I got around to picking up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up on PS2 last week. Smash-Up is a fighting game featuring up to four characters on-screen, multi-level stages with interactive elements and hazards, and item pickups that can be used to help you out in battle.

Before I go any further, I'm going to mention that I have never played a Smash Bros game, so nothing I say will reflect a comparison between those games and this one. I've always wanted to try a Smash Bros game but haven't been able to since I haven't had a Nintendo console since the SNES. At most, I've played some Smash Bros-like games like Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 and Onimusha Blade Warriors. I once asked my brother if he had played a Smash Bros game, and he said he has but didn't like it because it was hard to tell what the hell was going on.

...I can see where he's coming from. The camera zooms out really far when the fighters get too far away from each other, when a new power-up lands on the field, and when something in the environment happens (like an iceberg crashing into the ship you're fighting on). Even though those last two only last for a few seconds, for a fighting game a few seconds is more than enough for you to become disoriented and get your ass kicked. It doesn't help that most of the characters are either mostly green or mostly black, making it even harder to find your place sometimes. It can still be manageable if you're just fighting one opponent, but if you're fighting two or three (especially if it's not a free-for-all and you're their only target), it's very annoying.

Speaking of fighting multiple opponents, it's so annoyingly easy for the CPU to gang up on you (at least on higher difficulty levels). I've come to dread the final stage of Arcade mode, which is a three-on-one fight in an initially very small arena. Maybe I'm just not very good at the game (it doesn't help that the game doesn't clearly explain all the defensive/recovery actions you can take), but I find it so hard to avoid enemy attacks and fight back on that stage. I'm constantly getting stunned, slammed onto the ground, launched into the air, or knocked back and forth between two or three of the opponents.

It's like I have to be lucky to find enough time to NOT be being attacked so that I can finally recover and be able to take control of my character again. Sometimes, I practically have to rely on a good item being dropped that will help me take out one or two of the opponents quickly and make it a fairer fight. But even then, I still have to be able to GET to that item, which is hard to do when I'm being hit all over the screen.

I've been trying out all these less-traditional fighting games (Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, One Piece: Grand Adventure, Onimusha Blade Warriors) because I thought it'd be fun to run around these less-flat stages while fighting. However, I've finally realized that stages that aren't flat can just end up being very problematic. Sometimes I spend an awful lot of time in a match just chasing my opponent around and trying to get on an even level with them so that I can actually hit them. Sometimes, the platforms are so small that I'll just end up falling off it and having to get back up on it. Kinda takes away the fighting aspect of the...fight.

Even when I'm actually on an even level with the opponent, there's another thing I got an issue with; the control is pretty picky. Different attacks are usually performed simply by pressing a certain direction along with one of the two attack buttons. However, I find that the timing for pressing the two together is really strict. I've performed the wrong moves countless times because my timing was a little off. Some of that is contributed to me not keeping my cool when I'm being ganged up on by three opponents...hastiness and frustration kicks in as I try to do SOMETHING before they all knock me all over the place again. But still. I have way more consistency doing something like Capcom/SNK-like double half-circle-motion moves. Seriously.

Other minor things that bug me; you can't run past an enemy (not even when they're defeated; you have to wait for the body to disappear) to get to the other side and grab an item or whatever. You either have to stop and do an evasive flip thing or jump over them. But the jump is pretty floaty and it'll take a while to land unless you double tap down to speed it up (something that isn't mentioned in the game or manual...) or do a downward attack (which could leave you open to attack). It's needlessly complicated for something as simple as landing faster. I THINK you could also do the dodge move in midair to land faster, but I don't think it's as fast as the other two ways.

I may sound like I hate the game...but I don't. I just had to get those frustrations off my chest. This game has provided me with some of the most annoying moments I've ever had in a fighting game, but it's actually quite fun when those moments aren't present.

Strict timing for certain moves aside, the game controls really well. Certain moves will usually have a certain purpose such as turning the opponent around so they can't immediately attack back (unless they use an attack that can hit behind them), stunning the opponent, knocking them far away, etc. It's good that not all the attacks are just "generic" attacks with different animations. You also get a really good "feel" and impact of hitting the opponent. That was a minor issue I had with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, which felt a little loose and lacking "oomph" in some attacks. You can do tag-team throws with your partner if it's a Tag-Team match which is a cool idea, but the animation for them doesn't vary much from character to character.

There's a fair amount of gameplay modes. Arcade mode is your standard playthrough of several fights (some being two-on-one or three-on-one). You get a unique ending for whatever character you choose instead of one generic ending for all characters. Unfortunately, you can't use all the characters in Arcade mode. This especially sucks if you're replaying Arcade over and over trying to get Shells or Trophies to unlock stuff. Battle Royal is a free-battle mode where you can set everything up as you like, such as number of opponents, the individual AI level of any CPU characters, which items appear, how large the health bar is, etc. Survival pits you against 100 consecutive opponents, though you can tackle it as a tag-team to make things easier. Haven't done much with Tournament or Swap-Out. Practice is your basic practice area, and there aren't many options with it.

The last mode is Mission mode, which contains 51 tasks to carry out. Some examples include protecting a character, beating enemies with a certain attack or environmental hazard, and...other stuff. The character you use for the missions is sometimes preset, but you can usually select your own character. You can also choose from three difficulty levels, though you don't seem to get anything different from beating missions on higher difficulties other than a potentially higher score. I usually don't care for this type of mode in fighting games, but I actually had some fun with it here. And at least it gives the game some more replay and other ways to play it besides just regular fighting.

With a fighting engine like this, I think a little beat-em-up mode would've been a cool bonus. Maybe something that paid homage to the old beat-em-up games, or something original like the mini-game they have on the game's website.
[link]

I generally don't pay much attention to graphics, so I can't say much about them here. Let's see...the game uses the style of the 2007 CG movie. I didn't like it at first (and I've never watched the movie, though I want to now). The characters were too skinny for my tastes. But I've kinda come to like it. I probably wouldn't say I like it more than, say, any of the cartoon series, but it's not an issue for me anymore.

I guess the levels have some pretty good details and variety in them. The comic-style cutscenes are kinda cool, and I like the art style. The in-game characters animate really well and do a good job of showing their personalities and individual fighting styles. For example, Shredder has this intimidating throw where he lifts you up by your neck and launches you away with a mighty punch. Splinter has an attack that demonstrates his masterfulness as he throws a powerful backfist to whatever's behind him, without even looking. Michelangelo has a spinning kick that seems somewhat unorthodox and meant to be flashier. Some of Donatello's attacks seem to come out slow, but range with his staff is where his strength lies (OK, that's partly a gameplay comment and not just graphics...). Stuff like that, it's really good.

I don't have much to say about the audio. The voice actors come from the 2003 cartoon series. I loved that series, and it's nice to hear those voices again. There isn't much dialogue in the game, but what's there is good. I wasn't really annoyed by anything, such as repeated lines in battle. I found most of the music to be forgettable. There's nothing that's annoying, but there's nothing that great, either. It just seemed like background noise to me that neither added or took away from the experience in any significant way. The sound effects were pretty good. Successful hits sound suitably impactful and different weapons and stuff, such as Casey's hockey stick compared to Leo's swords or Michelangelo's nunchaku, sound different as they should.

The unlockable content is decent...unless you take into account that this game should've celebrated the Turtles' 25th anniversary. 'Cause then you'll probably notice that the galleries don't offer THAT much art and videos, there aren't that many levels, there aren't that many costumes (only one each, and only for SOME characters), and there aren't that many characters (12 in the PS2 version). So much wasted potential there.

Still, from a pure gameplay perspective and just looking at what IS there as opposed to what isn't there, I think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is a pretty good game. And I'm happy to see a new PS2 game that wasn't developed by blind, dead, disabled monkeys (well...not that being disabled necessarily affects your ability to develop a game). This game is technically sound; matches load quickly, it runs smoothly (I've only noticed slowdown when the fireworks go off in one of the levels), there aren't any bugs, there isn't any super-muffled audio, and there isn't any shitty video quality (I'm looking at you, Tomb Raider Underworld).

I haven't played a Ninja Turtles game since the SNES ones, but I've heard that most of the newer ones weren't that good. This one should satisfy fans fairly well if they're not too busy whining about the character roster, and can be a fun game for non-fans too. I'd rate it a 7/10.

In closing...I HATE STINKY PEOPLE ON THE BUS! I have to take a bus to and from work every weekday, and it's total ass when stinky people sit near me! Sometimes they're not even near me. There was one day when someone actually left a cloak of stench on the bus; there wasn't anyone on it, and it still stunk. It's good that I've trained myself to be able to just breathe out my mouth instead of my nose, without having to cover my nose with my hands.