Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare

Konami��s third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for PS2 in as many years still isn��t very good. Even worse, the company makes the mistake of including the best Turtles arcade game to illustrate just how comprehensively Mutant Nightmare fails to live up to that game��s quality.

Though the bonus game is based on the arcade version of Turtles in Time and not the slightly superior SNES port, it��s still a great way to kill some time, especially now that credit feeding is as simple as tapping a button. The music and sound effects have all been changed, apparently due to rights issues, and the result is frankly a little embarrassing��especially the voice acting, which sounds like the actors were directed to be as lame as possible. Other than that, though, everything is present and correct, and best of all, you don��t have to play any of the regular game to access it.

Which is good, because��did I mention already?��it��s much better than the ��real�� game it��s attached to. Mutant Nightmare��s fighting (which is all there is to do) lacks much skill or depth, and it uses only a few simple combos so the game is more accessible to the younger crowd that watches the show. But why fight at all when the computer will do it for you? You can beat most of the short stages by just hanging back and letting the other three omnipresent, AI-controlled turtles do all the work.

Mutant Nightmare has improvements over its predecessors here and there, like a better camera and nice graphics, but when the basic game is this boring, that��s about as useful as replacing the air freshener in a house built in the sewers.

Confused about where the Technodrome, Rat King, and Bebop and Rocksteady fights went? If you haven��t played the arcade version of Turtles in Time in a while, you might be surprised to learn that those fights weren��t added to the game until its SNES port.

Pros: It has the flavor of the series with nicer animation to boot; inexpensive

Cons: Too dull to actually play

Veredict: Sadly skippable once again

Rating: 2.0

Pub. Konami Dev. Konami ESRB E10+ MSRP $29.99

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.