Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been through several incarnations since they made their comic book debut in 1984. Given the premise is four mutant turtles trained in the ninja arts in an ongoing battle against criminal mutants and ninja robots from Dimension X, it’s only natural that that game developers saw this as the gaming gold mine that it is. The quality of each Turtles game varies greatly.Shredder’s Revengewas an amazing return to the glory days of the original arcade games, but then there are games likeMutants in Manhattan.With a renewed interest in classic Turtlesgames and a new movie coming out last summer, this seemed like a good time to port the 2017 arcade game to consoles with the expanded titleTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants.
Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge caters to a specific niche audience, but couldn’t have done a better job of it.
Arcade and Console Differences
Based on the 2012 NickelodeonTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the arcade game was released near the end of the show’s lifespan. The console version is touted as adding three additional levels and six bosses, but at the stage select screen that is hard to believe because there are five available stages, and completing them unlocks the final Shredder stage. The claim of three additional levels might be a little misleading, so here’s a breakdown of the two versions. The arcade features the stages New York City, Sewers, TCRI and Shredder. Shredder’s Hideout is a boss rush in which the player fights four previously encountered bosses before facing off against Shredder. The final confrontation with Shredder is unlocked after completing the other three stages in any order.
This console version adds the stages Amusement Park and Dimension X, and following the pattern established by the arcade game, each of these stages introduces two new boss fights. So now the question is where is the third stage and new bosses number five and six? The answer to this burning question is that the pre-Shredder boss rush has been scrapped. Instead of the boss-rush before facing off against Shredhead, a new stage has been constructed for the turtles to fight through. This stage is complete with a mid-level boss and a welcome, albeit predictable, new final boss at the end. So two new stages and one heavily-reworked stage may be more accurate. But if anyone remembersThe Hyperstone Heist,that boss rush level felt lazy, so the new design forWrath of the Mutantsis an improvement.
Pizza Power
Despite being based on a more recent version of theTurtles,the gameplay inWrath of the Mutantsis similar to the arcade games that were based on the 1987 cartoon. It uses the classic brawler formula where each turtle executes combo attacks with their signature weapons and occasionally using something in the environment as a makeshift weapon. Each turtle has a special Turtle Power attack they can do when the meter is full: Leo spins his katana like a tornado, Raph goes pyromanic on everyone, Mikey somehow found a way to weaponize pizza and Don uses his scientific know-how to blast everyone with electricity. The special attacks look different, but they all serve the same function, which is an overpowered move that clears the screen of all non-boss enemies.
There are three difficulty levels and three save files. The wayWrath of the Mutantsis designed is that it seems like each save file is designated for a difficulty level. There doesn’t seem to be any discernible difference in gameplay between the difficulty levels. There doesn’t seem to be a difference in frequency of enemies and their aggression levels or the amount of damage given and received. The only difference is how many lives the player begins with: four on easy, three on normal and two on hard. Each difficulty setting has two continues, so by the time players unlock hard difficulty by defeating Shredder on normal, they should have the skills to tackle it.
The need for having three separate save files for each difficulty level is primarily for achievement/trophy hunters (sorry Switch players). There are trophies for completing the game on each difficulty setting, and these do not stack. In order to get all the trophies, the player must finish the game on easy, normal and hard difficulty settings. Getting all the trophies does require multiple play-throughs, however, as many of them are based on activating turtle power or using items with limited availability in each stage. With no real bonus content to unlock, farming achievements is the closest activity that comes to acquiring collectibles. Fortunately, progress on trophies is shared across all save files.
Let’s Kick Shell?
Given the hit-or-miss history ofTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesgames, expectations were set low for this entry. What came as a pleasant surprise is the devs realized that the most-celebrated Turtlesgames are the arcade games, or at least games that fit the mold.Wrath of the Mutantsis obviously influenced byTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The combat includes both the throw and the slam attacks, which was a nice homage to the 1991 arcade classic. The level designs also share some similarities, such as pizza monsters leaping from the water while the turtles are dodging mines while surfing through the sewer. The extreme similarities to the secondTurtlesarcade game work for and againstWrath of the Mutants.
The simple beat ‘em up gameplay is fun and accessible, resonating well with TMNTfans of multiple generations. The downside is it does feel like this title is playing it too safe. Using the old game as a template is a great starting point, but there isn’t anything here that builds on it. It’s not too dissimilar from the pre-time travel portion ofTurtles in Timeremade with the 2012Turtles.It’s fun to play through, but doesn’t bring any new excitement to the table.
It’s a generalization, but most people’s favorite incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesis most likely the one that introduced them to the franchise. Even though nostalgia fuels the preference, most people should also be able to at least appreciate the different artistic styles in each version. It does seem true to the 2012 series, but this is not something that is personally aesthetically pleasing. The worst offenders are some of the bosses. For example, Bebop’s emaciated frame doesn’t suggest a burly thug that has been mutated with a warthog.
Fans of the series may disagree or even take offense to this criticism, which is fine because no doubt I’m guilty of liking some terrible things due to nostalgia, but this is one of the ugliestTMNTgames there is. The voice acting is hit or miss. Having the actors from the show reprise their roles is a great addition for fans, but there’s something grating about hearing Michelangelo shout “we got pizza, we got pizza!” every time he executes his Turtle Power attack, and the Kraangdroids commentary starts off amusing, but gets old quickly.
Closing Comments:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutantsis a decent addition to the collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesgames. It succeeds by playing it safe. The two original arcade games are regarded as great arcade brawlers in addition to being some of the betterTurtlesgames, and the gameplay ofWrath of the Mutantsis heavily patterned afterTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.Fans of the franchise and genre will undoubtedly enjoy playing through the game once or twice, but outside of collecting all the trophies, there isn’t much incentive for repeated playthroughs. There are no different game modes, no collectibles and the only difference in difficulty levels is the number of lives. Even with the additional content, it takes only slightly more than an hour to put an end to Shredder’s plans and rescue April. It’s fun enough to kill some time on a boring afternoon, but even the most hardcoreTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfan would hesitate to say this game kicks some serious shell.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
