As unusual as the thought sounds–teenagers who’re mutant turtles, who additionally occur to be ninjas–Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been a wildly profitable franchise going again to its origins as a comic book e-book within the ’80s–so profitable, in actual fact, that it spawned a legion of copycats, copy mice, frogs, sharks, and extra. With that historical past of imitators in thoughts it’s humorous to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinted Fates act as such a direct clone of Hades, simply with a TMNT coat of paint. Not like Road Sharks or Biker Mice from Mars, although, this does an admirable job of capturing most of what makes its inspiration nice.
As is custom, Grasp Splinter has been kidnapped, and it’s as much as the 4 turtles to battle by 4 ranges of roguelite motion to get him again. Every run begins within the sewers, shifting room to room as you clear enemies and accumulate power-ups alongside the way in which. Whenever you die, you’re transported again to the turtle’s lair to regroup, purchase a number of upgrades, and begin once more.
Splintered Fates was initially a cell recreation, but it surely was constructed with fashionable high-spec units and entry to controllers in thoughts. Because of this, its strong core gameplay loop feels proper at house on the Nintendo Change. Delivering assaults earlier than shortly dashing away to keep away from injury typically feels quick and fluid. Intense fights close to the top of a run is usually a dizzying whirlwind as you prioritize targets and ship blows within the small gaps through which enemies are susceptible. Assaults shortly cost up a strong particular assault and a software with a singular energy, like Michelangelo’s taunt, which stuns and damages enemies in a small space of impact.
Whereas it is centered round a notoriously kid-friendly franchise, this definitely isn’t a straightforward motion recreation geared towards the youngest or inexperienced players. Splintered Fates is a strong problem. A full runthrough can take round 40-minutes relying in your stick expertise and luck with power-ups, however, as befitting a roguelite, count on fairly a number of makes an attempt to finish in failure. It toes the road between being exhausting sufficient to be participating, with out veering into irritating. In the event you choose a extra laid-back time with the Heroes in a Half-Shell, you’ll be able to change into simple mode at any time.
As you progress by every closed area, taking out evil ninjas, large rats, and laser-spewing robots as you go, you’ll be rewarded with a random assortment of perks after every encounter. That’s the place the strategic components come into play. You may go for short-term boosts, like assault boosts, or lighting that comes all the way down to strike your enemies at common intervals. However you is likely to be higher off enjoying the lengthy recreation, grabbing Dragon or Dreamer Cash, which received’t allow you to on the run in progress, however will make you incrementally and completely stronger. Agonizing over a tricky selection is enjoyable, and it’s a thrill whenever you resolve to go all-in on a run and it pays off.
Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, and Hades is a superb game–though it does imply the areas the place Splintered Destiny falls brief have a tendency to stay out extra. The nonetheless pictures used throughout story moments, for instance, are high quality, however not almost as memorable as those used to inform the story of Zagreus and firm. The taunts and jabs whenever you combat the identical bosses on repeated runs are entertaining, however, huge jaws apart, Leatherhead simply doesn’t have the identical chunk as Megaera.
If there’s an space the place TMNT Splintered Fates stands alone, it’s within the quadrumvirate of principal characters. Every turtle feels distinct due to their completely different weapons, distinctive assault patterns, and their different particular assaults. Donetello, the brainiac of the bunch, has numerous vary due to his bo employees and may put up a brief defend, whereas hothead Raphael focuses on up-close DPS with rapid-fire assaults from his sai. It does an incredible job wrapping a playstyle round every character’s persona, and altering up which turtle you management retains repeated runs feeling recent.
Taking part in co-op with mates is usually a chaotic blast, whether or not it’s on-line, or on the identical sofa. It’s the very same expertise as single-player, besides with mates, which is nice. 4 turtles smashing and slashing their manner by the marketing campaign is a wild spectacle. The one concern right here is the post-map reward construction. Every turtle takes turns selecting their perks, which implies a full four-person workforce spends numerous time in menus, particularly within the early half of a run the place a full workforce can clear a room in underneath a minute. It’s a drag to the in any other case breakneck tempo.
Sadly, co-op additionally reveals simply how massive the hole is between the most recent cell units and the dated {hardware} within the Nintendo Change. Slowdown is an occasional nuisance in single-player, however when 4 turtles are all filling the display with flashy assaults, the framerate drops significantly. There’s a cinematic mode that caps the body price at 30fps, but it surely looks like an extraneous function given how a lot of a run appeared to be beneath that threshold. It’s not so extreme as to wreck the expertise, however it’s irritating to mistime a dodge and take injury due to it.
There’s a strong quantity of variation from one run to a different. The upgrades you purchase stack on high of one another and may result in attention-grabbing builds, like one which covers enemies in a harmful ooze mixed with one other that will increase the ability of damage-over-time skills. Every degree has an assortment of mini-bosses that they’ll shuffle by, and the bosses will combine issues up with completely different assaults and ways. Karai, for instance, would possibly give attention to throwing kunai at you between assaults in a single combat, however change to protecting the bottom in hearth assaults the following. It’s sufficient to maintain every run feeling recent, even after virtually two dozen makes an attempt, although it may be irritating when it looks like luck places each combat on exhausting mode.
That will increase much more after your first profitable run. With out spoiling what occurs within the endgame, you’re inspired to undergo all the ranges extra after you attain the top. This time, some areas could have extra exits that result in more durable variations of bosses, or implement modifiers that make getting by sections tougher. It’s non-obligatory, however taking it on offers larger rewards of improve currencies, and, because the upgrades accumulate and also you develop into extra highly effective, assist maintain the degrees difficult.
It’s simple to scale back Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Destiny all the way down to only a Hades clone with a TMNT pores and skin, as I did beforehand. And whereas that description is fairly correct, the sentiment does not convey {that a} well-done tackle a improbable recreation might be numerous enjoyable. Whereas the artwork and story don’t come close to the lofty heights of Hades, it’s nonetheless a blast to bash heads as one of many titular turtles, particularly when you could have mates preventing at your aspect. Technical points apart, Splintered Destiny is a enjoyable time, and with an excellent selection to shake issues up from run to run.