TMNT: Mutant Melee
Description official descriptions
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee is a 3D fighting game based on the 2003 animated series. The combat system is similar to the earlier games based on that series, but unlike them, it is a competitive vs. fighting game. It is not a traditional one-on-one fighter, but an arena-based, four-player game - somewhat along the lines of Power Stone.
There are two game modes. There is a single-player adventure mode in which you must guide one of ten characters (including six unlockables) through a series of 100 bouts that have you either beating up enemies, or, in a few cases, dodging bombs for a set amount of time. Completion of these portions unlocks the additional characters, bonus characters and stages for melee mode.
Melee mode is the multiplayer portion. It has ten basic and twelve unlockable characters, and nine basic and fifteen unlockable stages. There are four game types which mirror popular types from first-person shooters. There is a deathmatchesque knock-out mode, where the goal is to score the most KOs. (Players respawn after being KOed.) There is also a Last Man Standing mode, where the goal is to be the only player left when the others are KOed, a King of the Hill, where you must stand on a glowing patch of ground and defend it from other players, and a Keep away mode, where you must hold a treasure chest and avoid other players who are trying to beat you up and take it.
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Credits (Xbox version)
81 People (65 developers, 16 thanks) · View all
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 50% (based on 17 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 20 ratings with 1 reviews)
The Good
Well, the melee mode can be fun, and you can unlock some laugh-out-loud videos in the "other media" section of the library. There's a wide variety of characters to choose from, and they all have their own special moves. There are plenty of arenas, and they are fully interactive, with weapons to be found in crates nearby.
Some crates, when smashed, bestow you with invincibility, super-strength, super speed, and full health; and when thrown at an opponent, when they are hit it will do the opposite, weakening them so they can be beaten easier.
The Bad
The biggest problem with this game is the majorly unbalanced fighters. The one character Traximus actually has a glitch that makes his special meter charge about 5 times faster than everyone else's! That means that he can use his special practically the entire match nonstop! On top of all that, he can do more damage with his fists than everybody else too! You can say to your friends " all right everyone, no Traximus allowed" but the computer picks him 95% of the time.
The computer always picks a Turtle, if you don't. Others like Sleeg and surprisingly Splinter, are so weak you might as well not bother, and the Brothers themselves are worthless. That's bad news, because you must play as them for the beginning of adventure mode. Adventure mode is terrible, with no real storyline, and the difficulty ranges from super-easy to practically unbeatable without pure luck.
The difficulty really depends on the AI for that mission. On the harder missions, they block all attacks, and instantly run over to all crates and smash them as soon as they appear, gaining invincibility almost every time. The mission where Mikey must fight five Foot ninjas at one time is a good example of an unbeatable level.
You can't even turn off the computer players for a one-on-one match; there must always be four fighters. It's not even worth unlocking new fighters, as they are little more than palette swaps (like Oroku Saki, who is the Shredder's true identity), maybe with new special moves.
The other multi-player levels like King Of The Hill and Keep Away are totally unfun (Ironically, one of the King Of The Hill levels, Autumn, is easily the best-looking stage in the game). Ugh.
The Bottom Line
It's not worth it. I only ended up with it because it was part of a huge lot, so unless someone sells it with bunch of really good games, forget it. I'm a Turtles fan, and even I don't like it.
GameCube · by Da Pur Insanitee (23) · 2011
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Ace of Sevens.
Additional contributors: Sciere.
Game added August 26, 2006. Last modified March 9, 2023.