While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' video game catalogue is filled with misses (especially in the days of Ubisoft and Activision), people know that the best games based on the mean, green teens are Konami's arcade beat-em-ups, which allowed four players to team up to fight through hordes of Foot Soldiers and bosses. Now, Tribute Games, with Dometsu, brings up Shredder's Revenge, a game that calls back to those arcade classics, while reinventing the system.
In this game, the Foot Clan hijacks Vernon's news show after the head of Krang's robot body is revealed. When Bebop takes over and reveals the Foot Clan's plot to give the Statue of Liberty a makeover, the Turtles, as well as sensei Splinter, and friend April O'Neal, go out to kick shell.
This game has a Story Mode, which is like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, where you get a world map to explore and replay levels, as well as the arcade mode, which is a classic arcade experience with limited continues. All four turtles are present (and voiced by original VAs Cam Clarke, Paul Robson, Barry Gordon, and Townsend Coleman returning to do new voices, but the game also adds Splinter, the Turtles' rat sensei, and April O'Neal, their news reporter friend and usually the damsel in distress in the 1987 cartoon, as playable characters, with Casey Jones also appearing as an unlockable character. Immediately, this gives seven different characters, each with his or her own stats.
For gameplay, the game plays like the Konami classics, but with new stuff. One of those is the Ninja Power Bar, which is filled up as you put the hurt on the baddies, and when full, will allow use of a Super Attack, which can damage a lot of enemies at once (and can be helpful when facing bosses). For the story mode, there is a lot of content, as you will find minor characters like Vernon, Irma, and even the Punk Frogs, who when found, will give side missions requiring the locating of collectibles, which when completed, grants exp that allows a character to level up, earning more health, Ninja Power, or even unlock new super attacks and Radical Mode, a move that temporarily increases the character's combat abilities. Also, co-op mode is greatly enhanced, as up to six players can play online or locally or online (although the PS4 version is limited to four players for local play), and co-op moves have been added, like high fiving to share health, and even reviving allies.
While the game can be short, it is a blast to the past, as it has a lot of enemies and bosses, from the classic henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady, to using characters never used like Wingnut and Tempestra, the cast of characters is amazing. Also, the music is top notch (who knew they brough Ghostface Killah in to do a song for a TMNT videogame?) and overall, this is a good return to classic times. If you have not played this game yet, then it's time to come out of your shell and do so, as this is poised to be one of the greatest games 2022 has to offer.
