If there’s a moment the game actually starts to come together, it’s during boss fights. With only one giant enemy to focus on--whose attacks are flashy and brutal, but easy to read--the relative chaos of these encounters can at least make sense. Action takes on an arcade-y quality that momentarily conjures memories of great Turtles games from the past. There are also secret bosses who can show up when replaying a level that make a sincere plea for replay value, just to see what twists the game might throw your way the second time around.
However, despite its relatively short playtime, Mutants In Manhattan isn’t a boss rush sort of game. There’s lots of running around samey-looking sewers, running across poorly designed rooftops, and performing random, disjointed, and boring fetch quests for a woefully underutilized April O’Neill before it’s time for the big fight. And once again the key problem rears its head. Fights are just wild button-mashers where the fruits of your labors leave the player apathetic, rather than looking forward to what Michelangelo could do to the to the next guy, or what Donatello might pull off this time. For the first time since the infamous dam level in the original NES Turtles game, God, it sucks being a turtle.