AC Thursday
In his weekly column, Android Central senior content creator Nick Sutrich highlights all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and more.
Given the state of the gaming industry right now, it’s always a surprise when a gem comes along and surprises me. It’s even surprising that this has happened more than once this year, and TMNT: Empire City is the most recent example of the developers’ triumph during a particularly troublesome era.
I’ve been a Turtles fan since childhood, and the number of excellent beat-em-up games this property has spawned over the years is nothing short of legendary. This latest title puts the verb in the first-person through a The Meta Quest headset lets you team up with three other friends to take down FootClan once and for all after Shredder’s death – each of whom is the incarnation of a famous Ninja Turtle, and there’s more to it than you might expect!
smells like Teen Spirit
After a particularly brilliant introduction that takes you through all four Turtles to learn their abilities, you discover that Shredder is dead, but a new villain threatens to revive him in an even more powerful state, putting New York City in a state of emergency. As the city fills with portals to another dimension and FootClan moves in to take over, you wake up safely in the sewer-bound Turtle Lair with Master Splinter, April O’Neil, and even Casey Jones.
From start to finish the game feels like a living comic book. The visual style matches this feeling perfectly, featuring thick cel-shaded edges, heavy shadows, and gorgeous hand-drawn textures. The game is impressively interactive throughout, with tons of collectibles to find, tons of optional side quests and activities to complete, minigames to play with friends, and tons of items to pick up and play around with.
In many ways, it feels like a TMNT version of the latest PlayStation Spider-Man games. You get a huge New York City to explore, complete with different neighborhoods and sections, underground sewerways, buildings you can enter to complete quests, random crimes and missions that pop up as you wander the city streets, and tons of ways to park and show off your ninja skills.
Like any good modern open-world game – especially in VR – you can climb on basically anything you want. Reaching the edge of buildings, windows, steel beams, light poles, etc. will give you a white highlight where to hold. This mechanic seems perfect for Ninja Turtles, as you still have to find specific places to climb, not just bare rock walls, but there’s no shortage of ways to park yourself off a building to get a better vantage point.
TMNT: Empire City rewards players who approach situations with a stealth-first approach, but you can always run and go ham if you enjoy traditional beat-em-up mechanics. As you’d expect, each Turtle has his own weapon and skills, with plenty of asides and jokes to fill in the gaps.
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The combat is rewarding and intense, although a little easy from the start, but things become more challenging and varied as you progress through the game. You’ll also find lots of little puzzles along the way. Hacking locked doors may require a keycard or simply a conveniently placed computer, or perhaps even a power junction box that you’ll need to re-wire (via a fun laser puzzle).
You will also find a lot of junk lying around. Plastic parts, electronics scrap, and other pickups can be used to craft and upgrade items in Donnie’s machine in the Turtle Layer. You can hold multiple items in your pouch at a time, and players can craft two upgrades from a list of unlockable items that best suit the mission. There’s a lot here, and it deeply rewards players who enjoy exploration, something that’s great to see in a game like this.
new base
When I first joined a friend of mine in TMNT: Empire City, we high-fived each other and quickly realized how much fun it is to be the Ninja Turtles. The turtle’s den is decorated in such a way that it looks legit. Each of the turtles’ rooms is tailored to their unique personality. There is even a chessboard in the living room in which you have to find pieces throughout the game, eventually resulting in a board that you can use to play with friends.
Running and climbing in the city with friends is a Ton Between the fun and minigames and strategizing your next attack, there’s no shortage of things to do. And if you want to role-play, there are plenty of ways to do so, too. It’s great for kids and kids at heart alike.
One of the most surprising things for me was seeing the faction map of the city constantly changing. When you start the game, FootClan has taken full control of the city, but you can free it by completing missions and destroying checkpoints. The clan will eventually rebuild these outposts and take back the territory if you don’t defend it, so keep an eye on the crime meter in the Turtle Lair.
As you clear FootClan outposts, special NPCs will appear in those safe parts of the city to offer you bonus quests and challenges. These can be anything from parkour running to basketballAnd they’re all fun to play with friends. They all also have leaderboards, so if your friends can’t join you, you can always compete on your own.
I came into this game expecting a fun beat-em-up that lasted a few hours and for that short amount of time it was just plain fun, but I came to realize that it is much more than it meets the eye. It’s an impressive feat in every way, from the scenery to the size of the city, things to do alone and with friends, and even the original story.
That’s what I’ll be doing over the next few Fridays as I play with friends, and I expect plenty of Turtles to join the fray when the game launches on Meta Quest and Steam on April 31st. for $24.99. Plus, it’s crossplay-compatible, so you can enjoy time with friends even if they’re on a different platform.
