Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - PS2

If you're old enough to remember Konami's original Turtles arcade game then you'll almost certainly hold fond memories of it. Back when the side-scrolling beat-em-up was the arcade game of choice, the game offered up to four players the chance to step into the shells of their favourite pizza-scoffing amphibious ninjas (or heroes, for us rather sheltered Brits) and kick some serious butt, kung-fu-style with the likes of regular bad guys Be-Bop, Rock Steady and Shredder. Absolutely everyone loved the TV show and, subsequently, everyone loved the game. Well, someone has decided that the ridiculously massive Turtles phenomenon should happen again - a new-look cartoon series is on the way and, as you would expect, an accompanying videogame is too.

Apart from the obvious visual and dimensional advancements, things are pretty much the same as in the original arcade game, with you assuming the role of their favourite Turtle and once again taking on Shredder's evil Foot Clan via the wonderful art of Ninjitsu. As such, you're offered four very different attacking styles as a Bo staff, nunchaku, Sai blade and katanas come into play within the game's free-roaming 3D stages. Perfectly mirroring the new TV series, the game's emphasis is most certainly on combat, the Foot Clan attack from all directions, leaving you to rely on the many throws, punches, kicks and attacks that the game offers.

As mentioned before, the new visual style means that everything is now in full 3D and also benefits from the now common cel-shading effect. As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's all unrelenting beat-em-up action against an onslaught of kung fu-fighting foes, with the inclusion of some rather huge end level bosses, taken from the new TV show. Obviously teamwork is the best way forward, so it's definitely a good idea to take advantage of the game's two-player co-op mode, which allows you to play through with one of your mates.

As befits the modern day beat-em-up, TMNT boasts an intuitive 'Combo' feature, which allows you to string up to 30 consecutive moves together and unleash the resulting barrage onto your opponents. The game also boasts a huge number of collectible items used to unlock additional moves and previously hidden features.

It seems that the Turtles are back and most likely soon to take over kids' lunchboxes, socks and duvet covers the world over. The best thing to result from this media-based epidemic last time was the video game - this latest title is looking to ensure that it will be the case again.
more