Nickelodeon TMNT Game: Dark Horizons [thoughts]

our four terrapin heroes

This isn't really a professional review or super-descriptive breakdown of the game...just a fangirl expressing some excitement over Nick.com's current gameplay for TMNT.

I really loved these action stills

The overall style is very appealing. The intro is simple (pretty much this load screen, some still pictures that act like storyboard pieces [no text], and quick-paced transitions), but fun to watch.

load screen

For a show/game directed mostly towards the younger crowd, I think it plays decent homage to the comics! Of course, this is only a game...but I take it as a good prequel of things to come.

Anyway, moving on past the intro, the object of the game appears to be to beat monsters and (possibly?) find someone/something? That part wasn't very clear to me, but I'd guess others would actually know.

character selection

At any rate, we're given the option to start off with one of the four turtles, whose states on agility, defense, attack, and range differentiate very much from one to the other. Mikey is high on agility but low on defense, Don has the best range, Raph has the greatest attack, and Leo is the all-around stats character.

literally drop right into the action

 I chose Leo first, of course, because he's my favorite turtle...but they all are fun to play! (I personally think I handle Michelangelo the best)

After choosing your turtle (and going through another loading screen), you're immediately dropped into the sewers to go to work. No problem, it guides you through well enough without too much text or any annoying pauses - just quick notes that save you the trouble of randomly smacking your keyboard.

easy enough

 Using your four arrow keys, you can jump [↑], run [←] / [→], dodge/defend [↓], or a combination of things! Such as dashing (tapping left and/or right arrow key twice), wall-jump climbing (staying close against the wall and [↑]x2), and so on. Besides [↑], you can also use [x] to jump, and [z] allows you to toss shuriken, when you come across them.

My suggestions would be to take your time and just have fun exploring everything. Enemies come at completely random times, in completely random numbers. They're super easy to beat (about 3-4 hits), but watch out for your environment, as a careless move could have you stepping in painful ooze or falling into an abyss. Yikes.

switching is optional early on

Luckily, you can switch turtles upon coming across a small pad (hard to miss, it has a down pointing arrow with the words "Switch turtles" hovering over it) - and your bros can even join you in a particular section of the sewers. Sweet!

Raph joins Mikey, Don joins Leo (vice versa, both)

All in all, it's just a lot of fun, and a great preview of what's to come from Nickelodeon on our four shelled heroes. I'm even more excited than I originally was, for sure.

But as said, this is just an online game or two. Still. Franchise of any kind, especially with nearly three more months of waiting ahead of us, is worth some fanfare. I'm happy to say, this was a small but relatively significant ease of my wariness to the new turtles, overall.