Ninja Turtle City Ransom! "BARF!" "Mamaaaaa!!!!"
 

Here's a hands-on preview of TMNT GBA. If you want to skip all the crap, know this: The GBA version so far is the only game out there with a good score. The other versions aren't worth your money!

I've only played through the first level, and the first thing that came to my mind was Ninja Turtle City Ransom... or more like New York City Ransom! Yes, that's a good thing! Every time you beat someone up, money falls out and bounces a few times before disappearing. You can pick up and throw quite a few objects in the stage, along with enemy weapon. You run around beating the crap out of everything. The controls are solid. The game has tons of moves, and the back attack is handled much better than Turtles in Time. Bouncing on enemies' heads is fun! I have no clue what the money is for right now, but I'm hoping I can shop for stuff with it.

Here's what I'm not happy with. The music sucks so far (keep in mind it's only the first stage). I actually found the amount of enemies on screen a bit disappointing. Again, it could be because I'm early in the game and only playing normal mode. The bad guys don't scream "BARF!" or "Mamaaaa!" when they're defeated. And... is that Hun (ok, so probably not really a bad thing)!?

Overall, this game has made a very good impression on me when I saw the first screen shots. It definitely had some Turtles in Time vibe when I saw the screens. When I play it, I also got a River City Ransom feel to it, too (maybe it's just the bouncing money and weapon objects). I am very happy with this game, and to me, THIS is what you should spend your money on. Seriously, I think you guys should boycott all the other versions and just buy the GBA version. You're not missing anything if you don't buy the other version, unless you want more crap in your diet.

I think I'll give the console version a rental but I'm definately getting the GBA one. Especially after hearing so many things like your post!

lol i love the way you describe the similarity to River City Ransom.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/5802/rsturtus3.jpg

See for yourself!

I played it and it's remarkably good, especially considering it's a licensed game. As far as brawlers go, it's actually one of the deepest and most polished I've played, and I'm not just saying that because it's TMNT. If it had co-op, it would be perfect, but it's a GBA game, so what can you do. I'm seriously considering picking it up once the price goes down.

nice!

now I guess the gba version could be the only true version of tmnt..

LogicDonny, you do know I edited that pic, right?

Ok, even more impressions!

I've gotten through 4 or 5 stages by now and have a pretty good understanding of the game. YOU DO BUY THINGS LIKE RIVER CITY RANSOM! They don't work exactly like it, but it's there. You can shop after each mission, play some weird mini game with April (though I don't know why I would pay her 25 buck to play a game that involves throwing crates at a cardboard cut out of the Shredder), and some other weird battle. I haven't figured out what's the point, but if you go all the way right of the shopping area, you'll fight enemies again. The object is to throw a certain amount into the truck. I beaten a few but haven't figured out what I get for completing it.

Now the good part about the game! Raph lovers are going to love it because right now, I've played 2 stages where you're forced to use only Raph. You can pick the other turtles in the other stages. The turtles each have their own strengths and weaknesses like Turtles in Time.

The fighting is surprisingly strategic. I found myself trying to get 1 hit kills for the tougher enemies whenever I can. There's a stage with these exploding barrels that can kill you or your enemies. The summon moves are pretty damn useful and also adds more strategy to the game. You can either summon someone to help you fight, or have them bring you food to restore health, and also unleash a super move! Of course you have to charge up the summon meter in order to use it.

The game's difficulty feels just right. You can feel the game slowly getting harder as you continue through the stage. The stages also seem to have some kind of theme to how to beat enemies faster. The second stage for example has quite a few exploding barrels that you'll try to use them to kill off enemies quickly, or another stage contains powerful enemies that you'll want to get as many weapons as possible to take them out quicker.

Now the bad part. The stages are unbalanced. There are some long walks through areas with no action. By long walk I mean like 5 seconds, but trust me, it feels a bit odd and makes the level longer than they should be. There's also quite a bit of repetition in the level graphics. They do change, mind you, but when you're in one area, it gets pretty bland until you've arrived at another section. The enemies are also a bit repetitive. I mean, in the old games, they were able to make the enemies feel different despite the fact that you're plowing through wave after wave of foot soldiers in different colors.

I also found the boss battles too easy and lame. Most of the bosses are defeated using hit and run techniques. By that, I mean you have to use hit and run techniques. Some bosses dash away at lightning speeds the minute they're hit, while Hun has this move that makes him invincible if you try to get more than one hit on the guy. You have to hit him, run away (or they automatically dash away), and then wait for another chance.

The game has some wasted potential as well. There are tons of destructible environments, but 95% of them don't contain anything. You just smash it just for the sake of saying you smashed everything in sight. It would have been cool if they hid more bonus items or collectibles, or extra points (you'll need point to level up) to make it more interesting.

The game is really short by the way. I've already finished it. Only 7 stages.

I also haven't seen Casey anywhere. Weird.

Seven stages? That's pretty weak. But it also sounds like something that you could have fun playing over and over again so I've very much considering buying it. I've played just a little bit so far and I hope to play more but first I'm going to play my rental copy of the GCN game. Which I also think is pretty good so far.

I got the Wii version yesterday, and it kicks ass!

Gamespot just reviewed the GBA version and guess what? It got an 8.1!!!! Yes, the GBA version is without a doubt the best TMNT game in years!

Yeah it's pretty short. Similar to old school TMNT games in that way as well. But it sure can be challenging. Something the console game severly lacks.

I've gotten to Act 5 or 6 since I bought this on Friday. So far it's my favorite of the movie games and I'm really glad I bought it!

You should play the minigames on the roof, there you'll see Casey and April

I've beaten it on Normal. I still didn't finish all the minigames, though. I'm going back through the stages right now trying to beat them without losing a life with every turtle available for the particular stage I'm playing. At the moment I'm on Stage 3 and I lost either one or two lives last time I played it.

It's hard to play with that kind of self-imposed challenge when you have no support character. Hey! Maybe I'll go through again after this challenge and try to beat every stage without using support characters!