The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are within the midst of, pardon the pun, a online game renaissance. In the previous couple of years alone we have acquired the wonderful retro compilation Cowabunga Assortment, the retro-style brawler Shredder’s Revenge, and the Hades-inspired roguelike Splintered Destiny. Not since their breakout success on Saturday morning cartoons have the turtles been so ubiquitous in video games, however this time round, builders are extra emboldened to experiment with completely different recreation kinds. Enter TMNT: Tactical Takedown, a grid-based ways recreation that feels each authentically nostalgic and like artistic new floor for the heroes. Whereas it suffers barely from a restricted scope, the quick journey is a superb time whereas it lasts.
Tactical Takedown is introduced with a clear, shiny visible fashion harking back to the previous Saturday morning cartoon. The turtles’ beaks are rounded identical to you drew in your Trapper Keeper throughout geometry class. However this story takes place properly after the unique series–Splinter and Shredder are each useless, and the boys’ relationship has grown contentious as they’ve all gone in numerous instructions and coped with the loss. The mix of Saturday morning aesthetics with this new story premise make this really feel like a development of that continuity and a chance to point out us one thing new.
It is also the vanity for the sport’s core mechanic, which limits you to 1 turtle at a time as you battle your method by legions of Foot Clan goons. Goals are normally to outlive a sure variety of turns or to defeat sure starred enemies. The levels are isometric grids such as you’ve seen in a number of ways video games, however limiting you to 1 character at a time means loads of deal with prioritization and crowd management. You are all the time outnumbered, however they’re all the time outmatched. The levels are designed with a specific turtle in thoughts, which is defined by the story: Donatello is investigating happenings underground, so every of his levels happen within the sewer, whereas Raphael’s happen throughout the rooftops, and so forth. These variations are principally beauty, however some are extra substantial. Hopping alongside rooftops of a Raphael stage requires you to achieve the sting of 1 roof to clear one other, for instance, and Donatello’s sewer levels are rife with poisonous waste which is, fortunately, purple.
Just like the levels, the ability units of the turtles are neatly differentiated in keeping with their personalities, which is a heck of a trick contemplating all of them have to be able to dealing with waves of enemies on their very own. Michelangelo is especially acrobatic, as his skills focus totally on leaping over enemies to do injury and juggle them. Raph, in the meantime, is tremendous aggressive, gaining an additional motion level each time he KOs an enemy. Leonardo has very restricted vary however he is a powerhouse, since every enemy he KOs provides him a stack of “Radical” power to make his subsequent assault stronger. My private favourite, within the cartoon and this recreation, was Donatello, who has prolonged attain because of his bo workers, together with a stun bomb that electrifies a piece of flooring and makes it lethal floor in opposition to enemies. Paired together with his kunai, which may stun an enemy into staying in place, he is probably the most defensive fighter, capable of flip the battlefield hazardous after which power enemies to remain put.
And whereas the battlefields would appear to be just like every other ways recreation, this TMNT iteration provides them a kinetic twist. The levels themselves “mutate” over time, as new areas of the battlefield open up and others fall away. Anybody (together with you) caught in a purple zone when it cycles out is immediately killed, and this intelligent twist encourages you to maintain transferring. Different occasions, hazards like automobiles will drive throughout the sphere, damaging something of their path. You may even generally knock enemies off the sides of levels.
It is a ways recreation that feels infused with the spirit of the traditional arcade brawlers, even right down to an enormous “GO!” showing on-screen when a chunk of the extent is about to cycle out. Leonardo’s levels, which largely happen throughout subway tunnels, are the perfect instance of the idea. You will be combating amongst benches on the station, after which see a subway automotive pull up, transfer into it, after which sense the practice “velocity” away when the station disappears.
The story focuses on the turtles’ frustration with one another, and it is relatable with out ever feeling too self-serious. The writing will get on the coronary heart of their relationships, exhibiting that they’ve actual affection for one another even when they have an inclination to get on every others’ nerves. And it captures the characters themselves very properly, like how beneath the gruff exterior Raph is a giant soft-shell for his brothers.
The story of bickering brothers reconciling to tackle a risk to the town is predictable, however properly accomplished. Nonetheless, the gameplay software of it felt considerably underwhelming. When the turtles do be a part of forces, you are still simply enjoying as a single character. Tactical Takedown finds a intelligent and heartfelt option to illustrate the concept, nevertheless it nonetheless felt like a head-fake from what the sport had been constructing as much as. This will likely simply be a product of its restricted scope, however I had been envisioning arising with advanced methods that might reward my familiarity with all 4 turtles’ skills. As an alternative, what I obtained was primarily a single super-powered combo character.
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Equally, the power to swap loadouts feels half-baked. You should purchase additional skills for the turtles within the store, utilizing factors accrued out of your marketing campaign missions. However the store isn’t front-and-center within the marketing campaign menu, so it’s extremely straightforward to overlook it completely whereas making your method by the missions. I purchased just a few skills however principally made my method by the marketing campaign utilizing the default kits. I by no means felt like I wanted to essentially shift my technique or strive completely different skills, as a result of the missions had been completely doable with out utilizing the store in any respect. The handful of choices for every turtle appeared geared toward giving every of them a secondary strategic hook, however they did not really feel very important.
Think about sitting on the ground in entrance of your TV watching the pilot episode for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles within the Nineties, and that is the way it feels to play TMNT: Tactical Takedown. All the weather are there, you had a good time whereas it lasted, however you’ll be able to sense it is actually the rock-solid basis for one thing a lot grander. The sport itself is a superb distillation of some radical ideas, nevertheless it additionally feels prefer it’s straining in opposition to its personal limitations. Nonetheless, this can be a nice begin to what I can solely hope turns into one other option to spend time with the turtles.