Written by: John Perkowski

Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles are a concept that can practically sell videogames by themselves. You got four main characters, each with a different weapon, different fighting style, and a different attitude. Drop them in a game, fill it with the nameless hordes of the Foot Clan, drop in few recognizable enemies like Rocksteady, Bebop, and Shredder. Drop in April O'Neil for sex appeal and viola. You don't even have to think too hard about it. Make it traditional beat-em-up and you got money. As great as that concept is, Ubisoft Quebec decided to go a step further and explore the Turtle's Ninja heritage with some platforming segments that would make the Prince of Persia applaud. The question is, how does it play on the PSP?


FEATURES:

• Intense Ninja Fighting: Harness the power of Ninjitsu and become a master of combat. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo are playable and each have unique acrobatic moves, weapons and combat skills, such as Michelangelo’s fast nunchuck face slap and Raphael’s powerful Sai throw.
  
  
• Unique Acrobatic Navigation: The Turtles jump from rooftop to rooftop, scale tall buildings, dive into sewers and race through every corner of the city to confront their enemies.
  
  
• Powerful Tag-Team Moves: Together the Turtles can team up to reach locations unattainable alone, or defeat the enemy.
  
  
• Diverse Enemies and Bosses: Characters from the movie and the original comic book series – including the Purple Dragon Street Gang and the infamous Foot Clan – and a whole new group of enemies creep out of the shadows to face the Turtles.

Here we have a straightforward action game mixed with some platforming elements. The two NEVER mix in the game, so they should be each addressed separately. Essentially, you spend some time leaping through the city likes its a playground until you reach a combat zone. Then, you whip out your signature weapon, and go to town. Sounds good right? Well, no. While there is fun to be had in this game, its hidden behind well meaning and dull simplifications.

Lets start with the better of the two parts: Platforming. We all know Ubisoft can do a great platforming sequence. Ever since they resurrected Prince of Persia (himself a sort of Middle Eastern ninja) and showed us what a gymnast can do, we have loved their style. This game, isn't like that. You see, instead of navigating a city trying to determine which path you can use the awesome turtle's ninja abilities on, you are instead stuck on linear path with pre-determined leaping points. There is no wall running, no real climbing, and no figuring out where to go or how to get there. The path is in front of you, all you can do is follow it. Triangle leaps you forward, Circle and Square leap you right and left respectively. To be fair, Ubisoft makes this part very fun by mixing things up a bit. Some places require you to swing, jump quickly, or slide with correct button timing. If your great on your timing, the Turtle you control will speed up until he eventually moves much like a ninja in japanese anime; swift and sure. interspersed through this area are numerous crates filled with Pizza (for health), concept art, and medallions which spell out T-M-N-T.

The theme of the movie is brotherhood, and it plays out int his game as well. Occasionally, another Turtle brother will appear and challenge you to a ninja race. When this happens, you have to reach the point where they are standing with in a limited time. if you do that, you get to skip some of the trickier areas (because your Turtle brother helps you past them quickly) and gain a team up attack. This can be used in combat, which I will explain later, and makes mastering these sections an exciting challenge.

Combat is where the game suffers. In this game, its dull to the point of being an afterthought. Every turtle gets a three hit combo as their main form of attack and have the ability to block. Blocking takes away health, which I assume was meant to encourage a player to go combo crazy. The problem is these Turtles, which moved so gracefully across the rooftops, must have missed a few days of ninja combat training... And by days, I mean years. Each turtle has the same basic attacks and moves with he speed of someone who can't swim trying to box underwater. You'll find yourself constantly swinging at air, while your enemies have the ability to sidestep and block with no problem. Eventually, you'll gain an area attack, downed enemy attack, and other ninja worthy moves. You will need them, but not as much as you will need your Team Up attack. With he simple press of the triangle button, your Turtle brother will leap into the fray, weapon swinging. Sometimes he is useful and sometimes he is necessary just to survive. Boos fights also devolve into patiently running around in circles while waiting for the every to make their signature attack, so you could press Circle to dodge it and counter attack. More often than not, this dodge puts you in the WORST position for a counter attack, and by he time you reposition yourself to take atvantage of it, the window to attack is lost. Joy. You'll notice I didn't mention any specific Turtles, right? Thats because you don't get to pick which Turtle you use for any part of the game. Don't like Leonardo? Tough luck. Hate Mikey? Got to play as him. Love that staff? Too bad, you got the sai. The good news is since the combos are generic, you'll feel like your playing the same turtle anyway, so you can always pretend. Multi-player tries to liven things up with Ninja race and Joint Battle modes. My advice? Stick to the Ninja racing and avoid the combat as much as possible.

It should be noted that the graphics here are top notch. Its easy to distinguish small details and each Turtle's signature headband. But good graphics cant make up for a half good game. Rent it if you like, but don't buy it unless you are a hardcore TMNT lover.