TMNT: Mutant Melee is a cel-shaded adventure that gives you control of those heroes in a half shell, along with many of their friends and enemies.

The character models of Mutant Melee are given enough detail to easily tell who is who... well, most of the time. There were plenty of occasions when there were two turtles on the field and I got turned around on which one was me. Besides the four main heroes, all of the other characters are easily distinguishable and visually different enough to keep track of who you’re helping and who you’re fighting.

Each arena is either a single room (fitting nicely into your TV) or a stage where you have to move from location to location, spanning three or sometimes four screens. Whether it’s April’s apartment, Shredder’s Dojo, or the Turtle lair, each place seems to be pulled straight from the TV show, giving it a very authentic Ninja Turtle feel.

The voices, hits, explosions, and other various sounds also come off pretty well, though the one-liners get a bit repetitive while fighting in some of the longer matches. From Mikey’s laid-back attitude to Splinter’s wise old-man feel, each character’s voice has just the right attitude and flare to it. The music is okay, but is ultimately forgettable after the system is turned off.

Take four characters (be they mutants or humans), put them in an arena filled with weapons and power-ups where anything from run-away 18-wheelers to subway trains to street sweepers or giant Mousers can come out of nowhere, and you have the basics behind TMNT: Mutant Melee.

There are two modes of play in Mutant Melee: Adventure and Melee. Adventure mode lets you fight your way through the story of 10 different characters. You can play as any of the four turtles to start off with. As you progress through the different stories, you unlock other adventures starring April O’Neal, Casey Jones, Splinter, Shredder, and even Hun (Shredder’s number-one). Each adventure gives you a slightly different perspective of the overall story. There are plenty of missions that appear in multiple adventures (typically when you team up with or fight another adventure/character) to help illustrate the crossing-over aspect of the storylines. With each battle in Adventure mode, you earn money that can be used to buy various extras.

You can buy everything like bios on all the characters, concept art for the vehicles, outtakes, and information on all of the toys. And, for those long-time fans of the Ninja Turtles (those who remember the original cartoon series or even the original comics), you can read up on the history of your favorite green heroes. This history covers everything from the unusual origin of the term “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to why Mikey’s name was misspelled until this latest rendition of the turtles.

While in Adventure mode, you can unlock most of the levels that can be used in Melee mode. There are more than 20 arenas and characters (each) to unlock and play with for the Melee mode. Each location has specific types of play associated with it. You can play King of the Hill (where the first one to stay in a circle for a specified number of points wins), Keep Away (where you hold onto a treasure chest until you have enough points), or just an all out Melee Match. What seemed to be the most fun and definitely got the most use was Melee Match. In this game, up to four characters go all out in a set amount of time. Whoever has the most KOs in the end is the winner.

Each arena (regardless of which mode you’re in) contains boxes, barrels, and other breakable objects. Some of these boxes have weapons ranging from rocket launchers to swords to almost any other weapon you can think of. Other boxes contain power-ups that increase either your speed, strength, health, or defense. Besides the boxes, each level has its own secrets built in. One level lets you set a rug on fire in hopes of burning your opponent, while another one has you being chased by a street-sweeper (in the sewer!) while fighting your enemies. The best way to survive in an arena is to know all of its dirty little tricks.

Be warned though, autosave is not on by default and it doesn’t tell you this anywhere. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this out until after my first lengthy play-through. I was able to beat several of the adventures and unlock plenty of the extras, only to find out the next day that none of it was saved. If that wasn’t bad enough, the game’s autosave option is buried three or four menus down.

Each adventure in TMNT: Mutant Melee has its hard points, but you can typically get yourself through any match in two attempts. The only real exception to this is when you are facing the final battle in an adventure. I found I could consistently make my way through an adventure without any problems until I reached Shredder or whoever else the final enemy turned out to be. Most of the time, if you keep an eye on the objects and weapons around you – as well as the little secrets hidden in each arena – you can overpower your opponent(s) without much trouble.

As for the non-adventure parts of Mutant Melee, even the hardest A.I. difficulty setting isn’t too difficult to defeat, although a lot of it depends on which type of mini-game you are playing in. The A.I. seems to be better in the KO games rather than King of the Hill or Keep Away.

Each character in TMNT: Mutant Melee has a slightly different feel to it, letting just about anyone find the fighter that fits his/her/its style best. Not only are some characters faster or stronger, but each one has a different Signature Move. These Signature Moves are available after your fighter deals out enough damage to fill up a power bar. Then, by hitting the L and X buttons at the same time (which is a little awkward at times), you can release your powerful volley of attacks. Leonardo spins around like a tornado with his katana out, while Raphael turns into a red comet that flies all over the screen. Shredder and Donatello shoot out energy in rapid succession. So which character you fight best with typically depends on your style, and with more than 20 different characters to play as, just about anyone can find their favorite fighter.

Besides the somewhat-off Signature Move button combination, the rest of the control scheme is fairly straightforward. You use your main attack with the A button, your secondary attack with the B button, and jump with the X. You use the Y button to pickup (or throw) weapons and objects.

It doesn’t take long to get the feel for TMNT: Mutant Melee, and it takes even less time to really get wrapped up in its quick adventure storylines to start unlocking various goodies. Any fan of the Ninja Turtles (young or old) should definitely look for this title. Even though you can run through the stories fairly quickly, the overall re-playability of this game is still pretty high – as long as you have another turtle-lover to go up against, that is.