Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

For many years, the heroes in a half shell have been part of many childhood memories, with TV shows, films and various forms of merchandise helping to keep the franchise alive, even when it seemed like it was on its last legs. A recent resurgence in the franchise with a CG-animated film has brought them to the spotlight once again and while there have been very few games worthy of the license, those that have proven good linger long in the memories of gamers. Ubisoft are taking on the license once again this time with the help of Game Arts, a company made up of many of the key developers in the recent Smash Brothers titles, to try and return to the days of old with a good game.

Gameplay

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up is Ubisoft's attempt to produce a game along the lines of some of the prior workings by the developers at Game Arts. In its basic form, it pits you against a friends or computer controlled opponents in an arena style, 2D brawler much like the Smash Bros. series of games. From the get go, the similarities to the aforementioned series become blindingly apparent, with the modes on offer being virtually carbon copies of those seen in that game. There is no Story mode for the game and so the Arcade mode provides the crux of what the game has to offer and provides the main way in which bonus items can be unlocked. Through this, you'll choose one of the fighters who take pride of place within the Turtles team, these being any of the 4 turtles themselves along with the likes of Master Splinter, Casey and April, and then take them through a short story, penned by one of the co-creators of the franchise, Peter Laird. It'll have you fighting the remainder of the Turtles team in a faux tournament after which you'll be brought into contact and have to defeat Shredder and his minions. Interspersed throughout the matches are the odd occasions in which you can play through some small mini-games to earn shells to be used to unlock trophies and figurines in the Extras area of the main menu. While it's certainly an interesting aspect of the game, the Arcade mode ultimately falls on its face, with there never being any differentiation between run-throughs with different characters other than a change of stage. It's a shame then that the most elongated mode suffers in this way.

Out with the Arcade mode, there is also a robust Mission mode, offering up 50 unique challenges for you to progressively work through on one of 3 difficulties, as well as a Survival mode for you to dive into, where you have to see how long you can last against a never ending onslaught of opponents. The former mode provides some extensive gameplay as the challenges become progressively more difficult while the latter mode provides something for the high score enthusiasts to come back to and beat. Alongside these, there is of course extensive offline multiplayer options, from standard deathmatch settings to tournament and swap out options, allowing up to 8 players to get stuck into the mix. Finally, the mini-games encountered in the Arcade mode become unlocked for play outside of this mode after you complete said mode and so with all of these things, there is a substantial enough amount of content as it is and it's all very enjoyable. But not being contented with this, the developers have included a slew of bonus content, from videos to concept art as well as custom trophies, which can be played for in your custom tournaments, and figurines. There's a huge amount of stuff hidden away for you to get hold of meaning the game really has some legs to carry on for months to come.

When it comes to the fighting, which is what the game is all about, it's clear again that Smash Brothers has been the inspiration here, but instead of ring-outs being the main way of defeat, it comes down to a life bar here. You have a standard attack along with ability for specials and grabs, all of which have different variations depending on the direction in which you press along with these. Items and power-ups also make an appearance giving you some additional ammo to throw at your opponents and some of the stages themselves have instant kill mechanics, such as alligators or killer whales, along with environmental hazards meaning that things are always perilous should you make a mistake. The main problem with the fighting, however, is that is just feels lacklustre and very heavy, with it hard to break out of a combo when an opponent has dodged and is now about to send you flying. It lacks the pace to excite and combos are minimal making it a very hit and dodge kind of game. Jumping is also very floaty meaning you can be suspended in the air for what seems like an eternity and this would have been ok if the combat translated well over to the mid-air but it doesn't. Couple all this with a roster of only 16 characters, 3 of which are a variation on each other, and an equally paltry selection of stages and you'll start to wonder how the gameplay went so wrong when there is enough in terms of content.

Controls

Much like Brawl, all conceivable control options are supported, from the Wii-mote on its own to the Gamecube controller and everything in between. All setups work well, resorting to the use of standard button presses thankfully, and which you choose to use when it comes time to play will come down to your own preferences of controller or what you may have used when playing Brawl. You have at your disposal a standard attack, a special attack button and a button using picked up items but thankfully a jump button has been included and so you won't need to rely on the awkwardness of pushing up on the analogue stick. The controls are as good as can be given the lethargic nature of the gameplay but you will at times find that your character will occasionally turn and attack nothing when you've pressed in the direction of an opponent. This will undoubtedly frustrate people as combos cannot be interrupted to counter incoming attacks.

Graphics

The visuals, like much of the game's content, owe much to the Smash Brothers games. The level design feels very much like it has been heavily influenced by the aforementioned series and there are striking similarities between some of the stages on offer. The stages are well designed for the most part, showing environmental degradation on certain objects which ultimately change the way the levels are played but a lack of imagination prevents them from being anywhere near as memorable as they could be. They also lack some general polish, with textures looking of a low quality and objects being of a low poly count. The water effects, which are a theme in many of those on offer, do look good however. Character models bear a resemblance to those seen in the more modern editions of the franchise, something which will delight newer fans but alienate older ones. They all look good and are animated well through their entire move sets and the inclusion of the Rabbids as unlockable characters is a nice touch, but feels more like a gimmicky afterthought rather than a fully fleshed out inclusion as they just don't fit in with the game's aesthetics. All in all, though, the game looks good but it can't match the come quality of Brawl.

Sound

A mixture of rock and metal makes up the not so eclectic soundtrack and while it certainly packs a punch and provides some bravado for the gameplay, it feels slightly more out of place than it should with the strong nature of the music not truly flowing with the action. There are some small nods to the franchise and some of the music from there, but these are few and far between. The comic book style cutscenes for the game's Arcade mode are all voiced and it's done well but the scripting feels unnatural and just plain cheesy while the announcer does nothing but bring about the notion that once again this game is trying to be just like Smash Bros. Brawl.

Special features

The online options allow you to either play through various match types with friends whose friend codes you've added, with match types including standard two player death matches to swap matches, for up to 8 players, to tournaments. It's a decent enough selection and the latency of the connection when playing with friends is low enough to keep lag to a minimal or non-existent stance. You also have a matchmaking option, allowing you to play with up to 4 random opponents from around the world. Trying to get matches here for reviewing purposes proved to be difficult but once you get them, the options you have at your disposal are limited as you're dropped into a match with opponents with settings determined based upon the settings either you or your opponents made beforehand. There is some lag when playing in this setting, much like in Brawl, and it can be frustrating but its manageable, if only just.

Final comments

In attempting to emulate the Smash Brothers series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up unfortunately comes off worse than it should have with the fighting failing to capture the same excitement and intensity that those games garner. It's strange that the same level of attention wasn't spend in that area because the game is bursting with content and bonuses and it just seems like the game could have done with some fine tuning to iron out the problems and turn it into what is should have been. Even with a small roster of characters and stages and the issues, the game still manages to be entertaining and a great accompaniment to the other fighting games on the system.

Pro: Extensive amount of content and bonuses to play through, controls are great, addition of environmental kills and hazards livens up the action considerably
Con: Fighting feels lacklustre and slow, presentation isn't as tidy as they could have been, paltry selection of characters and stages
Final score: 7.3

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