Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PS4) Review

Turtle power.

  A game I've been anticipating for a long while, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is finally got released a while ago! A beat 'em up game developed by Dotemu (Streets of Rage 4), Shredder's Revenge is heavily based on the 1980s cartoon, which I used to catch on DVDs when I was a kid. After taking a lot of time to clear up my backlog, I thought I'd treat myself for a good beat 'em up. So does the game delivers on all the hype or is it a cowabummer? 

 The story begins when Shredder and his minions start terrorizing New York City and obviously it's up to the four ninja turtle brothers Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo to put a stop to his plans. Joining them are their teacher Master Splinter and reporter friend April O' Neil. Together, the gang will travel across NYC passing by a news station, pier, zoo, the underground sewers, and even an alternate dimension, to catch Shredder. Why's Shredder seeking revenge on the turtles is unclear (which is odd since it's in the title), but I guess it's bad guy business as usual.

The turtles are back in action and there's
a lot of surprises in store.

 Your standard beat 'em up affair, the game has you picking a turtle and start beating up enemies. Each turtle has his own weapon with Leo having his swords, Raph using his Sai, Donnie carrying a staff, and Mikey favoring his nunchucks. Combat is simple with you having light attacks, special attack used after taunting an enemy, throws, air attacks, and so on. The controls were easy to grasp aside from throwing, which was kind of vague to pull. The map is presented in Super Mario Bros. 3 style, packing 16 levels most taking around five minutes to beat. Each level has a variety of enemies ranging from Foot soldiers, triceratons, mutated creatures, and more foot soldiers variants. The boss fights were also neat with classics like Bebop and Rocksteady, Shredder, Kraang being the highlights. The last two bosses especially were my favorites.

The gameplay was easy to pick up and fun.

 The game features co-op play with up to six characters at once and an online mode where you can either host or join a session with other players. While the game is great on its own, it's even more fun with company, especially since the online experience had little to no issues with lag or stuttering. It took nearly 3 hours to beat and in terms of replay-value, it's minimal with you going for the harder difficulty with different characters and replaying the game in Arcade mode. I wished it had more in content since the adventure ended way to soon, making the $25 price is a tad too steep.

The action is even more chaotic with company! 

 Shredder's Revenge looks fantastic with its lively character sprites and detailed, colorful backgrounds. Also, the animations that were charming and cut-scenes were reminiscent of the show and were a pleasant watch. What's better is that the original voices of the turtles from the show are back and were a great addition. The soundtrack was energetic and upbeat, nailing the game's 80's feel, which is not surprising coming from Tee Lopes, the composer behind Sonic Mania. Standouts were the opening theme, boss theme, "Mutants Over Broadway", and "Rumble in the Zoo".

From the visuals to the soundtrack, the
  presentation is simply fantastic.

 All in all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge was a fun experience that lived up to my expectations being a lifelong fan of the turtles. I enjoyed the gameplay and adored the amazing work put into the presentation. It's a treat for both TMNT and beat 'em ups alike-- though I'd definitely recommend playing in co-op or online to fully enjoy the game. With the recent success of the game, I'm hoping Dotemu continues to make more TMNT games in the future.