There's something almost comforting in the fact that, even after all these years, the Turtles are still kicking about on telly.

Kids today might have progressed from simple games of footy in the park to full-scale happy slapping riots, but at least they can still enjoy the adventures of four psychotic, mutant amphibians in the comfort of their own home.

That might be great for anybody with nostalgic yearnings for mutagenic terrapins and ancient Japanese instruments of death, but it doesn't excuse the fact that the Ninja Turtles games remain squarely rooted in the past as well. Mutant Nightmare, the third Turtles game on Xbox, plays almost identically to the previous two and, bar the obvious graphical differences, doesn't stray too far from the four-play arcade template of 15 years ago. That means cartoon scrolling beat-'em-up from start to finish - in this case, a staggering 60 levels' worth spread across three separate episodes, interspersed with footage from the latest cartoons. There are some tweaks to the age-old format - a couple of basic shooting gallery sequences, characters earn experience that can be spent on new moves and abilities, and some levels have a more free-roaming aspect to them - but for the most part this is depressingly predictable stuff.

On the plus side, there's plenty to get through, with combat areas and challenges opening up beyond the 60 story missions, and the difficulty has been ramped up to match the Turtles' new 'tough' image. But will you want to stick it out when the gameplay is so unsurprising and repetitive?

A functional, if predictable, four-player beat-'em-up. Does everything you'd expect from a Turtles game, but nothing more.