I’m not entirely sure what expected from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up. It certainly seemed promising at Ubisoft’s press conference. I’ve always been a sucker for Ninja Turtle games (The TMNT cartoon and videogames were large parts of my childhood), and the 2.5D, four player, party styled fighting seemed highly reminiscent of another obvious influence, the Smash Brothers series. I got even more excited when the development team was announced, Game Arts, the guys behind Smash Bros Brawl, along with members of the recently restructured Team Ninja. I figured Nintendo probably didn’t want a Smash sequel quite so soon, but Game Arts had a few worthwhile ideas for a potential sequel. The TMNT license seemed like a perfect fit, so I couldn’t wait to get a hold of it and see how Smash-like it was – or wasn’t.
After about fifteen minutes with the game, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be the former; TMNT: Smash Up isn’t Brawl 2, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Two face buttons exist for basic attacks, one for guard, and another Ninja Magic rounded out the control scheme. I couldn’t tell if pressing the buttons in sequence (smash attacks, if you will) caused any variation in the move set, but the lack of precision seemed to almost be intentional. Despite the rampant fan base, Brawl wasn’t meant to be a serious fighter. Smash Up seems to function along the same fun over function lines.
Selectable characters included all four turtles, as well as Splinter, April O’Neil, and the Shredder. The levels didn’t appear to take inspiration from anything familiar, but they did feature considerable amount of interactivity (including a huge alligator that came out of nowhere and ate me. Twice.). Pickups were abound, including health and ninja magic. Game format was timed with a set number of lives, but, rather than an increasing percentage like Brawl, energy was tied to a decreasing bar. Look for TMNT: Smash Up to drop before the end of the year.
