Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PC, Linux
I should probably preface this review by mentioning that I, like a lot of people my age, have been a big Ninja Turtles fan for nearly as long as I can remember. I grew up watching the late 80’s/early 90’s animated series, had tons of action figures and toys throughout the years, and the first two live action movies are even, unironically, a couple of my favorite films. Granted, I’m certainly not the most hardcore fan you’ll ever meet, but I definitely have a soft spot for these heroes in a half shell. So when I first started up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and heard that all too familiar theme song in the intro, it hit me right in the nostalgia. What I’m getting at is that maybe you should take my thoughts on this one with a grain of salt, but I’m here to tell you that I think Shredder’s Revenge is totally radical.
As you boot up Shredder’s Revenge, you’ll be given the choice to play either Story Mode or Arcade Mode, each with three different difficulty levels to choose from. In each mode you’ll get the same story and levels, but there are some big differences. In Arcade Mode, you’ll have a limited number of lives and continues and there is no saved progression. This is a more traditional experience, so if you’re looking to be challenged, look no further than Arcade Mode on the hardest difficulty.
Story Mode is a more relaxed but also more fleshed-out mode. You’ll get unlimited continues and at the start of each level, your lives will replenish to the maximum amount. There are also challenges to complete and collectibles to find in each level in this mode. Challenges range from things like defeating a certain number of enemies in a specific way to completing a level without taking damage, and each level has three of them to work towards. One thing that actually kind of surprised me is that in Story Mode, there is an overworld map that allows you to revisit any level you’ve already played. It makes it easy to go back and work on challenges or find any collectibles you might have missed.
While on the topic of levels, I’d just like to talk about how varied and detailed each of the 16 different levels in the game are. You’ll visit a variety of places from the streets of New York and the local zoo to the mall and, of course, the sewers, among many others. There are so many little Easter eggs and cameos sprinkled throughout the levels that any fan of TMNT will surely have a smile on their face throughout the experience.
The other aspect that I really liked about Story Mode is that each playable character is able to level up as you use them. By defeating enemies, completing challenges, or finding groups of collectibles with a particular character, they will earn point. When they hit certain thresholds, they will increase what is known as their power level. With each increase in their power level (up to level 10), that character will unlock things like extra HP, new attacks, and an increase in maximum starting lives for each level.
Speaking of playable characters, after you decide what mode you want to play, you’ll then be able to choose between one of six characters to take into the fight. These include each of the Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello, as well as their master Splinter and their friend and reporter April O’Neil. You can actually play with a total of six different players simultaneously, both locally and online. I, unfortunately, didn’t get to try multiplayer, so this review is focusing solely on the single-player experience.
Once you choose your character, the game will begin, and you’ll get a brief intro story sequence. As the Turtles flip on the television, they see that their longtime foe, Bebop, has taken over Channel 6 News and is planning on transforming the Statue of Liberty into a monstrous robot, among other nefarious deeds. Of course, the Turtles then set off to save the day. The story of Shredder’s Revenge is basic, pretty bare bones really. You’ll get a little bit of story after each level to set up the next, but that’s about it. Each playable character also has a unique ending, but that really just boils down to a couple of sentences, so it’s nothing to write home about.
Luckily, Shredder’s Revenge is a beat’em up, so the story isn’t what most people are coming for. It’s all about the gameplay and I’ll tell you, the gameplay is phenomenal. Hell, I’d go as far to say it’s nearly perfect. Everything about it is just so crisp and fluid that it really is a joy to play. So many beat ‘em ups I’ve played recently have had unsatisfying combat. Even a game that I really enjoyed like River City Girls had combat that felt a bit stiff at times, but Shredder’s Revenge fixes all of that and has some of the most fun combat I’ve experienced in a beat’em up in years.
I was actually a bit taken aback by just how many different mechanics are offered up when it comes to combat. As you start the game, one of the first things you’ll encounter is 21 pages of “How to Play” Shredder’s Revenge. There are simple light attacks that can be strung together for combos, but there are also super attacks, dive attacks, rising attacks, grabs with multiple ways to finish, and more. There are even things like escape rolls, wakeup rolls, and quick stands that remind me of playing a more traditional fighting game. That doesn’t even include all of the multiplayer mechanics that I wasn’t able to experience. I won’t lie, seeing all this right away was a bit overwhelming, and even after playing through Story Mode a couple times, I still don’t utilize everything in the arsenal. Though it is nice to have a decent set of combat options to work towards learning.
Each playable character also feels just different enough in combat that it makes playing each character feel unique. There are different stats for range, speed, and power that make the biggest differences here. I personally found myself enjoying playing as the speedy April, while the slower Splinter was a bit more of a struggle for me.
Of course, we all know that we’re just going to play as our favorite character, which is why my first playthrough was with Raphael. I played through Story Mode with him on the normal difficulty setting and found that it was a pretty easy experience. I’m not great at these types of games, so I fully expected that I’d need to switch to easy mode at some point. I never needed to do that though and only lost more than one life on a couple stages. I will say that I started a game on the hardest difficulty and had to use a continue on the second level, so there’s that.
I know music in these throwback type of games is an important thing for a lot of people. Unfortunately, outside of the opening theme, I didn’t find that the music in Shredder’s Revenge really did much for me in either a good or bad way, but this is obviously very subjective. While I found the tracks fit the levels and were all completely solid, I don’t see myself ever listening to the soundtrack outside of the game. I will say that the sound effects were pretty great though and really helped add to the satisfaction of combat. It was also a nice touch that they got most of the voice actors back from the 80’s cartoon to do lines, even if they were few and far between.
I’d be hard pressed to come up with many gripes for Shredder’s Revenge, but if I wanted to nitpick there are a couple of things. First would be the overall length of the game. Each of the 16 levels can be finished in between 5 and 10 minutes, so you’re only looking at a 2 to 3 hour experience if you only plan on playing through it once. For me personally, once I went through it the first (and even the second) time, I was still having a hard time putting it down. It’s just so fun to play and with different characters to try out and level up, I feel like I’ll be playing this one for a bit.
As I mentioned earlier, the normal difficulty felt a little too easy, so I feel like those options could be tweaked a bit, but I guess that’s what hard difficulty and Arcade More are for. There’s also the issue that most beat ‘em ups suffer from – they can get a bit repetitive. While that can still be the case during longer play sessions, Shredder’s Revenge does a good job keeping things fresh by giving you the Story Mode challenges, a nice selection of playable characters, and decent amount of depth to the combat.
Look, I’m just going to say it outright, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is one of the best beat ‘em ups I’ve played in years. That’s saying a lot considering we recently got games like River City Girls and Streets of Rage 4, but the combination of being based on the Ninja Turtles, being full of so many Easter eggs for fans, and having gameplay that is an absolute blast, it puts it over the edge for me. If you’re a fan of the Ninja Turtles or beat ‘em ups, this is one that should be on your radar for sure. If you’re a fan of both, then this is an absolute must have for your collection.
