Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze

Based on the amazing 2012 animated series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze is a game that I was very excited about before it was released. While we are looking at the Nintendo 3DS version of the game today. This is actually pretty much the same game as you got on the consoles as well. It is a very interesting idea for a game based on the Ninja Turtles and there are some pretty solid ideas here, but it does overall fall just a bit short in regards to being something truly special.

You Are A Rockstar

The story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze starts off great. You are about to name yourself, but Mikey jumps in and gives you the name rockstar instead. I liked this as it was a fun nod to the TV show where Mikey would name the villains. The thing is the story goes downhill from here. It lacks the charm and wit of the fantastic show and the few cut scenes that are featured do not really do much to drive the plot forward. The basics are, you are trying to stop a deadly weapon from falling into the wrong hands.

Turtle Metroid Vania

One of the things that made me excited before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze was released was the developer, Wayforward. These guys are the master of 2D games and they did an amazing job with the Batman the Brave and the Bold Nintendo 2DS game so I was excited to see what they did here. This is a Metroidvania style of game, you select your Turtle and you need to traverse the large map. Fight enemies, learn new abilities so you can explore more of the map, and do a lot of backtracking too.

It sounds like it should be a smash hit, a Ninja Turtles Metroidvania style of game is my idea of a good time. However, there are a few things holding it back. To start with, this game is really tough and the checkpoints are way too spread apart, I would imagine a kid playing this would get very frustrated. Also, the exploration feels far more like a chore than fun. It was like they had some great ideas for a game, but then had to rush to get it out the door.

Fighting For Your Brothers

Visually, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze is not a bad looking game. I have this on both the Nintendo 3DS and the Xbox 360 and it has a very similar, but kind of lower quality look to the console version of the game. Wayforward tends to make great looking 2D games, but this one feels like of lifeless. It does capture the look of the show, but the “world” here is rather uninspired. Also, the lip syncing during the few cut scenes is pretty damn terrible and this does take you out of things.

Pros:

• You can play as all four Turtles!
• It captures the spirit of the TV show
• A Metroidvania game with the Turtles is a great idea
• It is pretty much the same game as the console version

Cons:

• The game is way too tough and the backtracking gets to be a bit much
• The lip syncing in the cutscenes is laughably bad