TMNT isn't bad for kids or die-hard fans, but it feels unfinished.

User Rating: 6.5 | TMNT X360
The Good:
Good visual design and presentation; Voice acting is well done; Solid controls; Slick animation; Story expands well upon the movie.

The Bad:
Graphics aren't up to 360 standards; Combat and AI is too simple; No challenge; Characters voice-overs repeat a lot; Odd level design. Camera can be a problem sometimes; No co-op.

The Turtles are back, dude! One of my most beloved childhood memories has returned to the big screen, and has a new video game to go along with it. The story is the same as the movie, and actually does a fairly good job of expanding upon it.

But the problem is that, like the movie, TMNT game has a mixed audience. It's designed to be kid friendly, and for that purpose it does well. However, this game is going to be too simple for adult gamers, and only the most dedicated TMNT fans are going to get anything out of it.

GAMEPLAY – 7
One thing that TMNT does will is how it presents itself. Right from the very start, it all has a very comic book feel to it. All the cut scenes are handled using pre-rendered comic book style art. Even the menus look slick.

Although the controls are responsive, the combat is too dull. You can only control one Turtle at a time, but you can perform special moves and attacks that use the others in some very cool ways. The B button handles all your attacks. That's it. Just one attack button. Although this may seem nostalgic from the 1989 TMNT Arcade game, it's just too simple for a modern brawler. There is a kick button, but it's basically pointless as all it does is push enemies away.

Speaking of enemies, you'll frequently encounter dozens of enemies to fight at a time. The only problem is that the AI is so dumb, that they'll rarely attack you. Which means that most of the time they'll just stand there until you beat them down.

The platforming fairs a little better, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before. Running along walls is cool, but it's very cliché. The levels, although interesting to look at, are oddly designed when it comes to platforming. Part of it is because the camera will frequently pullback for a wide shot, but this also makes timing jumps difficult. I couldn't see a lot of jumps coming up until I had already fallen into them.

GRAPHICS – 7
The graphics, like the gameplay, is a mixed bag. On one hand, the artistic style is great. The presentation is nice, and the characters have a nice comic book feel to them. The animations also are very expressive, and give more life to the Turtles.

But technically, the graphics are sub-par for the 360. In fact, this game could have looked identical on the original Xbox. Although the characters look good, background objects are blocky, low-rez, and static. You'll frequently see unfinished parts of the level that are covered in fog to hide how bad they look.

SOUND – 6
The sound doesn't fair much better, although the Turtles are voiced well in the cut scenes, they have a tendency to repeat lines over and over again during a level. I can't tell you how many times I hear Raph say "Here's Johnny!"

The sound effects are the usual cartoonish battle sounds that you'd expect, and don't really add any life to the game. Same goes for the music. There's very little to speak of, and you wont remember it when you do notice it.

VALUE – 6
The biggest problem with TMNT is the lack of co-op, or any kind of multi-player. This is strictly a single-player game. This is a shame because one of the core themes in all the different versions of the Turtles is teamwork. Nearly all of the past TMNT games have had multi-player, and it's a real shame that it's missing here.

The game is way too easy as well. If you die from missing a jump, you simply reappear back a few steps to try again. If you lose all your health, you can simply press the A button repeatably to have one of the other Turtles help you back up. There's just no real penalty for dying.

The achievements also don't add any kind of lasting value. In fact, TMNT is one of the easiest games on the 360 for achievement points. Granted, they had kids in mind when they designed it, but you can unlock all 1000 points in under 4 hours. You pretty much just have to beat the game to get all the points. There are a decent number of unlockable videos and art, but only the most die-hard TMNT fans are going to invest the time needed to unlock these.

Overall, TMNT is just average. It was clearly designed for kids, but even then the game is so easy that it wont take them long to beat it. The developers were clearing working with a limited time frame and budget as this game just feels rushed. It's not that it feels unfinished, but it's just uninspired. TMNT is a decent game for kids, but only the most die-hard TMNT fans are going to want to invest their money in this. Rent it, or buy it used if you're looking for some TMNT action.