Let's be honest: TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan wasn't much of a surprise. Despite Activision and Platinum Games' silence, screen shots and art assets from the game made their way online a number of times — by the time footage from the game actually debuted, most gamers already had an idea of what they were in for.
Granted, everything about Mutants in Manhattan sounds great so far: the action gaming gurus over at Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Transformers: Devastation) are handling development duties, and the game's cel-shaded look seems to have found the perfect sweet spot between the original comic book and the '80s cartoon show. Of course, the Turtles themselves are the most important part of the formula — if Platinum Games can't manage to make the Turtles feel different from one another, the whole experience could boil down to one long, linear slog.
Thankfully, it looks like Platinum Games is going out of its way to give each Turtle his own style: while it's only a brief look, a new gameplay teaser showing off Leonardo's signature moveset just made its way online:
Ever since the cartoon popularized the TMNT franchise, Leonardo has always been the leader of the Turtles. He's always been shown as courageous, responsible ... if a bit hard-headed at times.
His control over time and space, well ... that's new.
All jokes aside, Leonardo's time manipulation powers fit in will with the game's over-the-top style. Without more information, it's hard to tell exactly how these powers work, or if they'll affect co-op partners — but even so, it shows that Platinum Games doesn't want the Turtles to end up being carbon copies of one another.
Otherwise, it's a bit harder to tell if any of the other combat moves in the trailer are Leonardo-specific or available for everyone. Hopefully, it won't be much longer before Platinum Games shows fans what the other Turtles are capable of.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is due out sometime this summer.
