Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

"Perfection or Purgatory???"

Well, the long awaited Ninja Turtles game for the Gameboy Advanced has finally reached us. However, is it the fantastic saviour of the series that we wished for??? Well...maybe. While it maintains some of the old school side scrolling action, it does add a lot of innovation.

Story: 9/10
Here, I would have to give it a 9. While the story will not have you sitting on your bed pondering the universe, it will keep you sufficiently entertained. It is the typical shredder trying to take over the world and kill the turtles type of thing, but it still works for fans of the original.

Graphics: 10/10
Wow, the transition of the turtles to the GBA couldn't have been better. They are crisp, and the animations are especially superb. Every turtle has its own different attack, and each turtle also has his own idle animation. Definitely the best looking turtles game yet(except for the next gen consoles).

Control: 8/10
They are pretty good. They are responsive, but there is one thing I don't like. In the middle of a combo, you can't stop it. No matter how bad you are being beat by the enemy, you have to finish the combo you started. My second qualm is donatello's high jump. All the other turtles simply double jump, but he uses his staff. While this may seem like a great attention to detail, it is really annoying. His jump is so slow, that can't even use it to evade attacks. Besides these couple minor flaws, this is a superb effort.

Replay:7/10
Overall, this is where the game lacks. There is no multiplayer as in the old games. However, there are these series of excite bike like mini game. It is fairly entertaining, but where it is really addicting is trying not only to beat Casey, but also beat the challenge time. There is also a quest to collect all the crystals. Although it can be fun to track them down, if you do find all 20 of them, you get.....nothing. Kind of disappointing. Great if you are a nostalgic type of person( I am).
overall: 8/10
Replay is fairly good. There is a sort of excite bike mini game, and there are the crystals to collect. However, past that, there is little to keep you coming back. The only real draw is the nostalgia. This is enough for me, but for new fans, it may be a little disappointing. Overall, definitely worth the purchase price.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/03