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Okay, let me get this straight. Four terrapins fell into some radioactive sludge, but were rescued by a rat called Splinter which had learnt martial arts from watching a master ninja. The radioactivity naturally grew all five creatures to man-size and enabled them to speak English. The Turtles learnt Californian surfer lingo from TV and, in time, became international heroes.

Obviously this is completely ludicrous and unbelievable, so when the Turtles became a worldwide phenomenon the plot was changed to something much more realistic. Now instead of Splinter being a rat, he's a human who was transformed into a rat. This incredibly mean act was perpetrated by Shredder after he killed the previous leader, a good friend of Splinter. Once transformed into a rat, Splinter just happened to come across four Turtles as they fell into that critical radioactive sludge. All makes perfect sense now, doesn't it?

In the computer game the Turtles are battling, as ever, with the Foot Clan in their quest to get the Transformer device from Shredder. Also, their reporter friend April O'Neil has been kidnapped and must be rescued. The game takes place in New York, viewed from overhead. You control a single Turtle as he scuttles about, battling ninjas. Certain buildings can be entered and the view changes to a side-on one. The Turtle can run around, make massive leaps and fight. The weapon used varies according to the character, each of which has his own energy and can be switched between by pressing space. To restore energy you can collect pizzas, of course. Other pick-up items include additional weapons such as a Boomerang, Shuriken, Triple Shuriken, Anti-Clan missiles, a rope for climbing between buildings and limited invulnerability. On the overhead section there's a party-van which can be driven around.

The dudes are here at last, but the game's a bit of an anticlimax on the C64. It's a very mediocre arcade adventure which wouldn't stand a chance without the interest generated by the strong licence.

Dedicated Turtles fans will no doubt lap up the unsophisticated beat-'em-up action - though the inflated price tag is harder to stomach than a 12 inch pizza. But there's nothing at all outstanding to see or do and the repetitive sewer sections all look very much alike.

Talking of sewers, the Amiga looks like it crawled out of one. Incredibly jerky scrolling, pathetic (sometimes two-frame!) animation and a general lack of detail are complemented by an irritating tune. Gameplay is identical to the C64, i.e. very derivative and unambitious even for 8-bit, never mind 16-bit! Shredder must be laughing his head off at this dire effort. Totally bogus, dudes!

Well, you've already bought this one by the crate load, so I guess this review is of more historical interest than anything else. Wisely Mirrorsoft declined to send out pre-prod versions for reviews, thus missing pre-Xmas reviews, but with the Amiga simply a glance would reveal a chronic scroll and banal graphics suffering mediocre animation.

ST-portitus strikes again! Gameplay is an unremarkable mix of overhead-view maze with side-on combat. Sluggish response makes the latter unsatisfying, and repetition soon sets in. It's a dull game which would've sunk without trace if it didn't have the Turtles name.

C64 Turtles isn't quite so technically poor, the backgrounds are reasonable and the Turtles sprites are acceptable. However, splodgy enemy sprites and the basic limitations of gameplay make this amazingly inept for the high price point. A swift multi-load and numerous levels can't compensate for this. I only hope all those new C64 owners aren't going to go off computer games after playing this.

Presentation 64%
The sixteen multi-loads are quite quick, plus there's four continue-plays and an okay intro.

Graphics 59%
Scrolling is relatively smooth and backgrounds are quite nice, but sprites are poor.

Sound 60%
A cheery but unsophisticated tune.

Hookability 61%
Quite simple, so young kiddies won't have too many problems.

Lastability 59%
A biggish mapping challenge, but repetitive.

Overall 59%
Playable, but overpriced and underproduced.

Presentation 55%
Sluggish multi-loading, lacklustre intro and in-game pics, but save game option (overwriting any previous save).

Graphics 40%
Okay graphics but dire animation and scrolling.

Sound 47%
As with the C64, cheery but repetitive.

Hookability 39%
Easy to get into, but unsatisfying for the price...

Lastability 37%
...while later levels offer little to break up the monotony.

Overall 38%
Turtley naff.