Achievements Show new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Details

Published: January 4, 2016 4:07 PM /

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Platinum

Activision still refuses to announce the open secret that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan but that hasn't stopped more details from leaking out. While the Australian Classification Board last year was the first leakage of the latest partnership between Platinum Games, and Activision, we had basically no information other than that it was developed by Platinum, has an M rating and will be multi platform. The information came out after the successful release of Transformers: Devastation making this partnership on licensed titles essentially 1 hit, and 1 sorta kinda miss with the Legend of Korra game that disappointed many. 

Warning, given this article is based on picking apart the achievements for what information is there, if you want to go into this game when it's announced without any spoilers you should turn away now.

Today's leakage though comes from Xbox Achievements for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan revealing the games 50 achievements that can earn up to 1000 points for those. Mort importantly though is the amount of information that can be gleaned from reading the achievements and what it means for the type of gameplay you can expect to see in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan.

To start it off, one thing people seem to have missed is that there is going to be an online mode. The Australian Classification Board leak had that there but off to the side with saying "online interaction is not rated". It is more explicitly confirmed with "Nice to meet you!" being earned for playing online at least once, and there are mentions of co-op attacks,which may or may not be relying on online play, depends on how it is implemented.

Looking through the list, we can see multiple mentions of traveling distance, as well as missions, which reveals that it will likely be set in an open world style with missions similar to Transformers: Devastation. There will be different stages like in Transformers that you can visit for missions and also separately to explore, where you will have side missions that you can do, like protecting Pizza Trucks (at least that looks like that is a side mission or objective, given that the objective is protect 10 Pizza Trucks) or transporting things like bags of money and gold bars. The "Bodyguard" achievement confirms at the very least gold bar missions are in existence, as it is achieved by completing a gold bar mission without the carrier being hit even once. Given "gold Rush" is earned by transporting gold bars 30 times, it would make sense that similar ones are also missions like the bags of money, or disarming time bombs.

The Achievements appear to put a greater focus on traveling about the world than Transformers: Devastation had with multiple achievements all about moving about. There are achievements for traveling 32 miles, and 150 miles which hint at a larger world to explore. The game appears to have some sort of vertical design as well, which is shown in three different achievements. The first is "When Turtles Fly" which you get for traversing 1 mile in the Residential Area without touching the ground. The picture for it shows one of the Turtle's jumping through the skyline, and that would likely be what would be able to do in-game. It is possible that is a platforming section where you die if you hit the ground, but the way it's worded makes that seem unlikely. 

The next point is the achievement "On top of things" which references Karai's stage. In particular to get that achievement you must climb to the highest point and do a little dance - one of several things there that are based on doing little things for the camera. The key point here though is that it is a stage wherein you can be climbing to the top and do stuff, so it further emphasizes verticality, and notably it is not the 'Residential Area' so that's at least two stages that will have it. The last one is more general and refers to enemies using the air - in particular "Look out Below!" is earned by destroying a helicopter - something that makes the most sense in a game where you have various heights is to have a helicopter that attacks from above.

Further on world design, we know that there is the ability to eavesdrop and thus one would imagine at least some conversations that happen between notable enemies when you are nearby but unseen. It may also hint at some less linear design and stealth sections that are there in conjunction with another. The "Eavesdropper" one triggers on hanging out outside of an enemy hideout for at least 10 seconds, and with that name, one can imagine there is to be conversation to listen in on. The other notable one that hints at some stealth play is "Stealth Master", which triggers on completing a stage outside of a mission without being spotted. That also hints at non-mission runs through areas with objectives to be done that will require some sort of stealth tools. 

Mentioned above was the doing a dance at the top of Karai's stage. Well that's far from the only case of triggering things with odd actions from what we've seen. Apparently after a boss is defeated there are snapshots that go on and there are 4 achievements based on doing something particular while that is happening. The first "Double K.O." is earned by entering the Pizza Room during snapshots when a boss is defeated. Another, "Pizza Poser" triggers on actually eating a pizza during that snapshots period. A third is called "Sorry not Sorry" and is earned by having everyone perform a Communication Action during the snapshots when you defeat a boss - presumably something that is used for giving indication of things to do like - "go there" or "hide", given the name. The final is under secret achievements and is called "Showoff", and is earned by having Mikey do his co-op move finishing pose during the snapshots. 

Interestingly, we can also see that the game relies on choosing a single member and changing roles throughout fights or missions based on this. The two key parts to noticing this are "Turtle Power!" and "I Like the Green One". Turtle Power is achieved by using Turtle Switching to defeat 1 enemy with all 4 Turtles - meaning that at least some of the time you'll have that capability available to you, and you have to switch. "I Like The Green One" shows that there is at least some of the time, a choice in who you use, as it is gotten by using any character at least 50 times. At least in some sort of open world free roam mode, you'll be able to choose who you use.

Some enemies have been revealed through this as well, which helps flesh some of the information of the game, and show that there is at least some variety. "Red Means Stop" is about destroying a rampaging car with a drum can, so there'll be time to hit on cars, and drum cans make repeat appearances. Drum Cans have several other achievements like defeating 5 enemies with 1 of them exploding. The helicopter we mentioned above shows another vehicle type as well. At least some boss fights will have context or scripted possibilities is shown by "Let There be Light" which you get by activating the ceiling switch during the battle with Slash - who is of course an enemy as well. "Night Vision" shows that Wingnut is getting a stage and there are Stone Warriors there that you can kill, and you earn the achievement by doing so with turrets that are presumably placed around the stage.

Krangdroids are also making an appearance according to the achievement "Hard hitter" which is earned by defeating 4 Kragndroids with conventional weapons in the Mega Krang stage. Also related to Krang is "Out of this World" which is about experiencing all of the Krang UFOs' status effects - either some sort of stage feature, part of the boss battle, or an enemy that is in the game. You would be disappointed likely if there was no Foot Soldiers in the game, so while we don't have much on them, the achievements do confirm their existence with "Traitor in their Midst". In particular, "Traitor in their Midst" is earned by defeating 5 enemies at once by blowing up a Foot Soldier who is carrying a bomb bag - so there's another little big about them.

One of the things we don't know much about but shows up repeatedly in the achievements is portals. They appear to be tied to missions or side activities of some sort given that they come up with different items getting transported to them multiple times, and may in fact be tied to the games main plot. A couple examples in the achievements are "Detoxicator" which you get by transporting 10 Chemical Weapons to a portal, and "Utrom Buster" is earned by transporting 30 Krang Bombs to a portal. More on portals will have to wait, but it is worth thinking on.

Some other points that may interest you from there:

  • You can grind on rails, and if you do so for at least 300 feet you get the achievement "Grind the Grind"
  • Combo Attacks are in, as one would expect from a Platinum game with "Group Hug" being earned for defeating 6 enemies at once with it
  • There is at least one Secret Room and one Secret Boss, as "Explorer" is earned by finding the Secret Room in the TCRI building, and "Party Crasher" is earned for defeating a Secret Boss
  • Charms are in the game, both possible to dismantle and upgrade. "Tinkerer" you get for dismantling 30 charms, and "637 IQ" you get for upgrading 30 Charm effects
  • There are different modes available - though what that means we'll have to see. "Hit fast, Hit hard" is achieved by defeat 5 enemies with both Turbo Mode and Berserk activated
  • There will be some sort of upgrade system - presumably with experience called training Points. "Hype Training" is gotten by collecting 10,000 Training Points.
  • Wanton Destruction of Property is possible at times with things like "Everybody Loves Explosions" earned by detonating 100 drum cans, and "No Respect for Machinery" gives its 15 points for destroying 30 cameras and laser device containers
  • There appears to be a Zombie part or joke, as "Soooooaaaaap" is received for turning all the Turtles into zombies simultaneously by touching contaminated water.
  • The TCRI building will be a stage, not just a secret room given the fact there's an elevator section in it that to get "Goin' Up" you have to survive without taking any damage
  • Pizza will be everywhere as "One month's Dinner" is had for eating 100 Pizzas
  • There will be at least 3 difficulty modes in Easy, Medium and Hard shown by the "The End?" achievement and "Veteran" achievement you get by defeating the mode in question (easy or normal get The End).
  • "Next time, take a cab" is earned by getting Rocksteady and bebop ran over by a Train.

We're still waiting on an official announcement from Activision but, I hope this run down has helped you learn some more about the game based on what was leaked today.


Quick Take

So I may have mentioned I thought TMNT would be a 2017 release in my Scalebound piece but this likely cements that it will be releasing this year if they are far enough along to have it into the Xbox system. One has to wonder when Activision will be announcing it, but it probably won't be long now. The latest it launches at this point is Holiday's this year and being either a Spring or late Summer release would be no surprise at this time.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Don Parsons
| Senior Writer

A longtime lover of speculative fiction, in almost all its forms, Don joined TechRaptor in 2014 on a whim sending in an application as he was looking for… More about Don