Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- Platinum Games "Tara has been kicked from the game"

[Badnik Mechanic]

1 minute ago, Tara said:

 Any word on how the PC version runs?

Locked to 30fps and has exactly the same problems as the Consoles. 

[Tara]

10 minutes ago, Detective Hogfather said:

Locked to 30fps and has exactly the same problems as the Consoles. 

That means it probably won't work very well on my computer unless they give some very refined graphics options. It's a shame it doesn't have a Steam demo or something.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Tara said:

That means it probably won't work very well on my computer unless they give some very refined graphics options. It's a shame it doesn't have a Steam demo or something.

Is it out yet in the US? I know it doesn't release in the UK until April 27th, so maybe there just isn't a demo out yet?

I really do hope that the game does have a bit of fun to it. As a Turtles fan, I want a legit good game from the franchise, and considering Platinum of all developers seems to have botched that up, I'm a little disappointed. I'll reserve my thoughts til I actually play it though.

[Tara]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Is it out yet in the US? I know it doesn't release in the UK until April 27th, so maybe there just isn't a demo out yet?

I really do hope that the game does have a bit of fun to it. As a Turtles fan, I want a legit good game from the franchise, and considering Platinum of all developers seems to have botched that up, I'm a little disappointed. I'll reserve my thoughts til I actually play it though.

The full game is already out in the US, yes, so while it's not unheard of for a demo to be released after the fact, it seems unlikely at this point, since the Steam page has been up since the game was announced.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Tara said:

The full game is already out in the US, yes, so while it's not unheard of for a demo to be released after the fact, it seems unlikely at this point, since the Steam page has been up since the game was announced.

Ah right. Well that sucks. I honestly think every game should have a demo created for it so we can try the game out before we buy it. I mean in most cases, a demo gets created for E3 and press use anyway, and Mutants In Manhattan did have one created for the press featuring the Bebop level.

I don't want to rule out the possibility that it isn't well optimized on PC due to Platinum having a decent history of good PC Ports (MGR for example), but since I'll be playing the game on PS4, I don't really know how it'd handle on PC.

 

[Tara]

3 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Ah right. Well that sucks. I honestly think every game should have a demo created for it so we can try the game out before we buy it. I mean in most cases, a demo gets created for E3 and press use anyway, and Mutants In Manhattan did have one created for the press featuring the Bebop level.

I don't want to rule out the possibility that it isn't well optimized on PC due to Platinum having a decent history of good PC Ports (MGR for example), but since I'll be playing the game on PS4, I don't really know how it'd handle on PC.

 

It may not even be that it's poorly optimized for PC's as much as my PC isn't a gaming rig, so it's a miracle I can play anything at all. XD So if the game is locked at a set framerate, then there's a chance that my PC won't be able to handle it unless the graphics go to some pretty low-end extremes.  I'm assuming that if they put such seemingly little work into the console version, though, then the PC version will probably have even less effort, since it's still considered a secondary demographic of sorts.

[Speederino]

So from what I've played of the PC version so far...it's honestly alright. That's about all I can say though. Figuring out what's going on in combat is a bit of a clusterfuck so far. There's this whole block/dodge/parry system in play, but when there's so much going on at once it's nearly impossible to tell when you're about to be hit.

Then there's the traversal system. Ugh. So when you jump onto a wall, you automatically begin climbing it. That's cool when you're exploring a level and climbing buildings, but in cramped, close-quarters combat this becomes a very obvious problem. The fight with Bebop takes place in this small, multi-level room. There were way too many times where I found myself accidentally climbing the walls when things were super heated.

But I'm not turned off from playing more of this. The game looks excellent and definitely gives me a good 90's arcade vibe that I haven't seen in a TMNT game for many years now. And there's a surprisingly deep number of abilities and upgrades to unlock, a lot of which look like they could spice up the gameplay significantly.

The biggest offense by far though is the pricing. This is NOT a $40-$50 game. The only reason I decided to jump in on day one was because I had a Steam gift card laying around, so I only paid $20 of my own cash. For that price, this isn't bad. There's probably still better games you could get at that price, but this wouldn't be a terrible purchase for TMNT fans if it were cheaper. As is, wait for a massive price drop.

One thing's for sure though, this is definitely better than Out of the Shadows. It actually feels like some effort went into this.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Game looks about how I expected: A fun, gorgeous beat-em-up with TMNT fanservice, but length and budget keeps it from being worth full price. Still really looking forward to playing it later (It'll probably drop by at least $20 by Christmas given Activision's usual M.O. when it comes to discounting TMNT games quickly) and I'll still probably really enjoy it. (I mean, I own TMNT: Arcade Attack, AKA, the most boring, sluggish, uninteresting game ever released based on this franchise that I can never go back to play even one full stage of I get so bored, and from everything I've seen so far, this looks like Super Mario Galaxy in comparison, so it's kind of hard for me to notice some shortcomings. XD) 

[The Deleter]

First review is up, and they only covered the single player:

https://www.destructoid.com/review-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-mutants-in-manhattan-363591.phtml

4.5/10

They seriously should have just cut the single-player mode from the game and kept it an online-only game. The option to play it like this will do far more harm to the game's reputation than any real good it could do, outside of maybe the option to practice combos...

[Tara]

So since @sansy was kind and/or sadistic enough to gift me this game, I guess I will be seeing how this plays on my PC later today.  I'll give a report when I'm done, though bearing in mind this probably only applies to my own unique specs and my PC's not a gaming rig so again, it could hardly work at all for me.

[PSI Wind]

So, can we all agree that either Platinum shouldn't accept games from Activision ever again or at the very least Activision give them a fucking budget and a decent amount of time?

[Badnik Mechanic]

31 minutes ago, PSI Wind said:

So, can we all agree that either Platinum shouldn't accept games from Activision ever again or at the very least Activision give them a fucking budget and a decent amount of time?

It's not exactly like Platinum are not aware of what the budget and the time for release should be for their projects, be they licensed or inhouse.

[sonicgirl313]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 10:42 PM, Super CC14 RPG said:

So it seems that Gamestop is the way to go for pre-ordering, as in addition to the Rock 'N Roll costumes, a Gamestop pre-order will also net you...

This gorgeous poster featuring new art courtesy of Mateus Santolouco!

DANG. Makes me wish that I had a PS4 already so I could justify pre-ordering this other than just to get that poster. 

Yeah... the poster isn't a pre-order bonus. I bought the game and got the poster simply for buying it as long as supplies last. Well at least for 40 bucks I got the game and poster to make me feel less bad about buying it immediately.

Okay so I got the game and... well I find Transformers Devastation more fun and it has nothing to do with my Transformers bias. The game is alright to play and it's sort of fun but things are a little too quick paced and the enemies are way too meaty and I was playing on the normal difficulty. I guess part of the reason I enjoyed Devastation so much is because I got a sense of empowerment, you really feel like an awesome powerful transformer fighting in epic battles. With turtles... not so much, I never got the sense of an epic ninja and ended up feeling more like a turtle constantly flinging all around with no sense of direction. But I still do like the game but I don't see myself playing it as much as Devastation.

[Tara]

Well, as I mentioned, someone was kind enough to be gift me the game on PC, and so I thought I’d give it a try.  The initial concern I had was that this game wouldn’t even run at all on my computer, because while it is a fairly decent computer that does pretty much everything I ask of it, it’s not exactly a gaming rig.  But the game runs perfectly fine on my computer, albeit on the lowest graphical setting, so that’s a fear I can put to bed for now.  The problem is that the game itself… well, let’s just say it’s well deserving of its low scores.

Before I get into all that, I do feel like I should give the game at least one paragraph dedicated to positives, because the game does have some nice things to say about it.  For one, the visual presentation is quite nice, even at the lowest settings.  The menus are nice and colorful and the in-game textures look charmingly sketched and comic book-esque.  The voice acting is also quite good and serviceable for the characters.  Taking some obvious cues from the Batman: Arkham games, the actual core combat, despite the backlash placed against it, really isn’t all that bad, if not a tad repetitive, and it’s made even more interesting when in co-op mode.

But everything else about the game is absolute tripe, to put it bluntly.

I started with the tutorial stage, which starts out easy enough, but some moves are just not well programmed.  The counter attack is the worst offender in this regard.  During the tutorial stage, it gives a nice little prompt that says “NOW!” indicating when you can do it, but no matter how many times I press the button, I fail to do it.  Eventually the tutorial just gave up on me and told me to move forward anyway.  During actual gameplay, there are no such visual cues, so you’re better off mashing the X. button until the enemy is eventually knocked out.

Where the game truly falls apart though are its level design and level mechanics.  The level design feels extremely open, which wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t treat this like a linear, objective-based game.  And the objectives move so fast that it’s hard to process what’s even going on before it’s too late.  Enemy placement is literally all over the place, constantly just being there with no sense of strategic positioning, which becomes especially vexing when you have up to three snipers on the screen at a time.

Speaking of snipers, those things become quite a pain in the arse when you’re tasked with doing something which prohibits your combat skills, such as lifting heavy bars of gold or hacking into computers.  You can’t fight back,  and the AI is completely incompetent and couldn’t protect you from tripping over an ant farm.  Even human players will find it difficult to protect their friends in these scenarios, because of just how sporadic and random and constantly spawning the enemies are.

Oh yeah, and as many people have already pointed out, there is literally nothing fun or engaging about the aforementioned lifting heavy bars of gold or hacking into computers while your friends and/or friendly AI battle around you.  It’s a slow, tedious process that just slows any form of meaningful progress to standstill, and that’s not even the worst of it.  It takes four turtles (FOUR) just to open a door, and there is likewise nothing even remotely interesting about crowding around and pressing B. until the game tells you to stop.

I had the pleasure of playing online with Speederino, and I can say that the game is definitely more enjoyable in co-op than it is in single player… when it works.

I’m assuming that this is a server problem and not the result of either of our internet connections, but connecting to a lobby—even a PRIVATE lobby—is a bit of a task in itself.  I tried hosting my own lobby, only to have Speederino disconnect every two seconds, and then Speederino tried creating his own lobby, only for me to disconnect every two seconds.  And the game shows that we both have decently strong signals, so I doubt it’s on our end.  To be fair, since the game was only released yesterday, I expect a fair amount of server trouble, but even on the off chance that we do get to actually play the game, it turns out pretty laggy for whomever isn’t hosting to the point of being unplayable at certain points.  I don’t have anywhere close to the same amount of problems connecting to a server on TF2 or Left 4 Dead.

Another little annoyance that bothers me is that, during online mode, your microphone is enabled by default.  Thankfully, I didn’t even have a microphone plugged in, but I did have Stereo Mix enabled, which the game immediately assumed I wanted to use to speak to Speederino via voice, resulting in Speederino undoubtedly getting echoed game audio and Skype and SSMB notification sounds up the wazoo.  Now you’re probably thinking “So just turn the microphone off in the settings.”

Well, yeah, about that.  There’s no way to turn it off in the settings.  At least as far as I’ve seen.  You have to minimize the window and disable the input device directly.  There’s also no option to choose between having the mic always on or to bind the mic to a key, which I guess makes sense being a fast-paced action game, but the option would still be nice.

Also, there’s no in-game chat, so you often have to resort to using the Steam overlay for communication, which isn’t really convenient.

I have a much greater tolerance for mediocre games than most people, and while I think there’s some entertainment value to be had if you’re a hardcore TMNT fan, there’s really no excuse for this game to cost $40 new right now.  Forgiving the repetitive combat and uninspired level objectives, the game doesn’t feel finished, and is frankly just a bit of a mess.  I think this game has the propensity to be reasonably entertaining after numerous updates, but as is, I’d advise people to steer clear until the price drops considerably during the holidays or some such time.  Because it’s hard for even someone as tolerant as me to find consistent enjoyment with this game.

[Speederino]

1 hour ago, Tara said:

Another little annoyance that bothers me is that, during online mode, your microphone is enabled by default.  Thankfully, I didn’t even have a microphone plugged in, but I did have Stereo Mix enabled, which the game immediately assumed I wanted to use to speak to Speederino via voice, resulting in Speederino undoubtedly getting echoed game audio and Skype and SSMB notification sounds up the wazoo.  Now you’re probably thinking “So just turn the microphone off in the settings.”

I don't know if this was the game's fault necessarily or just because you happened to have Stereo Mix on, but either way there is no excuse for not having mic options in-game.

Speaking of a lack of options, playing it with Tara here really made me pine for an actual split-screen mode. You see, in single-player, the AI is a few pepperoni's short of a slice (I'm sorry, it's Ninja Turtles. I would never forgive myself if I didn't use at least one pizza pun). Yeah you can issue basic commands like "follow me" or "wait" or whatever, but they don't seem to always listen. One time I told them to hang back so I could stealth kill an enemy, only for one of them to magically drop out of thin air when I got close and ruin the whole thing anyways.

Playing in co-op with actual people alleviates this. The team feels more competent and useful, and you're more free to play how you want without having to worry about the AI mucking things up. So not only does co-op make it more fun, like Tara said, there ARE strengths to this game; especially if you're a big TMNT fan. It looks great, the basic combat is fun if a bit wonky, the voice acting is good, and there's a lot of different special moves to unlock that let each player mix up their loadouts and compliment their playstyle.

There could potentially be real fun to be had in sitting next to a fellow TMNT fan and enjoying the game together, but nope. We can't have splitscreen because it sacrifices the sacred 60fps that isn't even here anyways. Even Out of the freakin' Shadows had splitscreen co-op, so I can't fathom why Platinum of all devs couldn't be bothered since their given reason was clearly BS.

I'm still interested in playing through the game a single time, but the fact that this is priced $40 or even more is insulting. This is a $15 digital game at most, it has no business having actual retail copies sitting in stores (I imagine this is the main reason it's so expensive). There's plenty to like here for TMNT fans, but just wait for the inevitable price drops and holiday sales to go into effect.

[sonicgirl313]

Did anyone else encounter this problem in multiplayer where a boss ends up completely disappearing where you can't fight it. That's what happened to me during the Bebop battle and I chalked it up bad connection.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Out of curiosity, did anyone here pick up the PS4 version? 

[MegasonicZX]

12 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Out of curiosity, did anyone here pick up the PS4 version? 

I did.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, MegasonicZX said:

I did.

You wanna play multiplayer when I get the game?

[MegasonicZX]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

You wanna play multiplayer when I get the game?

Sure, just hit me up whenever.

[The Deleter]

The price of the game has dropped down to $31 dollars, used, on Amazon for the PS4 version, so we might not have to wait that long till it is a $15 game, actually. Waiting for it to drop below $25 at least now, lol.

[Tara]

5 hours ago, Speederino said:

I don't know if this was the game's fault necessarily or just because you happened to have Stereo Mix on, but either way there is no excuse for not having mic options in-game.

I'm of the mindset that the mic shouldn't be on by default, regardless.  Not everyone that owns a mic wants it on, and it's really not that hard to just have a mic on/off feature right there in the pause menu.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

On 5/26/2016 at 1:33 AM, MegasonicZX said:

I did.

Alright, I got the game today if you want to play.

If anyone else with the PS4 version wants to play online, let me know!

[sonicgirl313]

I need someone with the PS3 version to help me get through the game faster due to how meaty the bosses' health are.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, sonicgirl313 said:

I need someone with the PS3 version to help me get through the game faster due to how meaty the bosses' health are.

Sorry, I have the PS4 version.