Valve has announced they have acquired Turtle Rock Studios, the developer behind the survival horror title, Left 4 Dead. The developer had previously partnered with Valve in crafting several maps for Counter-Strike: Source and assisted them in the production of the FPS title, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

"Left 4 Dead fills a long-standing demand gamers have had for a coop first-person action experience, and it will also help Valve's expansion into the console market," added Doug Lombardi, Valve's VP of marketing.

Left 4 Dead is scheduled for 2008 release for the PC and Xbox 360.

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Those lucky enough to be young in the 1990s probably have a special connection with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and probably even more-so to their famous entries into the videogaming arena (I still say TMNT IV: Turtles in Time is the best beat-em-up ever made).

You've probably already heard about the new CGI Ninja Turtle movie in the works, a teaser trailer was just released this week. Well, did you know that Ubisoft is making the game adaptation? Every other Turtles game in history has been made by Konami, but sadly the latest creations have been... less than awesome. Well, for the people on the fence regarding whether or not to be excited about this new TMNT game, Ubisoft has released this behind-the-scenes video for Comic Con.

Ubisoft is one off the most infallible game publishers right now; they're responsible for Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, GRAW, and pretty much every game that plays as well as it looks. This game is being made specifically by the Montreal office of Ubisoft, the same office responsible for the upcoming Rainbow Six: Vegas. From what we can see of TMNT from this video, it looks like they're working on their trademark specular and bloom lighting, as well as a very fluid Prince of Persia-esq acrobatic movement system.

The game is set to release along with the new movie in March of 2007 (that means PS3, folks), so there's still plenty of time to (hopefully) make this the best TMNT game ever.

 You'll need the Divx web player if you want to watch the embedded version, or you could download the video directly here (23mb).

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Our friends over at Joystiq are running a story that announces an online petition for Konami to bring the 1991 classic game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time, or any other games in the series to Xbox Live Arcade. As of press time, there are a total of 22 signatures. Head on over and sign it by clicking the link below.

Online Petition

This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare’s console renditions have not been well received, but Turtles fans should be pleased by Konami’s DS version, which utilizes the same storyline as its big brothers but with more functional gameplay mechanics. In a lot of ways the game is a return to Konami’s successful handheld past, but while it’s certainly better than its console relatives, it’s still not the Turtles handheld experience of a lifetime.

Mutant Nightmare’s plot is the same one utilized in the console versions with little variation. There are four episodes (three normal, one nightmare) and the plot revolves around Fugitoid, a robot that the turtles need to save from the triceratons because he’s... super smart, and it’s the right thing to do. Along the way players encounter the “mysterious Bishop” (the guy out to snatch turtle DNA to create monsters), Shredder (the franchise’s famous bad guy), and – once again – Ultimate Drako (an evil dragon creature just thirsting for revenge). The storyline’s strongest twist is that game allows each turtle to personalize the experience some, as each gives a different version of each world’s introductory events.

The game offers four typical modes of player. You can enter the story (single-player campaign) mode, select a turtle, and go through the six stages/four worlds for the meat of the game. Each stage takes about five-ten minutes to complete depending on its difficulty (levels in the latter worlds pose a significantly greater challenge than in the first two), and essentially you just walk through, defeating enemies as the exclamation icon pops on-screen. You can also check out the battle mode, which sports 12 stages and has you collecting crystals under a time limit; this mode is perhaps the game’s best aspect, as the levels get progressively harder (and thus, much more fun) as you go on. Practice mode is just a light training level for each turtle, and multiplayer grants you access to 2-4 player matches in battle mode (once again, collecting crystals against each other), practice mode (a training arena), and cooperative mode (again, you’re collecting crystals; this is not the actual story mode played out with the four turtles).

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This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare is the third installment in the recent batch of Turtles games released for this generation of consoles, and is based on events in the currently running cartoon show. The game of course stars everyone’s favorite reptiles – Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael – destined to save the planet from all sorts of evil beings, and casts players as their chosen turtle (with computer-controlled allies) or allows them to team up with three friends (all in single-player mode). The game sports a few improvements in comparison to its predecessors, but they’re clearly not enough, and Mutant Nightmare’s one glaring, unavoidable fault make it a bust: it quickly gets repetitive and dull.

Mutant Nightmare doesn’t have a storyline per se; it utilizes episodes to tell several individual stories and then tie them all together in the final, bonus episode. In one you protect the planet from angry alien invaders; in another you stop a crazed government agent from creating fiendish monsters with the Ninja Turtles’ DNA. The episodes aren’t dramatic, but function as a backdrop to the gameplay.

Mutant Nightmare features three modes of play but focuses mostly on its normal mode, which contains three regular episodes of about sixteen-eighteen stages each as well as a nightmare mode, which pits the turtles against a sum of the group’s “nightmares”, i.e. past foes and opponents from other worlds. You can select one turtle and allow the computer to control the other three, or grab some friends for a foursome. Each mission has a single objective that, when completed, unlocks the next level and occasionally grants a fun cartoon clip from the series. Most of the levels, usually the ones providing boss fights or minigames, are rather short, but there are lengthier ones that require navigating an area accompanied by a decent radar highlighted with arrows and target bubbles. The bulk of the gameplay has you and your computer-controlled brethren taking on various opponents – either dinosaur aliens, specialized government agents, or foot soldiers – sprawled throughout the stages. The AI is functional and sufficient for single-player progression, but it’s far from genius – your turtle buddies will routinely jump into walls, swipe at the air, and run into laser beams. Thankfully you can always gather them on you with a simple call, which keeps them from unnecessarily gobbling up health items or getting themselves pulverized by a boss.

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This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare is the third installment in the recent batch of Ninja Turtles games released for this generation of consoles, and is based on events in the currently running cartoon show. The game of course stars everyone’s favorite reptiles – Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael – destined to save the planet from all sorts of evil beings, and casts players as their chosen turtle (with computer-controlled allies) or allows them to team up with three friends (all in single-player mode). From what we’ve played so far, it seems to have a host of improvements from its predecessors and should give Ninja Turtles fans a fun multiplayer game to enjoy. 

Mutant Nightmare features three modes of play but focuses mostly on its normal mode, which contains three regular episodes of about sixteen-eighteen stages each as well as a nightmare mode, which pits the turtles against a sum of the group’s “nightmares”, ie past foes and opponents from other worlds. You can select one turtle and allow the computer to control the other three, or grab some friends for a foursome. Each mission has a single objective that, when completed, unlocks the next level and occasionally grants a fun cartoon clip from the series. Most of the levels, usually the ones providing boss fights or minigames, are rather short, but there are lengthier ones that require navigating an area accompanied by a decent radar highlighted with arrows and target bubbles. The bulk of the gameplay has you and your computer-controlled brethren taking on various opponents – either dinosaur aliens, specialized government agents, or foot soldiers – sprawled throughout the stages. The AI is functional and sufficient for single-player progression, but it’s far from genius – your turtle buddies will routinely jump into walls, swipe at the air, and run into laser beams. Thankfully you can always gather them on you with a simple call, which keeps them from unnecessarily gobbling up health items or getting themselves pulverized by a boss.

Some of the minigames that I’ve sampled include fancy shuriken shooting (opponents rush directly into the camera for prompt disposal), hovercraft racing (you race against bad guys on bikes), and hang gliding (you dodge air mines during your descent), and while they’re not the most engaging they break up the repetitiveness of walking through the same areas to kill stuff. During regular play, perhaps to lighten the monotony, players can swipe things (canisters, barrels, etc) into the air and target them at opponents, and levels are dotted with breakable items. Some of the missions involve safely escorting characters (April, master Splinter) throughout a small environment while others are more ordinary: get from point A to point B, or get from point A to point B to destroy target C. The objectives and minigames aren’t too grandiose or interesting, but considering the game’s target audience – Ninja Turtle fans watching the latest series – this is probably fitting.

The most intriguing aspect of Mutant Nightmare concerns its ninja scrolls, which are purchased by exchanging crystals (points) for spells/abilities. Some of the feats grant additional health or attack power while others enable the turtles to slowly drain an enemy’s HP or even don “ultimate” gear sets to annihilate any opponent. The ninja scrolls provide a light RPG touch and enable players to modify their teammates, but each turtle can only wear so many scrolls at a time. To offset this, Konami included special group attacks that flash button combinations on-screen in succession; if each player hits his buttons quickly enough (ideally in the right order) then the gang gathers for a devastating attack.

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

The Ninja Turtles rock; there’s no way around that. As a child of the 90s, I was reared into adulthood by four walking, talking turtles who all knew kung fu and were named after artists of the Italian Renaissance.

I had all the action figures; I had the realistic Technodrome with the trap door that led to a pit of acid and snakes; I had the Turtle Van with the side door that opened up to reveal a laser-gun turret; and boy-oh-boy did I have the Turtles. Samurai Turtles, Turtles with shells that you could store weapons in, Turtles that actually transformed into regular-looking turtles, and Turtles who would swing their arms with combat precision when you pressed a lever on their backs.

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