Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

Platinum Games and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: a company and a property that should be a match made in heaven. Platinum has made a name for itself with fast paced, high adrenaline action games and Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo perfectly fit that mold being a fearsome fighting team and all. Why then, as I sit through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, does this marriage made in heaven bore the hell out of me?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are finally getting the 3D action game they deserve, and they couldn't have asked for better company. Platinum Games has a strong catalog of excellent action games, with a few not-so-great ones sprinkled in, to be fair. Still, even in those that don't quite qualify as memorable for the right reasons, the actual action was almost always still remarkable. After the success of Transformers Devastation, Platinum again turned its eye to another '80s cartoon, albeit this time with a benefit of a modern comic backing it all up. Based in the IDW universe of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Platinum's game will let players take on the roles of all four Turtles in co-op brawler that looks to add another notch in the developer's "Good" column. Where the first trailer was a bit of a broad overview of what to expect from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, this latest video (exclusively revealed on IGN) gives us a better look at the bosses from the Foot Clan and Dimension X that will put our heroes to the test.

The worst-kept video game secret of 2016 has finally been officially announced. Platinum Games and Activision are teaming with Nickelodeon for a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game, and one with a distinct co-op bent, too. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan will see the fab four tackle perennial villains Shredder and his Foot Clan across the city they all call home. Unlike Platinum's previous '80s cartoon-turned-action game Transformers Devastation, TMNT: MiM won't have an art style that's ripped straight from the animation archives. Instead, it looks like Platinum is following the art style of IDW Publishing's current TMNT artist, Mateus Santolouco. Platinum's got a strong history of developing exciting action games, though there have been a few misses in the company's expanding catalog. After the success of Transformers Devastation, it's easy to get caught up in hoping TMNT will be just as solid. The gameplay shown off in the trailer looks good in motion, but without being able to play it ourselves. Let's not get hung up on the possibilities of disappointment just yet though because this game is going to have Armaggon, and that's just cool enough for us right now.

It's been a long time since there's been a competent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game available, let alone a good one. For many, the last fun TMNT game arrived in the long, long ago when consoles were cartridge-based, and you had to go to a friend's house if you wanted to enjoy multiplayer. There have been numerous attempts at reviving the franchise in the gaming space, with Nickelodeon and its partners even going so far as to slap new, high-definition coats of paint on titles fans considered classics. Though the franchise has had tremendous success reinventing itself for different animated audiences, that just hasn't translated to the video games. There is hope, however. A new ratings listing from the Australian Classification Board hints that a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is on the way. Ordinarily, that would be news, but it wouldn't necessarily be something to be excited about. That this new TMNT game is being developed by Platinum Games however, makes all the (potential) difference in the world.