TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan Needs Local Co-Op
By Dalton Cooper 26 January 2016
TMNT fans are excited for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, but find out why one writer thinks that it won’t live up to the hype without local co-op.
After a comical number of leaks, Activision and Platinum Games finally announced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. With Platinum coming off the highly praised Transformers: Devastation, expectations are high for the new TMNT title, and understandably so. However, there’s something about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan that has me worried that it won’t live up to the hype – the fact that it might not have local co-op.
In my opinion, one of the most important elements of all the good Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games has been local co-op. As painful as it may be, imagine for a moment a world where games like Turtles in Time were single player only. It just wouldn’t have been the same game, and while it would still have received praise for other things it did right, I doubt many would recall it as fondly.
And so my worry with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is that it might not have local co-op, and may not be as great of a game because of it. Please keep in mind that this is not confirmed. Right now, all we do know for sure, thanks to the Mutants in Manhattan reveal trailer and the game’s leaked achievement list, is that the new TMNT title from Platinum Games will have online co-op at the very least.
Online co-op is great, and I appreciate its inclusion. I’m sure I will spend plenty of time patrolling cel-shaded New York City with my buddies online, but nothing beats playing games with friends, in the same room, on the same console. The social experience of local co-op is just something that I find is difficult to replicate when playing online. Simply put, I crave experiences that provide high quality local multiplayer and co-op.
Hopefully Platinum Games will pull through and we will be able to consider TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan among the best local multiplayer games on current gen systems one day. It remains to be seen either way, but when one looks at Platinum’s track record for supporting local multiplayer options, things look bleak for Mutants in Manhattan.
Take Platinum’s Bayonetta 2, for example. Bayonetta 2 was critically acclaimed, and is considered by many to be one of the strongest titles available on the Wii U. It brings to the table a number of improvements over the original game, including a well-received co-op mode called Tag Team Climax. As one might be able to guess, Tag Team Climax is online only.
When taking a look at the other games that Platinum Games has developed, it becomes apparent that the studio tries avoid multiplayer altogether, with most of the company’s game being strictly single player ventures. Really the only game that Platinum has built from the ground-up to be a multiplayer experience is the 3D brawler Anarchy Reigns, but that, like Bayonetta 2, lacks local multiplayer support.
To date, there is only one game that Platinum has created with support for local multiplayer. That game is The Wonderful 101, a quirky Wii U exclusive that released a couple of years back. Even though The Wonderful 101 is notable for being the only title from Platinum Games to feature local co-op in any capacity, critics at the time complained that its couch multiplayer felt tacked on. What this demonstrates is that Platinum Games has yet to prove that it can create compelling multiplayer experiences for the offline crowd.
Having said all that, I am sure Platinum will still be able to make a great TMNT game. The studio is full of incredible talent, and I’m excited to see how this and other upcoming games from the company, such as Star Fox Zero and the 4-player online co-op game Scalebound turn out. However, I stand by my stance that a TMNT game needs local co-op to truly reach its full potential, and if Mutants in Manhattan lacks it, it will be worse off.
How do you feel about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan? Do you care if the game has local co-op, or are you fine with its multiplayer being online-only? Do you think that Platinum Games will be able to deliver a TMNT experience on par with its Transformers effort, or will it be more Legend of Korra quality? Sound off in the comments below and leave us your thoughts on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan will be available this summer for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
