Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2013) is a game developed by Magic Pockets and published by Activision. It was released on October 22, 2013 for Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo 3DS. It is based on the 2012 TV series by Nickelodeon.
Released right on the heels of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, also released in 2013, this game was aimed at a slightly younger audience than OOS, offering more simplified gameplay and cell-shaded characters (who actually looked like their cartoon counterparts), a different story, and was much more polished and seemingly more finished than its counterpart. Though the two games share many similarities, it is a separate game and story.
One night, the four Turtles go on the rooftops of New York for patrol, and they are attacked by Foot Soldiers. As they pursue them, they learn, with the help of April, that The Foot have teamed up with The Kraang and built a Mutagen bomb and want to mutate the entire city. Can the Turtles disarm the bomb? Will they have to face Shredder and his mutated Quirky Miniboss Squad? What of The Kraang and April?
The game can have up to four players at once playing all the Turtles, while the game's AI will play the Turtles on screen not being controlled by the PC. The voices are the authentic Voice Actors from the show.
This game provides examples of:
- 100% Completion: Fairly easy to achieve for an experienced player with minimal grinding required.
- The timed missions don't actually time you against a clock, you just try to beat your previous best time (so getting these achievements merely require you to play through again on timed mode).
- The hidden objects (secret doors and canisters) are fairly easy to find first play-through (a decent player will probably find 60-70 percent of them), and the game tracks each level so you know which ones you missed and can replay to find them.
- Survival mode gets tough around level 30, but if you've fully upgraded your turtles (and got those achievements), it's generally not to difficult to get to the achievement cap of finishing level 35.
- The energy spheres stay cumulative no matter how many times you play a level, so fully upgrading your turtles doesn't take too much grinding.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: A staple of the franchise. While NYC sewers are bigger than average, the ones in this game are more akin to subway tunnels.
- Artificial Stupidity: The AI Turtles don't do much in battle, mostly standing around in defensive mode. They are terrible at getting out of the way of spiked poles and missile attacks. Luckily, the game is easy enough that you don't really need them in single-player mode.
- Although this CAN be frustrating, especially in Shredder's Lair, if they continually get caught in the spiked poles. NPC deaths take away extra lives just like PC deaths do.
- Bag of Spilling: Extra life hearts don't go with you to the next level. However, you always start each level with three extra lives even if you were out the last level, so it balances. Energy spheres do stay with you the whole game until you spend them, even if you replay the level multiple times.
- Cel Shading: The characters look nearly identical to their 2012 cartoon selves.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: All four Turtles can be played simultaneously, locally or online.
- Crate Expectations: Naturally. Be warned some are merely background decoration, however.
- Damsel in Distress: As with all the TMNT games, you have to rescue April from capture at one point in the game.
- Dialog During Gameplay: The Turtles and The Kraang drop one-liners constantly.
- Die, Chair, Die!: Crates, benches, phone booths, ect. Many contain energy spheres, health items, and there's an achievement for breaking 10 objects with a thrown enemy.
- Endless Game: The Game Within a Game mentioned below keeps going until you run out of lives.
- Fixed Camera: Can work against you, especially in Co-Op. See below.
- Game-Breaking Bug: Playing multi-player can play HELL with the fixed camera. If one Turtle goes in a different direction than the others, it can lead to them getting stuck. The game's internal correction to this is Offscreen Teleportation for any Turtles not currently on the camera, but it doesn't always trigger, leading to frustrating restarts.
- Game Within a Game: An option from the main hub is an 80's type side scroller, the same game seen in their lair in the series.
- Inspired by…: Officially, the game is a license of the current cartoon, and the game maintains the look and feel of the series. Unlike OOS, there are fewer call backs to the older series, other than a few Mythology Gags.
- Invisible Wall: When enemies appear on the screen, your ability to move forward are backward beome greatly restricted. This becomes comical as thrown enemies bounce off of nothing against the edge of the screen. Same applies to ledges and most comically, the top of the Shellrasier.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall / Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Turtles will often make seemingly or straight up meta comments. Try throwing a mook into the camera, or allow yourself to stand there and get beat on by an enemy.
- Loading Screen: Seems to pop up randomly and often interrupts dialogue in cut screens.
- Malicious Misnaming: The Turtles and even the other villains constantly and intentionally call Baxter Stockman by the wrong name, which he hates. In a cutscene after his defeat, he spills his guts in gratitude when Leo actually calls him "Baxter."
- Mook Promotion: The basic black-clad Foot Ninjas, who are generally easily dispatched, will occasionally and randomly display actual ninja ability and suddenly have the ability to counter and dodge really well. These more competent versions aren't marked any different than the regular Foot Ninjas, and can show up on any level. May possibly be just inconsistent programming.
- Mythology Gag: Mikey will occasionally yell out "Cowabunga" (and then correct himself to say "Booyakasha!" as per the new series) and Leonardo will occasionally yell "Turtle Power!" (Lampshade Hanging ensues.)Leo: "Did I really just say that?"
- You can throw enemies into the screen, just like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
- Offscreen Teleportation: Any Turtle (PC or NPC) that doesn't keep up with the lead Turtle(s) on the fixed-camera will suddenly appear next to them (with a few seconds on invulnerability to boot). However, this occasionally doesn't trigger, leaving the player frustratingly back-tracking to retrieve the lost Turtles or getting stuck (usually in small enclosures where the game can't fit in multiple Turtles). See Game-Breaking Bug.
- Rearrange the Song: The title screen music remix of the series' theme song.
- Replay Value: Going back through the levels and finding the all mutagen canisters and secret doorways (there are achievements at the 50 and 100 percent level for each, as well as an achievement for the first secret). There are other unlockables for these as well.
- 50 percent of the canisters unlocks the the ability to play a timed mode for each level (and achievements for beating each area before the time clock runs out).
- 100 percent of the canisters unlocks the arcade mini-game in the lair.
- 100 percent of the secret doors unlocks survival mode (achievements for reaching wave 10 and also 35 without dying).
- Additionally, replaying levels allows you to gain more energy spheres, so you can finish the last few levels with your Turtles fully maxed out on abilities.
- Any gameplay achievements you missed (throwing mooks at the camera, breaking environmental objects with mooks, etc).
- RPG Elements: Leveling up the Turtles to boost their combat prowess, armor (called Shell Hardening), and adding special attacks and moves. These are accomplished by collecting energy spheres throughout the game, from defeating enemies, destroying objects and some are just lying around.
- Royal "We": The Kraang refer to Kraang as Kraang.
- Scoring Points: In a bit of the throwback, the game has a scoring system for each level, encouraging replay to beat your prior best and rankings online. Additionally, you input your initials ala an 80s arcade game.
- Secondary Adaptation: A 2013 video game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), which itself is based on several elements of the franchise, which began with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage).
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: Kraang will say that sentence that Kraang says in a way that Kraang is known for.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Even if you just easily beat two dozen enemies, a last lone Foot Ninja will still fight all four Turtles to the bitter end!
- The Unfought: Karai only appears in a few cutscenes near the end the game and sends mooks out to fight the Turtles. A bit of a Bait-and-Switch, as it appears you are going to fight her at the end of the level (as in OOS), but she merely runs away.
