TMNT Mutant Melee

“Time to kick some serious shell,” proclaims one of the four turtles. Normally, one would not consider that much of a threat, but – you see – these are not ordinary turtles. Having come into contact with a mutating factor, the turtles have grown to the size of small adult humans and become – what else? – ninjas. 

The story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is familiar to those who have delighted to their televised cartoon assault on the Foot (soldiers of the infamous Shredder), and the quartet of Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and  Leonardo have been quite proficient when it comes to dispensing martial arts justice, with a smidgen of turtle antics. Of course, the attitude is also a major draw when talking about these “precocious” teens.

Konami has tackled the turtles with the GameCube release of TMNT: Mutant Melee. The game gives players the option to play as one of the four (in the adventure mode) through a linear path that rarely branches (and yes, there are a few side-steps you can take for minigames) en route to the predictable final boss battle. Each level has obstacles to overcome, and successful completion earns tokens as well as the potential to unlock new levels and characters. 

There are 20 playable characters, though most do not come into play unless in the game’s melee match multiplayer-enabled segment. There are four multiplayer modes – Knock Out, Last Man Standing, King of the Hill and Keep Away. Each level, just as in the adventure mode, has power-ups and weapons hidden in boxes.

The environments are somewhat destructible, and the fixed camera is a high third-person perspective.

In the adventure setting, players choose from one of the four turtles (Raph, Mike, Don, or Leo). Depending on the turtle chosen, the story line can get a little harder. For example, if one takes the first turtle offered, you will face off against the others in one-on-one matchups. But if you take the last turtle on the list (Raphael), you will find the dojo-level challenges much more difficult. Rather than facing each of the others one at a time, you will face off against them in matches of 1v2 and 1v3.

As you progress through the adventure, which is detailed only in text, you will find that side trips are available. These are often the mini-game portions of the title. While the difficulty does ramp up a bit depending on the turtle selected to play as, the overall game is rather simplistic. This is an arcade-style action game geared more for younger players than older, more experienced gamers. And even then, considering the seemingly target age level, the game is not as detailed as younger games may want.

The sound of the game is incidental to the overall design structure. In other words, there is a taste of music, and repetitious turtle clichés sprinkled throughout. The controls are simple with a main attack, a secondary attack (A and B buttons), a block hot button, signature move (once you have powered up the meter to enable it), and the X and Y buttons are for action and jumping.

The key to the game is to bound about, avoid taking damage, break crates for powerups, and defeat your enemies or survive when time runs out (as in the minigames). You can attack while in the air (if your opponent is in the air), and you can pick up objects and enemies and toss them about.

Graphically the game is average, with fluid animation and bright lush environments. The only problem with the semi-destructible environments is that they are not overly developed and are simple affairs.

That is probably the best way to describe this game. While not a bad game, it just lacks innovation, and a sense of excitement. It is repetitious and limited in scope.

Gameplay: 5.5
Repetitious button-mashing gameplay that rarely engages the brain is the undertones of this title. The simple control scheme does not take long to understand, and the challenge does improve as you progress through the game, but it felt fairly short in terms of length of the game. And the game almost has as much time devoted to load times as it does to playing the game.

Graphics: 6.5
The levels are not big, but the animation is smooth and the game – overall – is bright and colorful.

Sound: 5.0
Repetitious clichés spout from the turtles, and this gets old after a short while.

Difficulty: Easy
There is the standard array of difficulty settings, but this game is not overly challenging, and even if you fail at one level in the adventure setting, you can begin anew quickly.

Concept: 5.0
The story/adventure mode is more of the same at each step along the way. Because of the limited actions, players basically bounce around the level, which is not overly big, and attack from angles to hit without being hit. The levels are not all that intricate, and the interface is simplistic – which more or less sums up this game.

Multiplayer: 6.0
One of the ‘saving’ graces of this game is the multiplayer arena combats with up to four participants. The AI can be adjusted in terms of difficulty settings if you lack the numbers on connected controllers.

Overall: 5.5
Repetitious and lack of original gameplay makes this a less-than-exciting title. The martial arts animations are good, the action is fast-paced, but the game fails to generate enthusiasm. The multiplayer elements would fit either the Turtles or the WWE-backstage circuit easily. This is a title that TMNT fans may enjoy but it lacks anything fresh to lure in melee-combat fans.