Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (new) (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Believe it or not is was over two decades ago when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took over the world with everything from action toys and comics to fancy dress costumes and even a big screen outing. They have recently regained popularity thanks to a new cartoon TV series, which began in 2003. Fast-forward to the present day and the Turtles are in cinemas again, only this time a great deal darker and in CGI. In addition to this we've seen the re-release of many of the toys. One thing we didn't have then though were the powerful consoles we enjoy today and to fully embrace this, Ubi Soft have released this game on many of the current and next-gen platforms. This version appears on the oldest platform, many developers believe that the GBA is set for retirement. Good news then that it stayed around just long enough to get a version of TMNT. So, is there still any life in Nintendo's oldest handheld or should it be pensioned off as soon as possible?

Gameplay

While TMNT is just about as simple a game framework as they come it is also one of the best examples of its genre. Taking its lead from the likes of Double Dragon, you play as one of four Turtles fighting your way through wave after wave of enemies. Most defeated enemies leave behind collectables, some of which are credits that can be traded for extra moves and health. After this you'll meet an end-of-level boss and that really is it for the main part of the game. Most of you will no doubt complete it in around three hours. There is extra gameplay though thanks to the mini-challenges some of which we're still attempting to beat now. There's also a trophy case down in your sewer home that needs filling but silverware is only awarded when you fulfill criteria such as completing a level in a given time limit or without losing a life.

Controls

It's fair to say that, on the surface at least, TMNT appears to be just another button basher and, while you can simply press A and B as quickly as possible, the actually combat system is far deeper. It's not until you spend some time with the game that you'll discover just how varied your attacks can be. You'll also be pleased to know that not only can many of the environments be destroyed, but you can also pick up a lot of the objects lying around and launch them at anyone who wishes to attack you.

Graphics

Games on the GBA could always look stunning in the right hands and there are dozens of examples of this in the back catalogue. TMNT can comfortably join this collection, as the overall presentation is really quite impressive. What's most surprising is just how satisfying well-designed pixel art can be. Not only are the backgrounds more detailed than some CGI titles but also the animation is fluid and plentiful. In addition the game shows absolutely no signs of slowdown even when there are some eight characters on the screen at once.

Sound

If you were caught off guard by the quality of the visuals on such an aging platform, then the odds are you are going to be just as surprised by the audio. The various pieces of music are actually quite memorable. The same is true of the sound effects, which have been well crafted and implemented. There are even some voice samples to complement the repeated grunts and groans as you defeat yet another gang of thugs.

Final comments

We're a little late reviewing this but as we've pledged to give all the remaining GBA titles the once over so we thought we'd better keep our promise. Also in an all formats release, the GBA version consistently scored higher than any other platform. The reason being: simple, rewarding gameplay. You see, whilst you can improve a lot of things with more powerful kit, every release seeks that elusive playability factor and this GBA version has it in bucket loads. It doesn't look or sound too shabby either and the only criticism we can come up with is that there's no multiplayer and the main game is a little on the short side. Still this could be one of the last great GBA titles and for that reason alone it belongs in any serious collection.

Pro: Solid Gameplay, Great Sound and Graphics, Loads of Replay Value.
Con: Only Seven Levels, No Multiplayer.
Final score: 8.2

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