Check out our video review:
The Turtles beat ’em up games are some of our favorites in the genre. In fact, the SNES version of Turtles in Time is our favorite beat ’em up. It may not have has much depth as others of its kind but it’s a kickass time and easy to pick up and play. Some time after Shredder’s Revenge was announced, we agreed to play through the other games and we had yet to start by the time it was out but we jumped on it as soon as it was available. Knowing we were going to play through the games together on PC, I played the Switch version of Shredder’s Revenge at the time of release and have been looking forward to revisting it. Developed by Tribute Games and published by Dotemu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC in June, 2022, and PlayStation 5 in November of that same year. For this review, we played the PC version.
The story goes that the Foot Clan has returned and is taking over the Statue of Liberty. Obviously, this is not cool so the Turtles along with Splinter and April O’Neil go after them and along the way, they discover Krang’s android body is being reconstructed. The story is in line with that of the previous games as in it’s just a set up for the gameplay. Shredder’s Revenge does feature voice acting and several cast members of the 1987 animated series reprise their roles.
Shredder’s Revenge is similar to the previous Turtles beat ’em ups but includes a lot of cool new stuff and we would say there’s more depth to the gameplay here. For starters, the game supports up to six players. You can choose to play as the four iconic Turtles; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello, as well as April O’Neil and Splinter, and you can unlock Casey Jones. You can increase each playable character’s power level by defeating enemies and new levels comes with benefits like additional health, lives, and moves. In addition to the story mode is an arcade mode. The story mode has a World Map you can navigate but arcade mode simply goes from level to level and you have to beat it with limited lives and no saved progression. Plus, there are no power levels. Arcade also comes with a custom game mode where you can apply different modifiers, adding quite a bit of replay value.
If you’ve played the previous games, the gameplay should feel somewhat familiar but there is more to it here. Shredder’s Revenge is a sidescrolling beat ’em up and you can move left and right and towards and away from the screen or up and down if you will, and attack enemies to rack up hit combos. You can sprint, jump, and perform all kinds of attacks and super attacks drain Ninja Power which can be replenished by attacking and defeating enemies. You can also replenish some Ninja Power by taunting. There’s actually a lot of attacks and we found it easy to forget some. Luckily, the game comes with a “how to play” tutorial and move list.
Some classic moves like throwing enemies towards the screen and slamming them on the ground return. You can perform jump attacks, a sliding attack, rising attack, heavy swing, and you have the option to allow back attacks to be performed automatically. In addition to all of this, you can evade at the press of a button and if you get knocked down, there are multiple ways to get up quickly. If playing with others, you can perform team attacks and revive fallen allies. As expected, your score is simply how many enemies you’ve defeated but you can earn bonus points. A player will be awarded for a achieving some kind of feat at the end of each stage and the awards seem to be arbitrary and sometimes silly if only because they don’t always make sense.
We would say Shredder’s Revenge is an accessible game but it’s not a cakewalk. The difficulty ramps up nicely and some stages on the hardest difficulty level, Gnarly, can really kick your ass if you don’t know what you’re doing. In the story mode, your lives don’t actually carry over from stage to stage. It doesn’t matter how many lives you lose in one stage, you’ll get them all back in the next. The beat ’em up gameplay does feel great thanks to good audiovisual effects and hits have a nice sense of impact. Furthermore, you can juggle enemies and bounce them off the edges of the screen which is fun and feels great. We did play through the story mode twice, once on the Okay difficulty and the second time on Gnarly. Knowing when to attack and evade is important, especially on Gnarly, and playing with others does help alleviate some of the challenge.
The story mode comes with a world map where you can access the stages and interact with NPCs. You need to beat a stage to unlock another and you can replay already completed stages. Hidden in the stages are secrets which include NPCs and items. After finding or rescuing an NPC, they can be found on the world map and will have a special request for you to complete. And the requests are to retrieve specific items in the stages. Once you find all the items and bring them to the NPCs, you are awarded points which means your character is even closer to the next power level. That said, we can’t say the secrets are hard to find. If you destroy everything in the stages, you should have no problem finding everything.
Shredder’s Revenge comes with sixteen stages and plenty of bosses to defeat. Despite this being the longest Turtles beat ’em up up to this point, we can’t say we ever felt the game overstayed its welcome. We feel this is due to the more in-depth gameplay, power levels, and the excellent variety of stages. You’ll travel to numerous locations around New York including city streets, a zoo, rooftops, and the sewers and the game will even take you to locations in Dimension X. Enemies will come from off-screen and the backgrounds and it can be addictive trying to rack up large hit combos, and each stage ends with a boss. There are some new foes here but most should be familiar to veterans of the previous games. Some can tank more damage than others, some can block, some unleash projectiles, and some have vulnerable spots. A lot of enemies actually feel distinct here and there’s often a strategy to taking them down and avoiding their attacks. Most stages contain objects that can be destroyed which is typically how secrets are revealed, some can be used against enemies, and there will be plenty of hazards to be mindful of. Stages will include pickups that offer different benefits like replenishing health and temporary effects including unlimited Ninja Power and spin frenzy.
Gameplay difficulty aside, we think one of the most challenging aspects of Shredder’s Revenge is the challenges, themselves. Stages come with challenges to complete and you are awarded points for completing a set. If the fun gameplay isn’t enough to keep you coming back, the challenges might and some of them can be tough. For example, defeating a certain amount of enemies with super attacks may be easy but finishing the stage unharmed may take you multiple tries. Completing these is not required to beat the stages but they do add an extra layer of challenge and some will require patience and practice.
Shredder’s Revenge is a colorful game with great sprite work, detailed environments, good animations, and nice looking visual effects, and the game launches with a wonderful animated sequence that’s really well done in our opinion. As for the audio, the sound effects are great, the voice work is well implemented, and the soundtrack is good, overall. There are some songs we really don’t care for but a lot of the tunes here are catchy and memorable. On the technical side, we’re happy to say we did not encounter any issues.
We admit we still have a soft spot for the SNES version of Turtles in Time but objectively speaking, Shredder’s Revenge is the best Turtles beat ’em up. We feel the gameplay is far superior to its predecessors. The action is fast-paced and fun, there’s depth here, plenty of stages, plenty of bosses, and the replay value is high. Whether you want to come back just for fun, to try a different difficulty, the arcade mode, or to complete the challenges, these are all valid reasons to return, and the enjoyment can be shared with friends. It can be accessible and it can also be tough. It’s easy to pick up and play but will take time to master. It’s the kind of game that can be enjoyed in short bursts or long sessions.
We would absolutely recommend Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. It pays homage to the older Turtles games and has become one of our favorite modern beat ’em ups. It should appeal to fans of the older games and newcomers alike and we would say it makes for a pretty good gateway to the genre. Definitely check it out.