“TMNT”

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

FYI rating: 5/10

With the theatrical release of the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flick comes the movie-based video game, available for most major gaming consoles and handhelds.

The 360 incarnation is basically the same game as the Wii, GameCube, PS2 and PC versions. You’ll play as the world’s most fearsome fighting teens, whose mission is to clean up the streets of New York City in 16 stages of platforming ninja action.

Despite being a 3-D game, the path you must take through the stages is extremely linear with little room for exploration. Most of the stages last around 15 minutes, approximately 10 of which will be spent running and jumping across city rooftops.

To help you get to your destinations, you’ll be able to briefly run along walls to cross chasms as well as perform wall jumps where you are able to leap back and forth between walls in close proximity to climb your way to the top of a structure. Both mechanics may be familiar to those who have played Ubisoft’s excellent platform-action series, “Prince of Persia.” You can also switch between Turtles at the press of a button to take advantage of their different abilities – Leonardo can phase himself through grating, Raphael can climb walls using his sais, Donatello can spring himself over pits, and Michelangelo can spin his nunchakus to briefly hover. While the game mechanics are fun and work well for the most part, they grow very thin over the course of the 16 stages and there is very little variation to break up these repetitive actions.

At two or three certain points in every stage, you’ll be ambushed by groups of thugs who could pass as identical twins. Fending off your attackers is fairly simplistic – one button will kick while another will attack with your Turtle’s signature weapon. You’ll also be able to perform a brief brotherhood combo attack with another Turtle that differs for each of the brothers.

The main game clocks in at roughly four hours. On top of that, you’ll be able to get maybe an hour’s worth of playtime from bonus stages, unlocked by performing well during the normal stages. Completing the bonus stages will net you additional shell coins, which in turn unlock concept art for the game or short clips from the new movie.

Seeing as the target audience is children, challenge in the game is understandably low, as much of it is spent performing simple run-and-jump maneuvers. You’ll also quickly find that Michelangelo’s brotherhood combo attack is far superior to his other brothers’, and using it makes battles a breeze.

The biggest flaw to be found here is the lack of a multiplayer component, which most Turtles games in the extensive series have had. It’s a shame, too, because this is one of those games that begs to be played with your buddies. Even playing alone, there is no way to have computer-controlled Turtles fighting alongside you, except for during the brief brotherhood attacks.

The visuals are appropriately dark and the Turtles look good and are animated well. However, the graphics are essentially the same across all home console releases and the game fails to take advantage of the 360’s superior processing power.

The soundtrack is very well done, featuring live instruments that convey a dark and mysterious mood. The sound effects are sometimes a bit on the cartoonish side but are usually appropriate.

Overall, the game is a decent diversion for a short period of time, but quickly grows tiresome with its repetitiveness. Consider this game a rental-only.

“TMNT”

Platform: Game Boy Advance

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

FYI rating: 7/10

The Game Boy Advance version of “TMNT” features seven stages of side-scrolling action and is very reminiscent to the classic 1989 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” arcade game. This version is even shorter than the 360 version, clocking in at a scant 90 minutes. Surprisingly, though, it is the superior game.

This game is unique for the Turtles series because you gain experience points from fighting to level-up your Turtle’s power. You can also collect money dropped by enemies or earned by completing training exercises that can then be spent at shops found between stages, where restorative items and even a couple of additional ninja moves can be purchased.

The game features many destructible and interactive items in the environment, unlike the home console versions. You’ll be able to pick up things like mailboxes or parking meters and hurl them at your opponents, and the more of them you use as weapons, the more experience points you will gain.

Like the other versions of “TMNT,” the GBA version is missing a multiplayer mode, which could have upped the fun factor of the game significantly. However, this is not as big of an issue here as the home console versions, since it might be difficult for some players to find others who own a GBA, a link cable and a copy of this game to link up with.

Three different difficulty settings will help gamers of varying levels find just the right amount of challenge for them. Easy mode is perfect for young children while hard mode will prove a challenge to even the toughest war-torn action gamer.

Visuals in the game have a cartoonish look and characters appear as 2-D hand-drawn sprites with great animation.

The game’s soundtrack is different than all other versions of the game and is more pop/rock than cinematic, but still excellent. In the end, “TMNT” on GBA proves to be an extremely entertaining experience. Too bad there isn’t more.