Activision's third TMNT game: A thread of anticipated disappointment
 

We know Activision was working on at LEAST three TMNT games when they acquired the Nick TMNT license. Two have been released. Both games have been met with lukewarm-at-best responses from both fans and critics. I got some enjoyment out of them; definitely didn't hate them, but compared to most of the games I'm playing these days, they were very lacking. These are games only true fans could love. For casual fans or core gamers looking for a good game? They are easy passes.

In the wake of all this, It's reasonable to assume that we will see the third game in 2014 in some form. We know nothing more about it than that... yet.

For me, I think it's clearly going to be a movie tie-in game, probably available on just about every platform possible not so unlike their upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2 game (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS, PC). Does the thought of playing a new TMNT game on my shiny new PS4 pique my interest? Well, it would... but yeah. It's an Activision licensed-game. Gotta keep it in perspective here.

Being a movie game is probably not a good thing, since on top of their first two TMNT efforts being poor, we have decades of evidence showing that most movie tie-in games are mediocre cash-grabs with very, very few diamonds in the rough.

I thought we could speculate about this upcoming release while we wait for some actual news. What are your hopes and fears for this title? Do you think it will be a movie game or something else? What are your expectations for the quality of the game? All this and more! Let's get this party started :tcry:

I think you're spot on with the movie-based game, it sounds most realistic to me. If this is to be the case, it will probably be a half-hearted and unmotivated game that I'm most probably not gonna buy. Movie-based games tend to be like this, we all know it. The official Spider-Man movie game (from 2001) was quite good though.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they did some sort of a sequel to the recent Nic Toon-game, but since it was released just recently I kind of doubt this is what we'll get.

I havn't played the Nic-game but so far it's not given me any reason to play it really, apart from it being a TMNT-game. I think OOTS was an okay game, it had good elements and stands out from all the other TMNT-games, but overall it was really clunky and felt a bit rushed.

OotS could have been soo much better, the potential. But, despite its huge flaws I do enjoy it. And it's miles above the Nick game, which I bought for my 3ds and it was... Extremely lackluster, I played 1 level and I haven't picked it up since. Kudos for the voice acting, but beyond that it was very disappointing.

Third times the charm right?

I also believe that the 3rd game will be based on the upcoming movie, I bet they'll even have the same actors do the voices including Megan Fox since shes done voices in a video game before.

Refresh my memory, Out of The Shadows was released this past Fall and what other game did Activison oversee? I thought it was just the one?

The Nickelodeon show-based one from October.

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/...4-box_tmnt.png

Oh, I thought Out of The Shadows was the video game based on the show.:trazz: I only watch the new episodes and get the basic line of action figures as far as the Nick show goes. I still have Wii and DS...

OOTS suffered from camera & control issues. As for the difficulty, it came via bugs/glitches and a bit of cheapness. Those flaws aside it would have been a pretty perfect game for what it was attempting to be. If they did something in the vein of that but polished it up so those errors were not present, I'd be a happy camper. I'm not expecting much, though. It's much wiser to prepare yourself to be disappointed & be pleasantly surprised than to have high hopes only to be let down.

It's on Wii, dawg. Wii, 360, 3DS.

I still think OOTS on the PS3 could possibly be the best Ninja Turtles Game ever if they fixed everything wrong with it. For example, the glitches etc.

As for the Movie tie-in, I have hope seeing how they now know what worked and what didn't so we can assume it will probably be the best of the bunch. (Technically anyway, what with it being on PS4 & Xbox One...)

Being made by Activision isn't very promising but it's definitely better than Red Fly or Magic Pockets. They made one of my favourite games of all time: Spider-Man 2 Movie Game!

If the new TMNT is even half as good as that than we'll be fine. :)

We can confirm two things for sure:

1. The next game will be based on the new movie in 2014 most likely

2. It will probably suck

That's it.

I really wish Omega Force had this license. Their Warriors games, with all their flaws and graces, are quite a precise recreation of the classic belt-scroll genre in 3D--their musical attitude alone is closer than any post-Fred Wolf TMNT game has gotten to the classic sound, and they aren't ashamed of being more or less pure, do-or-die combat with hardly any intrusions. They even have the special moves to get out of really tight situations. Most of their most infamous flaws could also probably be addressed if they could focus on making a game with just a few playable characters.

For the record, it's something of a miracle that we ever got somewhat good TMNT games. Any license, if sufficiently beloved on its own, is essentially a license for adaptations to get away with sucking. That's true whether it means that it's a non-video game license made into a video game, or a video game license turned into, say, a movie. It even works for sequels within the same medium, though usually to a lesser extent. If profit is an ensured variable, then minimum investment is the most obvious tactic for maximizing profit.

So yes; a TMNT game sucking is definitely a safe bet. It was, in fact, a safe bet even when they didn't suck. As I said in another thread, there do exist good beat-em-ups these days, but they don't star the Turtles. They easily could; martial arts and melee weapons are definitely tools for a good game, and many exist, but most good games that exist are from franchises that started as games, because those games can't afford to suck. If you're making a new Double Dragon or Soul Calibre game, you must operate on the assumption that your audience has played the predecessors, and will not care to buy a follow-up that sucks. When you adapt a show or the like, you're shooting for a more naive audience. So you could make Double Dragon or Soul Calibur; except with turtles, but why bother?

I'm sure if the third game is a movie game it will be the best of the three.


Yup.

I haven't played the full OOTS yet but I did play the demo and I really like it so far. Definitely getting the full game soon. HOWEVER, I rented the other one for Wii a few weeks ago, beat the campaign in about 3 hours. It's bad. Plus, one of the combo buttons wasn't on the Wii remote or the Nunchuck. :tlol: I'm guessing the movie game will be bad. The only movie game that I liked was Amazing Spider-Man from two years ago on my 3DS.

The last movie video game that i properly enjoyed was Spider-Man 2 for PS2. Can't say I'm looking forward to this, due to the difficulty to create good TMNT games that occurred after Turtles in Time.

I don't venture that it's all that difficult for average game designers to make a good TMNT game. They simply have to put effort and care into it.

WHAT?! a game based on the movie?
They want to kill the series like Bay did with TF, right?...

Two reasons why this game will suck:Activision and a movie based game.
And I though that just Activision for its own were bad already.

It can't be worse than the broken game Activision released on 360/Wii. I swear that game couldn't have even been 50% finished at release.

How hard is it to make a simple 1-4 player(s) side-scrolling beat em up? Just make Turtles in Time with better graphics.