Game Review #5: TMNT Smash-Up

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up was a fighter game, centered around the Ninja Turtles. It came out in 2009. I got it for my birthday that year, and I played it on the Playstation 2. Initially, what stuck out to me about this game was the animation and the environment. The graphics were a lot better than some of the other games I’d played for the PS2. The environments were also interesting, because they were dynamic. In other words, things could be moved, or things about your environment would change over time. For example, there was an environment where you were brawling on top of a moving train, and you had to make sure you weren’t atop it when it went under a tunnel. I thought that was particularly interesting at the time, as I’d never seen anything like it before.

I was excited to complete the game with each character, as there were alternate endings depending on which character you finished the game as. There was not much choice you could make in this game, as you just had to complete certain objectives during each level in order to achieve victory. An interesting aspect of the game’s atmosphere was that they included the voice actors from the 2000s TMNT television series with the 3D animated models of the 2007 TMNT movie. In other words, elements from 2 different TMNT series were being combined for this game.

Some of the mechanics that made this game work were the environments, alternate endings, and the varying objectives. Each one was unpredictable, especially if you were playing for the first time. You never knew what challenges you were going to face on each level. In addition, the game included different modes and objectives. During each level, you had to complete certain objectives, such as defeating your opponent a certain way, or hitting the opponent a certain amount of times. These had to be completed, otherwise you failed the level. The unpredictability of each level made the game dramatic, tense, and interesting, and ultimately enhanced the gaming experience.