TMNT: Smash-Up Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: these iconic reptiles have fallen out of fame since the 80s, but that hasn’t stopped developer Game Arts from bringing the turtles back for a free-for-all fighting game. TMNT: Smash-Up brings together turtle friends and foes in several dynamic stages, complete with hazards and items in the same style as Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Game Arts helped develop Brawl, and now much of that gameplay style has seeped into Smash-Up. In many ways Smash-Up feels like a weaker derivative of Brawl, but for a quick alternative to Nintendo’s hit fighting game, Smash-Up isn’t bad, just short.

Though there is a single player campaign called Arcade mode, it’s a very basic game mode and provides only a very meager story. The turtles and company are competing in a friendly tournament when they receive a distress call from Fugitoid, sparking a battle with the Shredder and his malicious cohorts. That’s all the story you get, and even that proves that the plot is not an important part of the game. In fact, playing solo is not an important part of the game; in addition to Arcade mode, you can also play through fifty short missions when playing alone. Each mission has a specific objective, such as defend one character while defeating another, and while it is certainly more interesting than the Arcade mode, it’s still a rather sparse portion of the game. While these solo modes can help you hone your skills, it’s the multiplayer that is the real draw of the game.

With four players, you're liable to get attacked from all sides. Watch your back!

For anyone that has played Brawl, Smash-Up will seem instantly familiar. Characters move and attack in the same way as Brawl, fight in four-player battles, and use a short list of special attacks, making combat much more about thinking quickly than about pulling off long attack combos. While the fundamentals are nearly identical to Brawl, Smash-Up throws in some new details to separate itself from the other four-player fighting game. First of all, there is a health bar as opposed to the percentage system of Brawl, making it much easier to finish off opponents, and easier to see exactly how much damage you are inflicting. It changes the way you fight, and makes fast, weaker attacks more effective for draining health. Another addition is the pointing system, which allows you to hit things in the stage to create environmental changes. Not only is this feature pointless and useful in only a handful of situations, but it needlessly takes up a button on the controller, wasting important space. Lastly, items function somewhat differently in this game. Pizzas, naturally, restore health, but other items, based on special ninja attacks like throwing kunai, can be reserved and used at leisure, though with a limited number of uses. This item system is a little jarring at first, but it is extremely helpful and adds a layer of strategy as far as reserving items and keeping items out of your opponents’ hands.

Unfortunately, Smash-Up’s character roster is pretty small. There are sixteen characters total, only half of which are initially available. Not only is the selection short, but many characters feel very similar to one another. Unsurprisingly, the four turtles are related to one another in style, but other characters lack distinctive properties as well, making half the roster feel like a mirror of the other half. Though the characters are overall somewhat bland, Smash-Up does feature some cool tricks and maneuvers, such as wall attacks or flying kicks off of suspended bars in the air. These unique features definitely spice up combat, prompting you to be aware of your environment and using it to your best advantage.

Shredder is slow, but powerful. Don't get caught dallying near him.

In fact, all of the stages have some interesting or distinct characteristic that largely alters the way you’ll be fighting. Most stages feature changing environments; for example, you may begin a battle on the roof of a building, but after a stray explosion sets the roof on fire, you’ll plummet into the structure to finish the fight. Unfortunately the stage selection, like the character selection, is rather small, so stages are quickly repeated over and over. There are, however, tons of environmental hazards to keep you on your toes, such as electrifying neon signs or bloodthirsty sewer gators. In many instances, you’ll be fighting the stage as much as you’re fighting the other characters, making each fight that much more hectic. It definitely keeps each match unique and guarantees some crazy or even cheap kills, but it’s a lot of fun, and makes sure you’re always watching your surroundings, like an attentive ninja should.

The multiplayer is, naturally, the focus of the game. Up to four players can join in on the frantic ninja action, making an insane battle of punches, kicks, and ninja fire breath. With four players, environmental hazards are even more dangerous, and even more satisfying when you push someone into the alligator’s open jaws. It does get difficult trying to keep an eye on your character–especially if everyone is a turtle–but each player has a colored glow around them, distinguishing them from each other. Overall, though, most of the characters’ attacks are generally more geared toward one-on-one sparring rather than fighting three people at once. Four player matches can be a little awkward in this respect, but the action is still energetic and intense. Smash-Up does feature an online mode against friends or random opponents, but good luck finding a random match. Even if you do manage to snag one, the battle options are limited, so you’re better off sticking to whatever friend matches you can organize. In the end, it will likely be easier rounding up three friends for local multiplayer, though.

Just like Brawl, Smash-Up offers four different control schemes for your convenience: Wii remote alone, Wii remote and nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Gamecube controller. And like Brawl, the last two options are far superior to the first two, especially with the addition of an items button and the pointing button. The Wii remote options are simply too awkward to be really effective, while the other controllers offer much more natural and comfortable controls. The controls are seemingly simple, but to really play well you’ll need to master exactly how the character moves, attacks, and dodges. While the characters do feel similar to one another, it’s not hard to pick up a controller and start fighting right away.

Crocodiles: a turtle's worst enemy.

The game’s visuals are top notch, which is helpful since there is so much happening on the screen at any given time, from sweeping kicks to icebergs crashing into ships. Though much of the detail is lost when the screen pulls back to accommodate the entire scene, the animation never falters, keeping the game fast paced. The music is also very well done, and though it doesn’t always seem to match the mood of ninja combat, there are some good songs to listen to as you fight. The cutscenes in Arcade mode, rather than use in-game or high-end movie graphics, are in comic book-esque panels, giving the cutscenes a gritty, stylized appearance. The effect doesn’t quite work, though, and instead it just looks messy and unkempt.

Finishing the single player modes, Arcade and Mission, really don’t last very long. There are a few other things to do solo, but they are fairly trivial as well. Survival mode pits you against an unending stream of enemies with only the occasional health item. You can also earn shells in Arcade mode to spend collecting figurines and creating trophies, but it’s a fairly pointless side addition, and is quite short. The crux of the replay value is on multiplayer, but with a rather shallow selection of characters and stages, the game manages to grow old rather quickly.

Fans of Super Smash Bros. Brawl will find a lot of similarities, not only in the gameplay but in the controls and presentation. Though the turtles don’t quite have the same charm and appeal of Nintendo’s mascots, Smash-Up is a decent fighting game in the same vein as Brawl, putting emphasis upon wide open stages with imaginative hazards and items. Smash-Up lacks the longevity that makes fighters so compelling, but for a few quick rounds of fast-paced fighting, this isn’t a bad rental.

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