GoNintendo 'End of Day' thoughts - Cort's TMNT: Smash-Up (Wii) E3 2009 impressions

Time for me to scooch over once more, and reliquish the End of Day thoughts to Cort. I always feel like his articles start the day off in a much better way. He’s much more eloquent than I! I hope you enjoy his impressions, as I’m sure he poured a lot into them. After I have a read, I’m sneaking off to bed. I’ll see you all in a few, short hours!

With so many appointments filling my E3 schedule, it was a refreshing delight to just walk the floor during the show’s final day, where RMC and I came upon TMNT: Smash-Up being hosted by a couple of Ubisoft’s Frag Dolls. I’ll be honest, when it comes to Ninja Turtles vs. Frag Dolls, it’s a difficult choice which gets my attention first, but ultimately it was the game that won this time, no offence ladies.

Ubisoft is clearly playing up that this game is being made in the template of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series, touting it in all the trailers as being made by some of the previous SSB team and even nicking part of the name for its “Smash Up” subtitle. With so much emphasis being put on the connection between the two games, TMNT will also have to compete with and be compared to Brawl, the Wii’s only Smash Bros. outing so far; a potentially dangerous situation to be in considering how well-loved and reviewed that title was last year.

So how did it fare as an E3 demo? The quick answer is that while it is good fun, it has a LONG way to go before it should be trying to ride Brawl’s coattails. Why?

The game feels slower overall, with some specific characters even slower as a balance for their higher strength levels. Enough so that the characters which are supposed to be nimble, athletic ninjas, feel sluggish or even unresponsive; a tough sell for a party brawler.

Second, the Wiimote/Nunchuk control scheme is passable, but not ideal. RMC seemed to enjoy it just fine, but the analogue stick would definitely be better off as a d-pad under my thumbs. Maybe my controller was just wonky, but certain things didn’t respond for me at all where jumps wouldn’t work, the directions wouldn’t register, which pretty much put me in a very frustrated 4th place every time. It’s the only controller setup they had, so I’ll hope for a few more options in the final.

The third which is more of a nitpick, was that you can’t jump through platforms (up or down), meaning you have to navigate around each one, a bit of a chore on cramped levels, such as the sewer where there’s only one way off the gator-infested floor. Add to it a less precise/more floaty jump feel and this overall just seemed to complicate the battle and expose any shortcomings of the level design.

Speaking of level design, while we played three rounds, we only got to play two of the five or six stages in the demo. The designs are fine for the most part; they feel appropriate for the dark/gritty city and sewers, but for variety’s sake, I certainly hope there’s something more bright and clinical like the Technodrome or a well-lit Channel 6 soundstage for balance.

The demo setup wasn’t conducive for hearing the game’s sound amid the rest of E3’s cacophony, but at least we could see what was going on, and visually the game looks pretty tight. A tad on the dark side as mentioned above, but it fits with the Turtles. It looked good on their flat screen, so there’s hope it’ll show well on my bigger flat screen.

As a lifelong TMNT fan, I’m probably both biased but extra-critical of the game, so take that for what it’s worth. I’m also a fan of the Smash Bros. series although not nearly as rabid as some other gamers out there. Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl are massive games with a ton of content making for great replayability. Will TMNT: Smash-Up be able to live up to what followers of either franchise hope or expect? It remains to be seen, but for now, let’s hope a few of the issues can be ironed out before its somewhat Dreamcastic ship date this September 9 (according to the pre-order link from the game’s official site).