This game (and it's sequel) were a huge draw at the local arcade. It was big, bad, 4 joysticks strong and HARD. It was one of those games where you yelled for someone to change a dollar into quarters for you while you desperately tried to survive. Of course that was the point of the game, to suck quarters out of your pocket.

So all these years later, and no need for quarters anymore, how does it hold over over Xbox Live?

Surprisingly well, if you go into it with the right frame of mind. This game isn't anywhere near as good as you remember it being when you were a kid (same goes for most of our childhood's sadly), but that's not to say it's bad. You just need to enter into it with a proper perspective.

The original intent of this machine was to beat the ever living crap out of you, in an effort to extract yet another quarter from your pocket. The gameplay was designed around it, and avoiding the "insert coin" screen was a victory. So how can the game hold up after taking away these 2 vital elements? Nostalgia, that's how.

Ahh the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. It's been described (accurately I believe) as "fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth." In other words, if you loved the game as a kid you'll get your money's worth here again.

They really don't make games like this anymore. It's straight up button-masher beat-em-up. In that sense, the game is a glorious example of gameplay simplicity. You dispatch Foot soldier after Foot soldier, stopping for boss fights with Bebop, Rocksteady, Kang and of course Shredder. That's it, you mash the button and kick ass.

At only $5, Ubisoft put this at the right price point. Ten would've been a rip-off. In all honesty you'll beat the game in less than a half hour. But getting on the headset and playing 4 player local or over Live seems to help gloss over the (nowadays) primitive nature of the game. Playing this one alone is possible but not fun and not recommended.

Here is it in a half-shell... the game is fun if you played it as a young'un and you've got some friends around. If you never played it before you might have a good time, but won't get the feel good nostalgia thing going on. It's the same feeling I get every time I watch the Transformers Movie (The animated one with more story and soul than that Michael Bay turd).

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment