Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze (PlayStation 3)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze is based on the 2012 Nickelodeon TV series. The game sends the four Ninja Turtles out to prevent a canister of super mutagen from falling into the hands of the Shredder and his cronies.

The game, which uses 3D polygonal graphics for 2D side-scrolling gameplay, is a combination of “Metroidvania”-style exploration-based platformer and beat’em up. The turtles’ quest will take them through a huge interconnected world, reaching from the sewers to the streets of New York City, the TCRI building and even Dimension X. In typical genre style, only a small part of the world is accessible from the start. New skills or items must be unlocked or found to be able to reach new areas.

Standing in the turtles’ way are various goons, reaching from Foot Clan bots over Mouser droids to Kraang soldiers. It is possible to switch between the four turtles at any time. They all use their signature weapons and have a slightly different fighting style and moves. Basic moves are simple attacks and blocks. Landing a hit combo and then pressing attack again sends the turtle’s weapon spinning and then pressing a direction launches a “Shell Kicker” – an extra powerful move that can knock away an enemy’s shield, knock them back, deal extra damage or get the turtle behind the enemy. Defeating enemies gains experience points that allow upgrading of the Shell Kicker attacks. If a turtle is defeated, he is captured by the enemy and it is possible to get him back into the game by rescuing him from where he is held.

New abilities are earned by finding power-ups or meeting with allies like April or Casey in story sequences. They include double jumps and dashes, as well as the ability to throw various kinds of shuriken or smoke bombs, all of which allow the turtles to gain access to new areas. There are also health upgrades in the form of pizza boxes (for higher maximum health) or pizza pies and slices (for replenishment).

There are several boss battles against the likes of Rahzar, Baxter Stockman, and of course, the Shredder. The voice actors from the TV series reprise their roles for the game.