Ever since the explosion of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, the heroes in a half shell have had their faces slapped onto any piece of merchandise available…to differing levels of success. One of the main areas where the quality was most inconsistent was the gaming world. For every Turtles in Time there’s a Radical Rescue. Especially in more recent times, any attempt to revive the franchise has been met with mild approval at best. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge changes all of that and delivers a fantastic experience from start to finish.
With simplicity at the forefront, anyone can instantly jump in, pick their favourite turtle (which is Donny) and bring a smile to their face. With side-scrolling beat ’em ups, plot is never at the forefront; however, Shredder causing mayhem should be familiar enough for anyone who has even a passing interest in the sewer surfers. It is as simple as that; move from stage to stage beating the Foot Clan and putting an end to Oroku Saki’s shenanigans. What a healthy number of stages it is too – 16 in all – vibrant, colourful and full of nods to the original series. Every town, sewer and news studio is brimming with life, and it’s often worth replaying a few times just to catch all the easter eggs.
For more of that sweet replay action, every stage has hidden collectibles, individual goals to achieve, and NPCs to save such as Erma and Vernon, all of which will provide more EXP to spend on character development when fully completed. As progression is made, health upgrades, new moves and extended meters are all unlocked to help every character reach their full potential. Reassuringly all of the Turtles also feel distinctly different from each other. Leo and Donny have the range, Mikey has the speed, and Raph has the aggression. Whomever is your favourite (which again, should be Donny), there is no disadvantage in letting your heart do the selecting due to clear time being taken to balance every character.
Both couch co-op and online play is available here and it’s always nice to know that ringing around and getting some friends together in the same room hasn’t been forgotten in this day and age. If the thought of having somebody in your personal space is too terrifying, however, from the initial review, the online works seamlessly with drop in-drop out allowing the roster to stay full. A real treat that raises this above some cheap tie-in is that all of the original Turtles actors have returned to voice their respective bandana wearer. Throw in an excellent accompanying soundtrack, as well as authentic and crunchy sound effects, and there is even more proof how much love has been given when bringing this to fruition.
