Reviewed on Xbox Series X |S

There are certain games that you play and you can quickly tell that the game has style and that right kind of sauce. Sometimes a game’s visuals just pulls you in, and then it’s up to the gameplay to seal the deal and impress you. When those two elements comes together and mixes well it causes that cynical part of gamers mind’s to disappear for a bit. It talks a special game to do that. TMNT Shredders Revenge has that ability.

This game has an energy to it. It’s oozing that classic ninja turtle flavor. Developer Dotemu masterfully navigates the line between Retro and modern by fusing timeless pixel art and gameplay with modern touches like deeper controls and online multiplayer. This game feels like all the classic TMNT games were sliced up as ingredients and thrown on a modern day next gen pizza. That said, is this a delicious pizza or does this game need to be chopped? Find out in this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge Review.

Let’s dive into it.

The Pros:

Let’s Start with the Good.

You can tell that there was a lot of love and care that was put into this game. Every character you play as has their own unique animations that make them stand out and capture their different personalities. They could have taken short cuts and copy-pasted animations like in the arcade games. Instead each selectable turtle, person or rat is assigned ratings based upon their speed, attack power, and range. If you are a Teenage mutant Ninja turtles fan, then the assigned attributes make sense. Donatello has the best range, Raphael has the best attack power, Michelangelo has the best speed, Leonardo is the best all around. As I said earlier, each character has an insane amount of detail. The enemy variety is also a highlight. The varied enemies really prevented things from become stale.

Let’s talk about the visuals. It’s was a dope choice to use the vintage arcade sprite-based art style.  It is unbelievable how detailed this game is. Every level has its own vibrant and unique flavor. The environments are colorful and full of small details.

Another highlight is the soundtrack and voiceovers. Every sound accents the game perfectly. The stand out sound is “ We Ain’t came to Lose” by the Legendary WU-Tang Clan Members Raekwon and Ghostface Killa.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge’s Gameplay:

So TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge plays like a retro beat ‘em up. The player moves their character across 2D plane and put the beat down on anyone or thing that gets in their way. This game is also the first one I’ve ever seen to have an up to 6 player co-op feature. Honestly, that sounds cool at first, but then I start to feel bad for the bad guys. When you have that many players facing one boss it begins to feel like the bosses are basically getting jumped by a gang.

This brawler also features a story mode were each character levels up the more you use them. When you level up you get new attacks, extra lives and hit points. This gives the game more replay value. This becomes vital because the later levels and endgame brings the heat difficulty wise. Every boss has a distinct and moveset. The story mode is about 16 levels long and it should take you between 2 to 4 hours to beat.

I’ve got to give a major shout out to the games’ tutorial and the game controls. The controls are dense and more varied than your typical side to side brawler. You have a very simplistic combat system, but various enemies that you encounter encourages you to use different moves. For example, you have enemy encounters that you have to utilize your air attacks for and enemy with shields that you have to hit from behind.

The Cons/Flaws of TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge:

One small gripe that I have with TMNT Shredders Revenge is the multiplayer and crossplay elements. I love that they were included by at launch I experienced some bugs and lagging. Hopefully that will only get better with time.

Another gripe is that I wish that there were more than seven characters to choose from. I know that there is a insane number of details and TLC that was put into each character, but it still would have been nice to have a few more on the roster.

The collectable quests feel very lackluster. These quests are basically easily found items that are hidden in destructible pieces of each map, like trash cans, boxes, and doors. No lie, you’ll probably find a lot of collectable on accident without any real hunting. You find them and turn then in to whomever requested them. It’s basic and feels like an unneeded feature.

Overall/Should You Play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge:

So without a doubt, this is one of the best beat em ups that we’ve had in years. Even more so this is the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that we’ve ever had. The level of detail and polish that this game has is next level. The Story mode is solid. The fact is the voice acting and soundtrack are also next level.  Then you have gameplay that is fun in a pick up and play as well as nuanced enough for those who want to go deeper with combos. Let’s be real here. This is now the blueprint and gold standard of beat up genre.

This is a well earned Cowabunga!

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