closter phobic hyperventilate. This would not be so bad if the environments themselves look good, but the bland exterior and repetitive backgrounds leave one yawning in the end.
Audio captures the feeling of the show with quality voice acting for each of the over 20 playable characters. The problem lies in that the catch phrases grow weary after a few rounds and you’ll be wishing you could step into the arena for personal reasons. The music is standard fare, providing upbeat songs to get you in that thrashing mode. Sound effects are equally as mild, providing the proper sound effects for grunts, groans, punches, kicks, and destructible environments, just do not expect to give your speakers a workout. Game play is pretty basic, yet frustrating at the same time. You have a good amount of moves and combos that you can perform. They are easy to pull off and execute. What gets under your skin is that most of the combos are unblockable, and once you are caught in string of moves, you must wait until the move set is over before you can block or counter attack. This can be frustrating on both A.I. and human battles. The movement also seems a bit out of place, as you never feel as if you have a total 3D control over your characters. Combine these faults with the aforementioned small battlegrounds and you have a formula for disaster. There is a good amount of goodies hidden here, but nothing so outstanding you are willing to sacrifice your time and patience for. You don’t start off with a large assortment of characters, so unlocking the 20 plus guys, mini games, and playing through the adventure mode with other character can lead to some necessary value, but don’t expect these extras to make up for a game that is broken in make up. TMNT: Mutant Melee feels like a rush job to get one last buck from the eager turtle fans out there. Don’t be fooled, if you liked the previous two turtle games, this one will leave you unsatisfied, if you didn’t, stay far away from this one. Only if you must own every turtle knickknack available should you spend the twenty bucks on Mutant Melee. I think in the end, it was the “secret in the ooze.”
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