With the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie doing fairly well (although this lifelong fan didn't bother to see it) and new episodes of the latest animated series airing on Nickleodeon, the Ninja Turtles have really returned to the public limelight once again. This would be a great time to announce an Xbox One TMNT game, but we're not quite that lucky.
Still, Activision does have a new title called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze on the way to Xbox 360 and other platforms. Turtles fans have two good reasons to be excited for this one. First, it comes from Wayforward Technologies, who have made some great licensed games like Ducktales Remastered and Batman: the Brave and the Bold. Second, it's going to be a Metroidvania-style platformer à la Guacamelee and Ori and the Blind Forest.
Here we go with the lean, green ninja team
Activision has previously published two Turtles games on Xbox 360 last year – TMNT: Out of the Shadows for XBLA and a retail title simply called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Neither was very well received, although Out of the Shadows has some genuinely cool fan-service elements. The new game Danger of the Ooze at least comes from a better developer, even if the announcement screenshots indicate it won't be wowing anyone visually.
Don't worry about seeing the Shrek-like behemoths from the latest movie in Danger of the Ooze. This one will be based on the excellent Nick series, taking place between the second and third seasons of the show. The Turtles will face familiar threats like the Shredder, the Kraang (a race of alien invaders in the new series), and Tiger Claw, a mutant tiger assassin. Not only will they defend New York, they also get to visit the alien realm Dimension X.
Danger of the Ooze will be a single-player game. Following in the footsteps of the original NES game, players will be able to swap between the four Turtles at will. Each has his own stats and abilities. The game world itself will be vast and nonlinear. The Turtles will have to discover new items and abilities to reach different areas, just like all the best Metroidvania-style games.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze is due out in Fall 2014 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and 3DS. We'll have some exclusive details on this one soon!