Also available on PlayStation 4, Switch, Linux, and Windows Like most millennial men, I'm a huge Ninja Turtles fan. I'm especially a fan of the games from the late 80s and early 90s - TMNT 2, Manhattan Project, and Turtles in Time are some of the greatest beat 'em ups ever made - but after the SNES/Genesis era, the games just felt lackluster. I'd buy, hope, and play new TMNT games, but they never managed to capture the glory of the old days, and that wasn't just my nostalgia talking; most gamers seemed to agree that Turtles games from the past 25 years just weren't as good as the games from 30 years ago. Then Tribute and Dotemu come in and were like "Hold my beer, guys. We got y'all." It's pizza time, guys; the Turtles are back. From the moment you boot up Shredder's Revenge, it just *feels* like classic TMNT. It's got some modern quality of life improvements, but it's a 2D beat 'em up just like the glory days, and it even kept a pixel visual style. The sprites definitely look a bit more detailed than you'd have seen 25 years ago - these are more reminiscent of 32-bit 2D games than 16-bit games in my opinion - but the feel is every bit there. The length is perfect, too; there are 16 stages, so it's got enough length to give you a solid game experience while also short enough to be able to replay with friends and without having to devote the entire day. Speaking of playing with friends, this game supports SIX player co-op local and online. Because of the number of players it supports, you start off with six playable characters - the four turtles plus Splinter and April - with Casey Jones being unlockable after finishing the story mode once. Each of these characters can be leveled up independently with ten power levels and each level giving you a bonus like an extra ninja power meter, extra HP, an extra life, etc. Being able to level up each character independently gives the game a ton of replay value. There are also multiple types of collectibles to find and gather. Each of these collectibles is tied to a request from side characters. If you find the character in a level and each of the collectibles they're looking for, you can talk to them on the world map and complete their request which grants you experience points for whatever character you're using at the time. I cannot gush over this game enough. It feels like sitting down to play Turtles in Time with your friends after school except now we're all old, can't afford to fill our gas tanks, and our backs hurt. Now, with that said, the chances of any of us having five friends who are free to game and not exhausted, dealing with kids, or running errands is pretty slim for adults, but with the power of the internet, maybe you've got a gaming community or Discord group that can play with you, and I guess it's worth mentioning that video games are for kids, too, and not just nostalgic former kids. This is genuinely the perfect Ninja Turtles game. Some have said that it's a little shallow on content, but I think it does what it needs to - nothing more, nothing less. It's a blast to replay, there are multiple characters to play as, and the multiplayer options give you some real bro (or sis) bonding opportunities with some gloriously wacky chaos if you can get all six players. It is, in my opinion, the perfect TMNT game. My Rating - A |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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