Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants review

Without a doubt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is the best game based on the beloved franchise. It had the charm of the original cartoon as well as punchy controls and some excellent visuals, and it’s hard not to compare Cradle Games’ latest attempt at bringing the turtles to consoles once again. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a re-release of sorts of the 2017 arcade game based on the 2012 cartoon, and while I’m not one to disregard any other version than the one I loved and grew up with, this feels slightly empty.

There are different locations for you to go through, beating up foot soldiers, robots, and other fodder for your green fists, and while the combat is repetitive, the environments are pretty to look at. You’ll visit the sewers, downtown New York, Dimension X, the Techno Cosmic Research Institute, and an amusement park, and once you’ve completed them all, it’s time to face Shredder at his hideout. The amusement park was perhaps my favourite, as there were plenty of ways to mix up the scenery, but all in all it looks great, and for those that want some mindless button bashing, it’s more than serviceable.

You can choose to play as any of the four turtles, but they all play very similar. You’d think Donatello might have better range than Raph because of the bo staff, but it’s never noticeable when you’re hammering the attack button. There’s very little challenge, so when you get hit by something without having any option to dodge when attacking, it can be frustrating. Enemies will run at you with spears or fire pulse rifles from afar, and if you’re in the middle of bashing buttons to attack, they’ll knock you over instantly. Thankfully, jumping is pretty responsive, but it broke the immersion I’ve been used to in Dotemu’s masterpiece.

There are other ways to attack enemies, such as the various items scattered around the environments. Trash cans, teddy bears, and explosive barrels can all be used to do damage, as can shurikens and smoke bombs. You’ll also be able to collect power-ups that send you spinning in your shell, and certain help can be called in like Metal Head and Leatherhead. There’s also a cat crate that can be opened to send a rage-filled kitty across the stage to knock out every enemy in just one hit.

The crowing glory of combat is the Turtle Power ability. Once you’ve done enough damage to fill up the gauge, pressing triangle will unleash each turtle’s specific power. Raphael might smash the ground with fists of fire and knock everyone down, or Donny will unleash lightning on everyone. Even when there’s only one enemy around when you use it, the game will spawn a few more just so it’s worthy of the animation. Damage dealt is a touch unbalanced, as some bosses don’t seem to lose much help when it’s used, but it’s still worth keeping in your shell for breaking multiple attacks from waves of enemies.

There’s not really any kind of story, but multiple characters from the cartoons and comic books show up. If you’re a fan of the turtles and their friends and foes, it’s pretty cool seeing the likes of Baxter Stockman, Krang, Tiger Claw, and Karai pop up. Playing alone doesn’t feel as exciting as it could because of how repetitive the gameplay is, and even with friends in local co-op, you don’t really feel the need to keep playing. It’s a shame, as I know these are the turtles that a lot of the younger games grew up with. Maybe I’m expecting too much and need to stop being the old man shaking his fist at a cloud, but I never felt compelled to keep playing.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is fun for a while, but ultimately it begins to get repetitive. The enemies act as simple fodder with little variation, the move sets are limited and don’t differ from one another, and the damage dealt feels slightly unbalanced. However, it still offers plenty of variety in its environments with some colourful visuals, and I’m sure younger gamers will enjoy teaming up with their friends to take on Shredder and the rest of his minions.