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TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SMASH-UP
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3.5 out of 10
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| Super Smash Bros. is probably one of the most beloved fighting game franchises in gaming history...So it seems only natural that, much like what happened with Street Fighter in the early 90's, that some shameless clones will make their way through the woodwork. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is a Smash Bros. clone in just about every sense of the word...However, as this game proves, you can make a game look, sound, and play like the original, but that doesn’t mean that it will necessarily be as good. In fact, in the case of Smash-Up, it’s almost puzzling as to why it’s so awful in comparison to Smash Bros...Well, that is until you begin to play it.
At first glance, this looks and sounds like Super Smash Bros: TMNT Edition. The announcer that announces who you’re facing and whether you win or not sounds quite similar to the announcer found on Smash Bros. Likewise, the game looks and plays exactly like Smash Bros. (cloned right down to the mini games after every few fights in Arcade mode) There are even level hazards and such to keep the fights interesting...However, just because you clone the look and gameplay style of a game, it doesn’t make it as fun as the game you clone. Smash-Up features so many flaws that the game turns from fun to boring before you can even finish the Arcade mode one time. |
 
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First off, the controls aren’t very responsive at all, especially when trying to use the Wiimote rather than a different controller. I don’t know how many times that while fighting, I accidentally hit a button that prevented me from attacking and caused me to just roll around, or prevented me from jumping in order to avoid a hazard of some sort. Also, half the time I was just fighting with the controls in an attempt to connect with an attack on my opponent. Seriously, if I see my character connect with an attack on the screen, I’d like to know why the game doesn’t register it...And for that matter, like I stated earlier, why in the world do I never feel like I’m in control of the character that I selected when using the Wiimote? I’m pressing towards my opponent, hitting an attack button, but I’m blocking instead of attacking? Why? The last five fights that same button caused Casey Jones to swing a strong attack with his hockey stick...And now during this fight, it suddenly makes him block? Oh, and don’t even get me started on how the game likes to randomly attack in areas nowhere near your opponent. While sometimes the game locks-onto your opponent, allowing you to back up and attack at the same time, other times if you try to attack while backing up, you’ll start attacking the air in the opposite direction of your opponent. It’s very frustrating and feels very cheap when your opponent gets offense on you based off of what feels like very poor controls. Using a more traditional controller like the Classic Controller or Gamecube controller helps the controls a little bit (and I never experienced the frustrating ‘my character is blocking when using the same button that I was attacking with earlier’ problem with these control schemes, either) but you’ll still struggle with them...Just not as often as you would without them. I could honestly go on and on about the controls...There are more control issues than I’d like to list here. I’ll just end it by saying they’re not very user-friendly...Anyone who plays the game for five minutes will quickly understand what I’m talking about.
I will, however praise the game highly in one area – level design. Some of the levels in which you fight in are an absolute blast to play in. My particular favorite has you battling it out on a cruise ship...Which eventually crashes into an iceberg and sinks, causing you to quickly hop atop of a whale floating on the ocean’s surface before the sharks swimming around make a meal out of you. Eventually, another cruise ship arrives and you’ve got to hop aboard it by using the water spewing out of the whale’s blow hole as the means to do so before the whale dives into the ocean depths and you’re left for shark food. This whole cycle repeats until either time runs out or there’s a winner. It’s very neat and fun to fight in levels like this...But, the fun quickly ends due to poor controls and weak movesets and power-ups; the beauty of Smash Bros. is the variety of movesets between characters and power-ups to use during fights...Smash-Up has about as much variety as a six-pack of Pepsi. But, some of the levels, like the cruise ship one mentioned above are worth experiencing despite all of the flaws within the game...I just wish that they actually had something to do with the Turtles. I mean the cruise ship is an awesome level and all, but what exactly does it have to do with the franchise? |
| Speaking of the variety, let’s get to the roster. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been around a LONG time....There are a lot of beloved characters that could have been used in the game and a lot of not-so beloved characters as well (certain members of the Tournament Fighters roster, anyone?)...So why exactly is this roster so weak? It is completely boring and there wasn’t a single character on the roster, from the ones available from the start, to the ones you unlock, where I was actually glad to see them. Where’s Bebop? Where’s Rocksteady? Where’s Krang? Where’s my personal favorite, Baxter Stockman? Some classic additions like the ones mentioned above would have been absolutely awesome to see and would have likely given me some nostalgia, which would make me enjoy the experience here at least a little bit...Rather than mostly be disappointed and frustrated as I played.
With that bit of bad, let’s talk about some more good, eh? The cut-scenes are pretty nicely done. They have a neat, artistic feel to them that will kind of remind long-time fans of the franchise of the original comic book that the Turtles were born out of. The cut-scenes are even in black-and-white like the original comic. There aren’t many cut-scenes in the game, but the few that are there are pretty well done. I personally believe that they should have added a cutscene in after every fight...At least then, you’d have something to look forward to after drudging through a boring fight other than just fighting another, boring battle. Also good is that the game has some replay value to it in the form of unlockables like hidden characters and costumes...But that will also be considered a bad thing by some as well since you actually have to play the game in order to unlock them. |
 
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The graphics here are average. They’re not going to wow anyone, but they’re not absolutely terrible, either. You can tell who is who and that’s basically all you really need here. In other words, the graphics are only good enough to get by without you wondering if the game designers got fired or not. The sound is completely forgettable. I just finished playing the game for a few hours straight prior to writing this and I honestly cannot remember a single note. I don’t remember reaching for the mute button at any time while reviewing this title, but I also don’t remember ever acknowledging the music at all while I played. So, I popped it back in as I typed this and I’ll say the same thing I said about the graphics; it’s good enough where I’m not wondering if the composer got fired or not...But that’s about the most praise I can give the forgettable audio. Overall, the cosmetics of the game are passable, but not above average in any way.
In the end, what we’ve got here is a game that tried to clone Super Smash Bros. from the look, all the way down to the gameplay...But pretty much failed in every single aspect. The controls suck. The character selection sucks. The variety sucks. Pretty much everything in the game made me depressed that I was wasting hours of my life playing it in order to write this review. Yes, the cosmetics are passable, but they’re nothing special. Yes, the levels are designed well, but there aren’t many different levels to fight in and most of them have nothing to do with the series. Yes, there is some replay value here, but most of the unlockables are so worthless (a commercial for season 7 DVD’s?....really?) that unless you’re a die-hard Ninja Turtles fan or someone who loves to inflict pain on yourself, you’re not likely to want to put yourself through the pain of unlocking everything this game has to offer. In the end, this game had potential but there are just so many flaws here that you can barely see it. If you ever receive this game as a gift from somebody, I highly suggest that you take the title’s advice and smash the disk up before you ever have a chance to experience the pain that it will bring you. - Ape |
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September 22, 2009
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