TMNT Game From Platinum Games Rated Following ‘Transformers: Devastation’

Platinum Games saw success with Transformers: Devastation for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Now, it looks like the studio will take its action combat pedigree to another classic 80s cartoon with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan was rated by the Australian Classification Board on Monday, as reported by Gematsu. The Activision published game is coming to the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and last-gen consoles with Platinum Games listed as the developer.

The newest TMNT game was given an “M” rating by the Australian Classification Board, which is roughly equivalent to a “T” for Teen rating from the United States’ Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ratings board lists Mutants in Manhattan as having very mild language, mild themes, and moderate levels of violence. There’s no nudity listed, indicating that four humanoid turtles walking around with only a belt and a mask don’t count towards that category.

This will mark Platinum Games’ third licensed title with Activision in what is turning out to be a lucrative partnership between the publisher and developer. 2014’s The Legend of Korra was Platinum’s first effort under the publisher’s umbrella, and the small-ish digital-only title worked in terms of combat, but its lack of depth, story, and replayability gave it mixed to negative marks in the Metacritic review round-up.

Platinum followed this with Transformers: Devastation at the start of October. The title turned into a bit of a sleeper hit, as it pushed all the right nostalgia buttons by bringing back the character models and art style from the original 1980s cartoon, along with the original voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron, while mixing in a wide range of combo attacks from different combos.

Transformers: Devastation was a nearly full-priced physical and digital release on current and last-gen platforms. It received mixed, but better, reviews than Korra in the Metacritic round-up, with the negative marks centered on the game’s short story and repetitive combat once the nostalgia wears away.

The previous two titles do show a trend of what should be expected from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. Gamers should look forward to a fast-paced, melee-combat heavy, third-person action title that will have some story and depth limitations. This in part appears to be due to the tight timelines that Platinum Games is working under. This will be their third licensed title produced for Activision in as many years, so there’s not much time for the studio to turn out a fully-fleshed out AAA title with multiple game modes and a heavy story. Gamers should look forward to a B to A-level title instead, a market which admittedly has been lacking in the current generation.

Platinum Games is, of course, well-known in the action-combat genre with several games in its portfolio already. The studio produced two Bayonetta titles, with the last being a Wii U exclusive. It also has Metal Gear Rising: Reveangeance, The Wonderful 101, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, Infinite Space, and MadWorld in its past. In addition to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it is currently working on Star Fox Zero as a Wii U exclusive, Scalebound as an Xbox One exclusive, and Nier: Automata as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. All four of these titles are due in 2016, indicating an extremely busy schedule for Platinum.

Meanwhile, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is full of nostalgia not only for the original 80s cartoon, comics, and movies, but also for the classic Konami arcade beat ’em ups, such as The Manhattan Project, pictured above, that were eventually ported to consoles in the 90s. Unfortunately, modern game translations of the heroes in the half shells have been lackluster. The last, 2013’s Out of the Shadows, was critically panned for shoddy controls and a bevy of glitches.

Are you looking forward to a Platinum Games’ produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Konami]