I'm actually playing through this series backwards. I bought the 3rd game despite it getting critically panned and I liked it, so I figured I'd give the second game a try too. Unfortunately, this game deserves its horrible reviews.

The thing that seperates this game from the third (and probably the first) is the platforming elements. Like a 3rd-person action game you'll be forced to hop across platforms, activate switches by jumping on them, etc. This part of the game fails miserably. Jumping is a stiff and painful affair, and you'll fall to your death several times in some of the levels. Making matters worse is that once you lose all your life, it's back to the beginning. No mid-level saves here to make things easier. Removing these platforming elements could have made the game a lot more enjoyable.

Really, Konami forgot they were making a brawler here. Horrible jumping sections aside, the levels aren't that populated with bad guys and the attack combos aren't satisfying. The old arcade game (which can be unlocked on this disc) was called a button-masher for a reason. It threw so many enemies at you that you were busy mashing buttons to stay alive. What TMNT 2 ends up being is neither a good adventure game nor a good brawler game. And in the oddest trick of all, it asks all players to share a life bar. I guess this was to encourage cooperation to protect less experienced players, but what it really does is put the burden on that player to not screw things up for everyone.

It's unfortunate the gameplay stinks, because the production values are decent. I like the cel-shaded look, they got the cartoon voice actors to reprise their roles, and use a lot of clips from the series. There's even some "new" animation in here, but its off-model and stiffer than a bad anime program. Whatever. And again, the inclusion of the classic arcade game is a huge bonus.

I really can't recommend TMNT 2, except it might be worth it if you unlock the arcade game, which is buried reasonably far in the main levels. Unless you collect all things Turtles, skip this one and grab the third one, which is a real button-masher and not this sorry excuse for fun.
I'm actually playing through this series backwards. I bought the 3rd game despite it getting critically panned and I liked it, so I figured I'd give the second game a try too. Unfortunately, this game deserves its horrible reviews. The thing that seperates this game from the third (and probably the first) is the platforming elements. Like a 3rd-person action game you'll be forced to hop across platforms, activate switches by jumping on them, etc. This part of the game fails miserably. Jumping is a stiff and painful affair, and you'll fall to your death several times in some of the levels. Making matters worse is that once you lose all your life, it's back to the beginning. No mid-level saves here to make things easier. Removing these platforming elements could have made the game a lot more enjoyable. Really, Konami forgot they were making a brawler here. Horrible jumping sections aside, the levels aren't that populated with bad guys and the attack combos aren't satisfying. The old arcade game (which can be unlocked on this disc) was called a button-masher for a reason. It threw so many enemies at you that you were busy mashing buttons to stay alive. What TMNT 2 ends up being is neither a good adventure game nor a good brawler game. And in the oddest trick of all, it asks all players to share a life bar. I guess this was to encourage cooperation to protect less experienced players, but what it really does is put the burden on that player to not screw things up for everyone. It's unfortunate the gameplay stinks, because the production values are decent. I like the cel-shaded look, they got the cartoon voice actors to reprise their roles, and use a lot of clips from the series. There's even some "new" animation in here, but its off-model and stiffer than a bad anime program. Whatever. And again, the inclusion of the classic arcade game is a huge bonus. I really can't recommend TMNT 2, except it might be worth it if you unlock the arcade game, which is buried reasonably far in the main levels. Unless you collect all things Turtles, skip this one and grab the third one, which is a real button-masher and not this sorry excuse for fun.