Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown makes turn-based tactics feel as fast-paced as a John Wick brawl.”
Pros
Very authentic strategy to TMNT
Thoughtful characterization
Fast-paced techniques
Compact measurement is a plus
Cons
Repetitive missions
A bit anticlimactic
Buggy at launch
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is a shining instance of how the best way a recreation performs can fully change what it says about its characters. Growing up, my notion of New York’s best reptiles was formed by beat-em-ups. GameCube drawlers like Battle Nexus taught me that the boys had been a bunch of rowdy goofballs. They had been lethal, however sloppy. They aren’t the identical turtles I discover within the turn-based motion of Tactical Takedown. There, I meet hyper environment friendly assassins who don’t waste a single motion. They aren’t simply members of a squad who want each other to take out waves of enemies; every is a one turtle wrecking machine. I’m left to marvel simply how devastating they have to be as one unified band of brothers.
Fast-paced technique makes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown’s turn-based motion really feel as lively as an arcade brawler. Each stage provides a jolt of arcade pleasure that offers every turtle their likelihood to shine relatively than treating them as interchangeable heroes. Its small scope leaves it weak to bugs and repetition, however Tactical Takedown’s highest quality is how a lot it’s prepared to interrupt the mould and provide a brand new spin on a well-known TMNT energy fantasy.
Together alone
Rather than revisiting a situation that’s been performed to loss of life, Tactical Takedown tries its greatest to steer away from TMNT clichés. It pits the boys towards a brand new Foot Clan chief who’s filling a void left behind by Shredder. Rather than tackling that menace along with a carefree angle, we’re left with 4 brothers who’ve grown distant as every involves phrases with impending maturity. The large shock is that the 4 of them by no means seem collectively throughout their mission, as an assault on the Turtle Lair takes out their communication system. Each one units off on their very own solo goal, solely interacting with their bros via interstitial dialogue between missions. A damaged Turtlecom seems to be an ideal metaphor for a extra human type of distance.
That could sound slightly sacrilegious at first, nevertheless it’s a purposeful swing. The bodily separation drives dwelling how a lot the group is rising aside via the story. It’s slightly unhappy, like waking up one morning and realizing that you simply haven’t seen the cousins you used to play all night time with on Christmas Eve in years. We’ve so hardly ever, if ever, gotten to see a model of the Turtles that feels this lonely and introspective. Absence makes the center develop fonder, and I walked away from Tactical Takedown with a brand new appreciation of their dynamic.
Tactical Takedown isn’t a giant licensed undertaking and shouldn’t be approached as such.
That separation isn’t performed as a bummer, although. Instead, developer Strange Scaffold makes use of it to shine a highlight on every hero. Every stage has me taking part in as a particular Turtle, as all of them work in the direction of the identical aim utilizing their very own abilities and experience. Michelangelo assaults the issue at a road stage, taking out goons together with his nunchaku. Donatello sticks to the sewers, Raphael dashes over rooftops, and Leonardo sticks to the subway like an actual New Yorker. In some other Turtles recreation, these could be areas that each turtle would discover by the tip of the story. Here, every seems like one of many hero’s turf, giving them a particular dwelling subject benefit that their different brothers don’t have.
That builds to a climax you may most likely see coming, however not in the best way you’re anticipating. We’re by no means fairly given a second the place all 4 heroes are playable collectively, sharing a pool of actions and synergizing their abilities with each other. There’s a a lot totally different interpretation of their union right here that undercuts their individuality. It’s useful sufficient, however the finale feels much less like a pure conclusion and extra like a concession to not fiddle with the core techniques formulation an excessive amount of. That philosophy makes for some repetition as every of its 20 ranges performs out the identical with little variation except for swapping the hero.
Strange Scaffold
Tactical Takedown isn’t a giant licensed undertaking and shouldn’t be approached as such. It’s a micro indie from a studio identified for taking part in issues quick and unfastened. Like each Strange Scaffold recreation I’ve ever performed earlier than launch, I encountered some type of recreation breaking bug that can little doubt be fastened by the point you truly play it. A damaged particular assault that I might spam a number of occasions by hammering a button, reset ranges attributable to a glitched “end turn” button, and a loadout menu that I couldn’t for the lifetime of me work out how one can edit. It’s not that I maintain these points towards it a lot, simply as I didn’t thoughts I Am Your Beast’s few game-breaking points that halted my progress for a couple of days. They’ll get fastened promptly by a nimble group, however generally I ponder what just a bit extra time within the oven might do for a few of the studio’s greatest concepts, whether or not it’s sprucing them to perfection or having time to construct in another inventive twist that snaps every part into place.
All motion
Though there are limits to its compact nature, Tactical Takedown’s centered scope is its best asset too. Each bite-sized stage drops a turtle onto a small grid-based map. Every few turns, a brand new piece of the map types whereas one other goes away. It’s constructed to really feel precisely like an outdated beat-em-up in that approach, with the display scroll of an arcade recreation stopping to border a brawl earlier than prompting gamers to maneuver on. It’s an ingenious solution to convey the texture of these video games to a completely totally different style.
That identical philosophy extends to its sensible spin on turn-based fight, which takes a style identified for cautious resolution making and makes it really feel like John Wick. Each Turtle has 5 strikes that they will use on every flip and a whopping six motion factors that may be spent in any approach. When taking part in as Michaelangelo, my preliminary talent set is essentially about leaping round enemies. I can skateboard over a foe and hit them on the best way over or sprint previous a couple of enemies with my whirling nunchucks. Even my most simple assault, a easy bonk, strikes me to the enemy’s sq. as soon as defeated. With six entire factors to spend per flip, and extra if I equip strikes that replenish AP, I’m in a position to do a complete lot of harm in a single go.
There’s a maturity to the boys right here mirrored in exact technique relatively than drunken brawling.
There’s a technique to every turtle and the brisk 4 hour runtime provides me simply sufficient time to excellent every over time. With Michaelangelo, I study to chain my approach via enemies by knocking my approach via one in order that I can instantly transfer to a different with out spending a motion level. Donatello is extra about stunning enemies to maintain them in place and create distance between them, permitting him to choose them off from afar or lure them in poison sewer pits. Leonardo is extra about standing his floor, creating stacks of evasion that permit him to outlive in tight subway automobile melees. And Raphael is all about yanking faraway enemies to reposition them and boot them away. Each technique is distinct and rewards mastery.
Once I acquired the grasp of every, I couldn’t imagine simply how a lot I might do in a flip. Sometimes I’d be greeted with a display stuffed with ninjas and assume that I couldn’t presumably take all of them out. With cautious sufficient positioning, I’d understand that I might punt a foe off an edge right here to immediately kill it, slash one other weak one to complete it off and get its AP, soar over to a pizza field to heal, and nonetheless have sufficient actions left to take out a couple of extra enemies. All of this occurs shortly in my mind. I don’t want to consider what to do subsequent; I reflexively fireplace off actions one after one other, typically taking out a complete display stuffed with enemies in seconds flat. It’s like taking part in a beat-em-up, however someway sooner and extra exact.
It’s via that ironclad fight hook that my notion of the Turtles modifications. While most TMNT video games hone in on the teenage half, Tactical Takedown is anxious with the anagram’s N. Each one really seems like a ninja right here, dispatching enemies within the blink of an eye fixed. If you narrow out the bits of resolution making between transfer choice, you’d be handled to an exciting little sequence on each single flip that performs out like Oldboy’s hallway sequence.
Strange Scaffold
I do want that there have been a couple of extra methods to actually drive that time dwelling outdoors from the pretty static gauntlet of fights that by no means actually modifications. Some ranges can really feel lengthy, throwing out waves of enemies with little tempo till they only out of the blue finish. Perhaps some bosses or stage hazards might have given me a couple of extra methods to consider essentially the most environment friendly methods to make use of my strikes, particularly for the reason that issue winds up feeling flat even in its enemy-filled finale. There’s extra room to develop the good seed Strange Scaffold has planted right here if the studio decides to take the group for an additional spin someday.
Even if it’s destined to be a one-shot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is a welcome little addition to TMNT’s storied online game canon. In just some brief hours, it gave me a brand new appreciation of every particular person bro by deconstructing the group dynamic and exhibiting how every a part of the unit capabilities by itself. There’s a maturity to the boys right here mirrored in exact technique relatively than drunken brawling. You can break up a group, however the mark of a robust household is its means to battle via hell and again to return collectively once more.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown was reviewed on PC and Steam Deck OLED.