Hello. Madmangamer364 here with another rant. In fact, this song will have a familiar tune to those who have been keeping track of my entries for a while now. Some of you may remember a particular entry where I shared a bit of my distaste towards the handling of a favorite franchise of mine. Well, it looks like my 'buddies' at Ubisoft have done it again with one of its upcoming games, too. The game I speak of is TMNT: Smash-Up, a game that is so 'inspired' by the Super Smash Bros. series to the point where it's ridiculous. Normally, I think I would be excited about a game taking a few cues from one of my favorite series in gaming, but this is overkill. That said, it's not even that which is the center point of my disappointment here. Oh no... this has more to do with the game's cast of characters.
When I heard that this game was supposed to be a celebration of sorts for the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series, I expected this fighter to be filled to the brim with characters, both old and new. After all, any long-living series obviously has its history of faces, both popular and obscure, that have generated appeal for fans of all ages, right? Well, apparently whoever was in charge of the character roster in this game had other ideas. In this 'celebration' of a game, there are only 16 characters available, and 13 of them are based off of the recent CG-i film and, to a lesser extent, the 2003 cartoon. Not that I have a total problem with that, but... really? Some of you are probably asking, "well, what about the other three?" Well, this is the part that makes me want to cry...
Perhaps to serve as something of a marketing tool or maybe to be some kind of prank, Ubisoft thought it was a great idea to give the game three (THREE) Rabbids. That's right, while some TMNT characters of the past eras have gotten the shaft, Ubisoft's now over-used, little, chaotic mascot somehow got the green light three times in one game, despite having NOTHING to do with the series in question. I'm know that special characters in fighting games is popular, but talk about absurd. The Halo spartan (Dead or Alive 4) and Darth Vader (Soul Calibur IV) are laughing at this one! Meanwhile, characters like Baxter, Usagi (who IS a rabbit), Leatherhead, Bebop, and Rocksteady, just to name a few, are being left in the cold. This means that not only will old fans not be able to witness them, but new fans will still know little to nothing of them.
Now, I have to admit that my interest in this game was never that high, and I'm sure that is making some of you wonder, "...then why go on with this rant, if you knew it was likely you weren't going to get the game?" Well, let's just say that it hurts the kid in me to see one of the few things I highly admired as a youngster getting this kind of treatment today, when it's very possible to create a great experience with such a property. The pedigree of the game's development staff (those who have worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl and former Team Ninja members) and the history of this series should have produced a no-doubt killer game on all levels. And yet, I had a feeling that it wouldn't live up to that, in large because of the publisher that has the rights to this franchise. Nothing against Ubisoft (or at least that much...), but my history with its works, with the possible exception of Beyond Good & Evil, has not exactly been pleasant.
So yeah... I don't think I'll be crazy about a Ninja Turtle game again until it gets out of Ubisoft's hands, and that hurts to admit. I'll be keeping my eyes on the reviews for this game in the coming days, but I can already say I won't be expecting much from the total package.
Comments
It's not so much the fact that the game didn't represent the 80's cartoons much (only a Technodrome stage, lol), even though that was how I got into the Ninja Turtles series. The problem, like you said is that the game really only represents the recent CG movie with a few of characters from any other source. That wouldn't have even been a problem had they just said that from the start and not tried to make the game look like the ultimate TMNT fan-experience. It's a complete drop of the ball for anyone who didn't just get into the series the past few years.
I even remember them talking about going with a different style and everything, which did generate some hype for a while. But the moment I saw the first trailer, that hype died instantly, as I knew where this was heading. Still, I didn't expect this lackluster of an effort. And let me not get too nostalgic here; it's not as if Konami's TMNT games were superb last gen either, but I would like to see a publisher do the franchise more justice than what Ubisoft has done thus far.
I'm glad you see my point (mainly because it means I'm not blowing out hot air here, which makes me feel better, lol). I honestly don't know how you get your hands on such a property and fall so short, really. I don't know how much oversight Mirage Studios had over this game, but for something that was supposed to represent the history of my top creation, there's no way I would have been comfortable with something like this coming out if this was my property they were dealing with. Fortunately...and unfortunately, I'm just a fan of the series.
And let's not get started on those Rabbids. It was interesting at first, but the way Ubisoft has used the series this gen is starting to make Mario Party look like a rare gem right now. One of those guys in this game would have caused enough of a stir, but three just makes it a blatant marketing ploy, and given the fact that the actual property of the game is being so poorly represented, having those guys in the mix just reeks of terrible decision making. Normally, I don't rant in such a way, but I have to admit that this one kinda stings...
I'm not sad about the fact that Ubisoft got the Turtles, but rather upset at how Ubisoft has HANDLED the Turtles. I think Ubisoft is a pretty good publisher, despite my disinterest in most of its games, quite honestly. I've just had the misfortune to see the publisher's worst work with things I care most about. Their idea of third-party 'support' on Nintendo systems has been terrible lately (except for Red Steel, which at least looks like it was made with effort), and its recent TMNT games have definitely not been what they could be.
Everyone has at least that one thing that no one should mess with, and for me, the Ninja Turtles is one of those things. I want to see these games get better, but Ubisoft's already made two strikes, and I'm not liking how it's looking at bat right now.
I don't know about stealing, but they certainly have invaded their way into a few things lately. It's not like the game is based off of them or anything, but it's still funny to see them make their ways into such a game. I just can't figure out what would inspire the game's development staff to include so many in an otherwise fairly depleted roster. Did we really need three of them to tell us that the game is lacking in characters?
I miss Bebop, Rocksteady... and Rayman.
I hear ya. It's not that the game HAD to have those guys, but it's not like this game couldn't have used them, either. It's really upsetting to see such a short-sighted mentality here on the part of Ubisoft and the game's development staff.
As sad as it is for me to admit this, with the exception of a handful of upcoming and announced games and WiiWare (which is starting to come into its own, I think), I've given up hope for the Wii's third party support almost completely. For the most part, I can't help but feel an almost total lack of respect for the console and the gamers that play it. It's always "third party games don't sell on the Wii," but the system isn't getting the same treatment as far as creating quality games go and pushing the system as the PS3/Xbox 360 do. It doesn't surprise me, actually, but for once, I'd like to see how a top-tier, big name game would hold up on the system that was developed with total effort and support behind the product.
Even though the Wii doesn't have a harddrive, I also can't see why DLC isn't being added for games like this. With the SD card support, storage isn't as much of an issue as most make it out to be. I understand that anything too large wouldn't have much of a chance of running on the system's internal memory, but how demanding can a few characters be? Still, even with DLC, this is one of those things that should have been resolved during the actual development of the game. Mistakes happen and all, but by all means, if you put out the best product possible to begin with, even the challenges with DLC can be mostly avoided.
Gohansephiroth