Having had ample time to test out both the single player and multiplayer aspects of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Xbox Live Arcade, we are ready to pass our stern and final judgment. The game is exactly what you remember from the arcades of yesteryear. From the cheesy dialogue to storyboard cutscenes, it's all there. The combat is as simple and addicting as it ever was. It's still pretty damned frustrating at times, too. Of course, players must keep in mind that this game was designed primarily to suck quarters directly from the pockets of children. Overall, the single player is completely intact, with nary a hitch to be seen. As an added bonus, you can continue as many times as you want (and you will be continuing ... a lot).The multiplayer, on the other hand, is a different story. Now, the multiplayer isn't broken, but we ran into a few problems starting up a decent game. The first three matches we joined were so laggy that the game was unplayable. On our fourth try, though, we ran into a group of people with decent connections and enjoyed a game that was (mostly) lag free. The multiplayer game offers players 20 credits each (poetically, this is the equivalent of a $5 afternoon at the arcade). The difficulty scales based on how many players are in the game -- with four players it becomes hard to concentrate because of all the enemies on the screen. Getting to the end of the game in multiplayer will require some skilled players and some serious teamwork against the game's ruthless bosses.
All in all, TMNT Arcade provides a fun experience. As with most retro titles, your enjoyment of the game may be directly proportional to your nostalgia for it. Of course, the big question is always whether or not an Arcade game is worth the points it costs. In TMNT's case, that question is easily quantified. The game costs $5 worth of MS points. That's equal to 20 lives at a quarter each (10 lives if you grew up in $0.50 arcades). If you can beat the game without dying that many times, then it's not worth it. For the rest of us, 5 bucks is cheap for a full game of TMNT. Throw in Live multiplayer, leaderboards, and the fact that even your non-gaming friends will want to play it, and TMNT is an absolute bargain.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-14-2007 @ 4:29PM
Drdre74 said...
cool I'll download it tonight after work.
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3-14-2007 @ 4:40PM
Cam said...
I'll agree to that. I played the first level this morning before work and it was just as I remembered.
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3-14-2007 @ 4:47PM
Mike said...
Is there local (as opposed to live) multiplayer as well?
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3-14-2007 @ 4:54PM
banjoker said...
LOL, I got SOOOOOO frustrated at how many times I had to Continue. This game is harder than I remember it being.
But seriously, Shredder, who puts huge boulders in their secret base as a deterrent against an attack by a team of giant mutated turtles who are also ninjas? I mean, I would never think of that.
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3-14-2007 @ 4:56PM
rinks said...
Anyone comment on the achievement difficulty? I'm still bristling over Contra's dumbness, but Worms seemed to get it just right.
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3-14-2007 @ 4:59PM
Tony said...
I don't think Contra's were too bad. At least it was more of "beat this level, beat that level" like a lot of them are.
The ones in this game aren't impossible, but they're challenging. It's not exactly easy to avoid some of these attacks by the bosses.
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3-14-2007 @ 5:05PM
Jonroach13 said...
Got two achievements in about 5 minutes of playing... one for beating April's apt in under 2 minutes and one for taking out 3 enemies at once... I hear the secret achievement is falling down a sewer 5 times... wow..hahah
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3-14-2007 @ 5:09PM
rinks said...
Yeah, it's falling into a sewer 5 times, worth 0 points.
www.achieve360points.com has the lists for anyone else curious- it's going to be hard to do some of the boss ones, but overall it looks reasonable. My biggest beef with contra was beating the game in 15 minutes.
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3-14-2007 @ 5:31PM
Benjamin09 said...
Yes it does have local multiplayer! Unlimited lives too on local.
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3-14-2007 @ 5:38PM
aragorn said...
rinks: the achievements rank from moderately difficult to insanely easy. The difficult achievements usually involve avoiding a specific boss attack, or taking only a certain amount of damage, while easier ones include beating the first stage in less than 2 minutes (cake-walk), to defeating three enemies with a single attack.
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3-14-2007 @ 5:54PM
Boomhauer said...
It's a little harder than I remember also,but it's soooo addicting lol
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3-14-2007 @ 7:42PM
SuicideNinja said...
$5? Sold. Not sure why...could just as easily use the PC to play the game (with 360 controllers). Must be the allure of achievements and online play?
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3-14-2007 @ 9:00PM
DeadPlasmaCell said...
400 points is a steal.. this game is just like I remembered it.. well kinda, I wish they would have had the original character select screen, but overall it's pretty good. Multiplayer kinda has some issues if you have someone with a bad connection, it boggs down a bit.. but if all the connections are good, then all is good. Also, can other players not join your game once it starts??
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3-15-2007 @ 12:13AM
Matt said...
MS not releasing this in Australia is absolute crap. Does anyone know why?
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3-15-2007 @ 1:17AM
NuAngel said...
Achievements aren't bad. I bought the game 6 hours ago - spent 1 hour in a wal-mart, 1 hour at dinner, and 30 minutes out to dinner. I would roughly say I've clocked maybe an hour and a half in game, and I've already got 80 of the 200 achievement points, including the Zero Point "Secret Achievement:"
"In the Dark"
"Fall into a manhole 5 times."
I would have to say, though, this is the most fun game I've played on LIVE yet. It seems the people buying it and playing it the most are the people who remember it from the Arcade and NES, not a bunch of 10 year olds with high pitched annoying voices. ;) The commentary and in-game discussion was by far the funniest and most fun I've had in five months of xbox 360 ownership!
Nu
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3-15-2007 @ 2:49AM
Sean said...
What the hell is the point in letting single player or local multiplayer have unlimited continues, but limiting online multiplayer to 20?
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3-15-2007 @ 5:39AM
Tristan said...
Does anyone know if this will eventually show in Australia? I was dissapointed when I was told it wasn't being release here last night :-(
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3-15-2007 @ 8:04AM
Aaron said...
its crap, a lot of older game are crap when u play them 15 years later.
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3-15-2007 @ 6:58PM
brandon said...
I have it downloaded, cant wait to play it! It seems that all of these old school games are a lot harder these days... haha, but that makes it all the more fun right?
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