In the time we live in, when a big blockbuster film comes out, it does not come alone, instead an army of affiliated products are thrust upon the public in order to make as much cash as possible and as usual a video game is among these products. All this will be to coincide with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film to be released in the spring.

Generally movie-to-game cash-ins are bad but there have been good examples, including the latest Spider-Man adaptations and some of the old TMNT games on the NES and SNES. The turtle games have actually had a varied reputation. The recent titles, under the command of Konami, have failed to excite. However the license has now been given to Ubisoft and we will see a new direction and if they can bring Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo back to their former radical glory.

The movie is produced entirely in CGI so the transference to a video game should not be too big a migration. The developers have stated that they want to keep it close to the feeling of the motion picture which will mean, in terms of the story, none of the classics like Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady will feature in the game. Instead an army of ancient monsters, led by Max Winters will be among the villainy, with the ever present Foot Clan acting as great filler in between major battles.

We can already see from the movie trailers a lot of fluid jumping along tops of buildings is featured. As the game wants to recreate the movie the ‘freerunning’ movements are treated as a priority. The faced paced acrobatics are part of the three important aspects of being a true Ninja, according to the developers anyway. With this in mind they have chosen instead of following the existing mould of TMNT games, to use one of their own titles as inspiration; Prince of Persia.

The recent incarnations in the Persian saga have centred on platform jumping aspects such as reaching different areas and levels using an array of techniques such as swinging on ropes and poles, to even defying gravity by running on walls. This resembles the core of TMNT very similarly and likely uses the same engine with added techniques only a radioactively deformed turtle could carry out. In fact at various points one turtle in a half shell will not cut it. The rest of the gang can be called in to help, for example in one piece of footage; the remaining three pull their efforts together to toss the main turtle over a huge gap. That hard shell will come in handy then.

Game play is not restricted to just one main character; all four will have to be used to get past terrains that rely on each turtles special abilities or weapon. It has not yet been revealed how this system will be used but calling on and tagging a ‘family’ member will be a frequent affair as it is another third of what it apparently takes to be a true ninja.

The weapons, katana (sword), pair of sai (big forks), Bo (long stick) and a pair of nunchuks (a little different from your wii peripheral) are all perfect for the Wii’s control method; if the nunchuk controller is not used as an actual weapon. It will be interesting to see what is done with the Wii version of the multi-format release as the potential is certainly there.

After viewing on short piece of early footage it seems as though the turtles are able to fall from a great height to the next usable pillar or post without any noticeable damage. The seamless progression through the level is certainly what the developers want from their ninja turtles but seems a big leap away from the Saturday morning cartoon of the 1980s and away from a difficult game.

Prince of Persia featured puzzles that had to be solved in order to do such things as activate a new platform, however, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are exactly that, ninjas. The stealth assassins are more likely use their acrobatic abilities to reach the desired area, or will simply fight their way out.

The environment will again come in to play when an enemy cuts short your monkeying around and forces you to fight. Running up walls to vault over the opponent and kick him in to the same piece of concrete is on way to use it. The combat system is the remaining piece of Ubisoft’s ninja pizza pie. Using the turtle’s specifics move set combined with the apparatus that surround them can build up a powerful combo to ensure that the enemy will never again swipe a piece of your pizza.

Considering most of the game play mentioned appears in Prince of Persia to some extent; it remains to be seen if the developers have changed the engine enough to distinguish this as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game rather than just a Prince of Persia game with a green tint.

The story will be along the lines as the new TMNT movie but as the player controls the brotherhood through the city, sewers and jungle, new characters will start to appear; faces that do not appear in the CGI movie. This is common of movie to game tie-ins as it helps pad the game out and add new story for gamers who have already seen the accompanying film. Hidden modes will come available as well. It has already been discussed even this early in the game’s development. Ubisoft should have plenty of game to add content and refine the game considering they have the bulk of engine already, as provided by Prince of Persia and were even sent every character model by the film studio.

TMNT will be available on almost every console and handheld device but the Wii Remote will make this a promising stand out as movements seem to suit the motion controlled device perfectly, hopefully the controls will be well thought out and not tacked on, just to make it appear on every console.

The game is set to be released in March 2007 and still has a long time in development to change from what we have seen so far. The basic engine does seem to be in place so most of the remaining time will most likely be focussed on the content side but we hope to see some new and different major features.

Hopefully we will be playing the title with a smile on our faces, pizza in hand and bellowing out ‘Cowabunga’ to our television screens.