Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles - The Hyperstone Heist

Written by Tom Clare in MegaDrive Game Reviews, Saturday 13 September, 2008

Released: 1992
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Scrolling beat 'em up
Platform: Mega-Drive

Throughout much of the nineties, the Turtles were a permanent fixture on kids TV schedules, meaning the 1993 gaming tie-in was something of an inevitability. What was rather less inevitable however was how good it would turn out to be; whilst the Streets Of Rage games would continue to rule the roost when it came to Mega-Drive scrolling beat 'em ups, the sewer-dwelling pizza-guzzlers staked a convincing claim for 'best of the rest' with The Hyperstone Heist, a title that featured some of the best presentation and co-op gameplay on the system.

Shredder is once again up to no good, shrinking the Statue of Liberty with his Hyperstone ray, threatening world domination and generally making a nuisance of himself as per the usual. The task of stopping him falls to as many as two of the Turtles quartet that comprises of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, who must battle past six levels of henchmen and finally put Shredder out of his misery.

What immediately strikes you is how impressive the presentation is - it really feels like you could be immersing yourself in the cartoon, due in part to the excellent quality of the animation and also the environments that remain faithful to the show. The visuals are superb; colourful and inventive, with numerous cool touches such as the Turtles being electrocuted or grabbing their feet after treading somewhere they shouldn't have. The array of acrobatic martial arts is shown off in dazzlingly fluid fashion, and there's even the option to choose between the 'anime' and 'comic' versions of the Turtles, providing a small but nice aesthetic difference that will please the connoisseurs.

The levels look really good, and its really impressive just how much the environments are brought into play; often backgrounds have been little more than graphical showpieces, but the player has to stay constantly aware of enemies who finding a number of ways in which to launch attacks at you. There's the more conventional means such as windows and balconies, to the rather less predictable teleportation machines, or even leaping up from manhole covers and then throwing them at you and at one point a car tries to mow you down when you go to grab the pizza left as bait in front of it! Whilst the developers are guilty of replicating the henchmen sprites with at times little more than cosmetic differences, the range of foes is mostly very good, from the deviously quick mousers that swarm around you to the rock-like men who use awkward charge attacks as their primary form of attack. The bosses look brilliant - huge, intimidating sprites whose attack patterns can for the most part be studied and exploited, allowing for some tactical encounters that reward patience and timing.

Sound is another major strong point of The Hyperstone Heist; there are some great renditions of Turtles themes that will delight fans, whilst many of the original BGM fits comfortably into the Turtles universe. The effects top it off nicely with satisfying bumps 'n' crashes and even the occasional snippet of dialogue including the trademark cries of 'kowabunga!' and 'shell-shocked!'.

Not only this, but it's supremely playable as well. Whilst it may lack the number of manoeuvres and team-up moves seen in Streets Of Rage, it makes up for it with simple and highly responsive controls and fast-paced, varied gameplay. Whilst the player must be aware of laser beams, falling barrels and pitfalls that can all cause damage, certain scenery (with quick thinking) can be used to your advantage - such as luring a bunch of enemies to your position and then setting off a box of fireworks. It's absolutely supreme fun in the two-player mode also, although it would have benefited from extra enemies as it's essentially the same as the one-player and therefore working with a mate makes encounters (particularly with bosses) a lot simpler.

So Turtles looks, sounds and plays great. However (and there always seems to be a 'But...' to spoil the fun), what prevents Turtles from the classic status it deserves is the simple fact that it's too short and way too easy to finish. The 'Easy' setting is an absolute breeze and though by 'Hard' the action levels have noticeably increased (and the last encounter with Shredder is a fair bit tougher), it still won't provide much of an obstacle to the majority of gamers, and with a generous smattering of life-replenishing pizzas and ample opportunities to gain extra lives, it's pretty much a done deal. The six levels, even on 'Hard', last only around fifty minutes, meaning the challenge for many will be to see if they can finish the game without losing lives/continues.

This shouldn't cast too much of a shadow over The Hyperstone Heist though. In graphical, audio and gameplay departments it is a triumph - something very few games, let alone licensed titles, manage to achieve. Ignore the fact that the difficulty level maybe a bit too gentle, as this remains an absolutely essential purchase that all Mega-Drive fans should experience.

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