Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City Review – Fun With Friends, Flawed in Combat

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City Review

Heroes in a half-shell! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s theme song is nudged out only by the original animated Spider-Man theme song in terms of recognizability. However, thanks to Cortopia Studios, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have beaten the web crawler to having their first VR game treatment with TMNT: Empire City VR. Meta and Steam now feature the Turtles, who join Batman and Deadpool in the VR platform’s stable of superhero games. Can you say “Cowabunga!”?

At the start of the game, things are up for grabs in Empire City with the death of The Shredder. There is little time to rejoice, though, because in Shredder’s absence, there is a power vacuum. The Foot Clan has tightened its grip on the streets of Empire City, and it is up to the Turtles to save the day once again. The Turtles will have to hack and slash their way through an all-new original action-adventure campaign. This time, you will use the Foot Clan’s infighting and your VR headset to your advantage to do so.

Not only do you get to play behind the bandana, but you also get to choose which of the four brothers you wish to play as. Each brother has their own unique mix of strengths and weaknesses. They all have a preferred weapon of choice and a set of perks that work best for their style. So weapon-wise, Leonardo favors the katanas, Michelangelo the nunchucks, Raphael the sai, and Donatello the bo, aka the staff.

Each weapon suits a particular fighting style. So Leo fights best in close to medium range, while Mikey and Raph are much more effective at close range. Rounding out the group is Donnie, who fights best at medium to far range. Not only do their weapons and range determine how effectively they fight. So do their personalities. Leo is the leader and acts accordingly. Mikey is the team joker and the most unpredictable. Raph is the hothead of the group and thrives on being aggressive. Donnie is the smartest of the turtles and loves tech. He is best at defensive play and crowd control.

Combat Is More Than Just Weapons

So their weapon of choice and personality form the base of their combat, but they are not the be all. Cortopia Studios has layered in several other factors to deepen the combat. This includes Base and Focus Traits. Leo and Mikey share the same Base Traits of moderate attack damage and health. Raph has high health and attack Base Traits while Donnie has moderate attack damage and low health.

What the Base Traits mean for the player is a choice of gameplay and combat style. Leo suits beginners and standard play. For advanced players, Mikey and Donnie are the turtles of choice. If you prefer to charge into battle, taking no prisoners, then Raph is the hardshell you want to put on. However, Base Trait is not the only attribute to consider when making your turtle choice.

Focus Trait adds another layer to the mix. When you pull off a series of combos, you activate a power-up. Again, the turtle’s powers vary. For Leo, when he fights with flow and discipline, he gets a slower Focus decay and a moderate damage increase. Mikey gets more Focus by spinning his nunchucks which adds a stun power to them with a low damage increase. Raph’s focus comes and goes quickly. His focus increases when taking damage, giving him a high damage increase, but only for a short while. Finally, for Donnie, his focus increases when he blocks and parries. This increase gives him an electricity stun power with a moderate damage increase.

Each character’s inventory, or as the game calls it, their inventory, is slightly different. Where they vary is the number of slots available for item, tech, and health slots. Regardless of what character and combat style you choose, you should not overlook the use of stealth. While stealth is not mandatory, right, Raph?, it’s highly advisable to have a battle plan. Use the cover of night to sneak up on enemies. Ranged weapons or tools like smoke bombs or shurikens are also useful in thinning or confusing enemy ranks. The game also allows you to use verticality to swoop down on unsuspecting targets. Such tactics work well with the game’s action-adventure focus.

VR Combat Melee Problem

The various combat tactics are well thought out, but VR presents a problem. The physical translation of your movements for melee combat against virtual enemies is tough to make feel realistic. Too often, despite the best game design intentions, one finds themself bypassing the combat actions and just waggling their controllers to defeat enemies. Empire City does not avoid this fate. The best implementation of VR melee combat lies with those games that map out combat moves for you to match against. Batman: Arkham Shadows VR does this best. Yes, such a system locks you into a predetermined combat path, but it still delivers the most viscerally satisfying VR fighting experience.

That caveat aside, TMNT: Empire City VR is a mixed bag of treats. It really captures the tone of the franchise. Plus, there are surprise character appearances that add to the ambiance. The voice work and writing are great, but no matter how well they are done, hearing the same line for the twelfth time gets old. Equally tiring are the mere three areas of Empire City in which the game takes place in. You must constantly revisit them and battle the Foot Clans or redo the same crime missions to re-establish control.

Where the game really shines is in two areas: the parkour and the co – op gameplay. The game really nails the three-dimensionality of the locomotion aspect. It’s a lot of fun to leap across rooftops and climb pipe drains. The jumping, mid-air dashing, and grappling hook are a joy to execute. It’s too bad the combat isn’t up to snuff.

The coop play is a hoot. Teaming up with three buddies to watch them be turtles is a guaranteed recipe for laughter. Even more so, because the facial animations match yours when you talk. Seeing characters’ mouths open and close when they talk is cartoonishly funny. They also add some spice to activities like time trials or just shooting some basketball hoops. Plus, they let you get through the combat sections much quicker.

TMNT: Empire City VR Ambition Exceeds Budget

Empire City shares the same fate that a lot of ambitious VR games do. They try to mimic the scope of big-budget AAA flat games, but cannot do so because of their much more limited budget. So the game ends up being spread thin with little depth over its six-hour game length. TMNT: Empire City VR is a fun, if thin, game. Just be aware that its chief charms come from playing with friends and moving around the city with the parkour system. If you are a Turtle fan, that may be enough for you.

***Meta key provided by the publisher***