As unusual as the thought sounds–teenagers who’re mutant turtles, who additionally occur to be ninjas–Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been a wildly profitable franchise going again to its origins as a comic book e-book within the ’80s–so profitable, in reality, that it spawned a legion of copycats, copy mice, frogs, sharks, and extra. With that historical past of imitators in thoughts it’s humorous to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinted Fates act as such a direct clone of Hades, simply with a TMNT coat of paint. In contrast to Road Sharks or Biker Mice from Mars, although, this does an admirable job of capturing most of what makes its inspiration nice.
As is custom, Grasp Splinter has been kidnapped, and it’s as much as the 4 turtles to battle by way of 4 ranges of roguelite motion to get him again. Every run begins within the sewers, shifting room to room as you clear enemies and acquire power-ups alongside the best way. Whenever you die, you might be transported again to the turtle’s lair to regroup, purchase a couple of upgrades, and begin once more.
Splintered Fates was initially a cell sport, however it was constructed with trendy high-spec units and entry to controllers in thoughts. Consequently, its strong core gameplay loop feels proper at house on the Nintendo Swap. Delivering assaults earlier than rapidly dashing away to keep away from injury usually feels quick and fluid. Intense fights close to the tip of a run is usually a dizzying whirlwind as you prioritize targets and ship blows within the small gaps wherein enemies are weak. Assaults rapidly cost up a robust particular assault and a instrument with a novel energy, like Michelangelo’s taunt, which stuns and damages enemies in a small space of impact.
Whereas it is centered round a notoriously kid-friendly franchise, this definitely isn’t a straightforward motion sport geared towards the youngest or inexperienced players. Splintered Fates is a strong problem. A full runthrough can take round 40-minutes relying in your stick abilities and luck with power-ups, however, as befitting a roguelite, count on fairly a couple of makes an attempt to finish in failure. It toes the road between being arduous sufficient to be participating, with out veering into irritating. If you happen to choose a extra laid-back time with the Heroes in a Half-Shell, you’ll be able to swap into straightforward mode at any time.
As you progress by way of every closed area, taking out evil ninjas, big rats, and laser-spewing robots as you go, you’ll be rewarded with a random assortment of perks after every encounter. That’s the place the strategic components come into play. You can go for short-term boosts, like assault boosts, or lighting that comes right down to strike your enemies at common intervals. However you may be higher off taking part in the lengthy sport, grabbing Dragon or Dreamer Cash, which received’t assist you on the run in progress, however will make you incrementally and completely stronger. Agonizing over a troublesome selection is enjoyable, and it’s a thrill once you resolve to go all-in on a run and it pays off.
Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, and Hades is a great game–though it does imply the areas the place Splintered Destiny falls quick have a tendency to stay out extra. The nonetheless photographs used throughout story moments, for instance, are advantageous, however not almost as memorable as those used to inform the story of Zagreus and firm. The taunts and jabs once you struggle the identical bosses on repeated runs are entertaining, however, large jaws apart, Leatherhead simply doesn’t have the identical chunk as Megaera.
If there’s an space the place TMNT Splintered Fates stands alone, it’s within the quadrumvirate of most important characters. Every turtle feels distinct due to their completely different weapons, distinctive assault patterns, and their diversified particular assaults. Donetello, the brainiac of the bunch, has a whole lot of vary due to his bo workers and may put up a brief protect, whereas hothead Raphael makes a speciality of up-close DPS with rapid-fire assaults from his sai. It does a fantastic job wrapping a playstyle round every character’s character, and altering up which turtle you management retains repeated runs feeling recent.
Enjoying co-op with pals is usually a chaotic blast, whether or not it’s on-line, or on the identical sofa. It’s the very same expertise as single-player, besides with pals, which is nice. 4 turtles smashing and slashing their means by way of the marketing campaign is a wild spectacle. The one situation right here is the post-map reward construction. Every turtle takes turns selecting their perks, which implies a full four-person workforce spends a whole lot of time in menus, particularly within the early half of a run the place a full workforce can clear a room in beneath a minute. It’s a drag to the in any other case breakneck tempo.
Sadly, co-op additionally exhibits simply how massive the hole is between the newest cell units and the dated {hardware} within the Nintendo Swap. Slowdown is an occasional nuisance in single-player, however when 4 turtles are all filling the display with flashy assaults, the framerate drops significantly. There’s a cinematic mode that caps the body price at 30fps, however it looks like an extraneous function given how a lot of a run gave the impression to be under that threshold. It’s not so extreme as to break the expertise, however it’s irritating to mistime a dodge and take injury due to it.
There’s a strong quantity of variation from one run to a different. The upgrades you purchase stack on prime of one another and may result in fascinating builds, like one which covers enemies in a harmful ooze mixed with one other that will increase the facility of damage-over-time skills. Every stage has an assortment of mini-bosses that they’ll shuffle by way of, and the bosses will combine issues up with completely different assaults and ways. Karai, for instance, would possibly concentrate on throwing kunai at you between assaults in a single struggle, however swap to masking the bottom in fireplace assaults the subsequent. It’s sufficient to maintain every run feeling recent, even after virtually two dozen makes an attempt, although it may be irritating when it looks like luck places each struggle on arduous mode.
That will increase much more after your first profitable run. With out spoiling what occurs within the endgame, you might be inspired to undergo the entire ranges extra after you attain the tip. This time, some areas can have further exits that result in tougher variations of bosses, or implement modifiers that make getting by way of sections tougher. It’s elective, however taking it on provides higher rewards of improve currencies, and, because the upgrades accumulate and also you turn out to be extra highly effective, assist hold the degrees difficult.
It’s straightforward to scale back Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Destiny right down to only a Hades clone with a TMNT pores and skin, as I did beforehand. And whereas that description is fairly correct, the sentiment does not convey {that a} well-done tackle a improbable sport will be a whole lot of enjoyable. Whereas the artwork and story don’t come close to the lofty heights of Hades, it’s however a blast to bash heads as one of many titular turtles, particularly when you’ve pals preventing at your facet. Technical points apart, Splintered Destiny is a enjoyable time, and with a great selection to shake issues up from run to run.