Parents' Guide to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

Like the cartoon that inspired it, this third-person hack-and-slash action game is decidedly more for kids than older fans of the animated action series. Armed with a variety of weapons, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have to run around small but open areas of New York City, as well as the more enclosed sewers and subways, where they battle ninjas and other bad guys. Along with fast and strong attacks, the turtles have cool tag-team attacks, and characters can buy power-ups that include pizza slices that, of course, restore your health. Players can also switch among the turtles when playing on their own, while co-op lets up to four players each control a different adolescent, genetically modified sneaky warrior. But while the game has a lot of fan service, and even a bit of depth, it's still decidedly a kids' game, more suited for fans of the recent cartoon than the old animated show or even the original (and decidedly more mature) comic books. Not only can action get a bit repetitive, since you're largely just running from one skirmish to another, but you also often face enemies who aren't terribly bright. The game isn't terribly long, while its story is rather predictable and uninteresting. Still, if you're a kid and you love the cartoon, you'll have fun smacking bad guys in this game.