Reviews VideoGame / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge

Is there "So good, its bad"? Well yes and no.

So, in many reviews, I often complain about writers not knowing the range and scope of the story, and trying to make things ludicrous, often saying that 'simple is good'.

This game exemplifies what I mean.

The plot could be summed up as "Turtles chase after Shredder's goons, beat up 60% of their rogues gallery in the process" and... its ok! It's something that you'd normally see in a three-parter of the original show mixed with an arcade game of the 80's (duh)

Having a simple story allowed the devs to focus on literally everything else, and boy, they have. The music by Tee Lopes is really, really good with powerhouse guest composers getting into the fray solely because they love TMNT, the character models are detailed with fluid animations, references are everywhere from background characters to full on attack animations. Their characterization is an interesting mix of the cartoon and the games, with aggressiveness ramped up juuuuust enough to not look like breaking the characters. In the gameplay department you have a complete steamroller of options: Dodges, counters, different special attacks, combination attacks, combos, grapples, taunts to refill special bars, health transfers and so much more. And its all available for up to six players! Besides the turtles, April, Splinter and Casey (the latter after you finish the game once) are available, and as a fan of the old rat master, I was delighted I could finally play as him.

While this game is superb, it also has shortcomings. The player has so many offensive and defensive options that with moderate mastery one can crush opposition with ease. Most bosses can be cheesed by just getting to a corner of the screen, spamming taunt to fill the special bar and dishing violence at the right time. The game also feels quite short, the skateboard stages feel a tad empty and, surprisingly, there isn’t much replayability (cosmetic options unlocked by completing challenges could mitigate that). Arcade mode offers tweaks to difficulty, though.

But even with those problems, it may as well be the best Brawler I've played to date.

After finishing this love letter to the golden age of the TMNT and its arcade games, I could barely go back to Streets of Rage 4. After being reminded that the game just allows me to bob up and down to avoid attacks, and specials that can only be used once, I thought “That’s it?” I was able to complete it with friends, but couldn’t even look at my gallery of (many, many) unfinished brawlers.

Basically Shredder's revenge made me realize that Brawlers as a genre is heavily stagnated, to the point of being considered congealed. While individual brawlers can have some small quirks here and there (like combo systems), they're all stuck in the same conventions, such as lack of defensive options, or limited attacks. The genre needs to pick up the pace and learn from this success if it wants to survive. So I do recommend it, but finish everything you have first.