I’m ambivalent about being a turtle
The Turtles (Teenage Mutant Ninja ones, on the very least) have a storied historical past within the sophisticate’s interest of alternative. I communicate, after all, of videogames. Sure! The heroes in a half-shell have starred in lots of a banger through the years, with glorious showings on nearly each main system and handheld. I suppose it is only a premise that lends itself brilliantly to gaming – 4 near-identical characters, every with signature weapons? Christ, you get a lot as a take a look at the slimy bastards and also you simply wish to begin enjoying them.
So, coming off glorious video games like Turtles in Time and Radical Rescue, I got here into the 2004 Recreation Boy Advance sequel TMNT 2: Battle Nexus with an open thoughts. And was instantly greeted with a recreation that opens every stage with the TMNT completely unarmed. Okay, recreation. Alright.
Sure, the purpose in every stage of Battle Nexus is to search out your chosen turtle’s weapon then utilise it to flee the stage. There are just a few derisory car levels, however by and enormous it is the very first thing. Discover weapon, discover exit. However previous to buying your engine of pugilism, you have to use that stealth. Which – as you nicely know – is not one thing that historically works very nicely in 2D. Certainly, there was one thing of a vogue for 2D stealth on the GBA round this time. Even the freaking Madagascar tie-in recreation had stealth sections. However I digress. The stealth is rudimentary within the excessive, with the sound you make not taken under consideration within the slightest. No, you’ve got simply go to keep away from being noticed, which implies ducking into alcoves and dodging searchlights. Even in the event you do get observed you’ll be able to simply duck right into a hiding place and wait, or depart the display. There isn’t any rating system and all of it principally shakes out the identical method, making it really feel like busywork.As soon as you’ve got received your stabber (or bludgeoner), issues change, and your secondary goal turns into extra manageable. Ah sure, there is a stuff-collecting component, too. Would not be a GBA recreation if there wasn’t! You are tasked with gathering uncommon blue crystals, a sure variety of that are wanted earlier than you’ll be able to progress to the subsequent world. On Arduous Mode, that is actually all of them, so do not play Arduous Mode. Problematically, the crystals are positioned in spots which are awkward to succeed in – not a lot troublesome to search out, however… awkward. Like there will be a side-route resulting in a crystal that is hidden inside a big rock. Solely drawback is, you’ll be able to’t break stated rock with out utilizing Michelangelo’s nunchuks, however you are at the moment enjoying as Donatello. That is a do-over. It seems like a pointless longeurto pad out the sport’s size. The problem is, after all, quick enjoyable video games are higher than lengthy boring ones, and Battle Nexus, gawd bless it, generally falls into the latter.
It is not a foul recreation. It is actually fascinating, with each stage feeling distinct and well-designed exterior of the aforementioned crystal hunt. It suffers compared to the unique GBA TMNT which is a way more conventional side-scrolling beat-’em-up executed with a whole lot of aptitude. It is a disgrace, on condition that Konami clearly tried to construct one thing totally different in Battle Nexus. They meant nicely, however generally meat and potatoes is healthier than turtle soup.