The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been everywhere lately. From an excellent movie to a renowned graphic novel and a handful of great games, Leo, Raph, Mikey and Donnie are always reaching new heights in terms of popularity. So where is the foursome left to go after 40 years? Developer Strange Scaffold answers that question by splitting up the Turtles and sending them into an unexpected gaming genre with Tactical Remote , a dead-on game that TMNT fans are sure to eat up.
As the title suggests, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Breakingown is a turn-based tactics game. Throughout its 20 levels, you control a single turtle as he fights off the henchmen the Foot Clan throws his way. Each turtle is given a set amount of hearts, with most Foot attacks dealing one or two hearts of damage, and three lives for each level. You’ll always be heavily outnumbered, so cutting down enemies quickly and getting some distance between you and them is crucial to survival.
In a turtle turn, you’ll jump into a battlefield and take damage. My favorite turtle moves were the ones that knocked ninjas off their feet and back. Each level type exists on a hoverplane, which means you can easily knock enemies off the map if you position your turtles correctly. Why hit them for a heart of damage when you can knock them off their feet to their doom?
Image: Strange Scaffold/Paramount Game Studios
Each turtle plays differently: for example, Donatello controls the battlefield while Leonardo gains buffs in Kos. It’ll take a few levels to truly gain mastery over each turtle, but once you figure out how to combine their abilities into each turn, you’ll feel like a ninja master. You’ll earn a score at the end of each level that correlates to how well you did, and some currency to purchase additional abilities for the turtles, allowing you to tweak their skill sets however you like.
The main antagonist isn’t Shredder, but rather comic book nemesis Karai, who leads the Foot Clan. Both Shredder and Master Splinter are dead in this continuity, though their presence looms large throughout the game. The Turtles wonder what Splinter’s opinion of them would be now, and in a tender moment late in the game, Raphael says that the boys are Splinter’s best. “[Splinter’s] skills. His kindness . He’s been there and watched him grow.” While the plot is mostly about the Turtles tracking down the Foot and foiling Karai’s nefarious scheme, Tactical Remote surprisingly has more emotional moments than I expected to get.
The teens are reunited by the end of the game after chasing Foot through various parts of the city (in the subway, through the sewers, on rooftops) and in another tender moment from Raph (who is this guy?? I’m loving it), he gives Leonardo a big safety squeeze. These Turtles in Tactical Remote are still teenagers, after all – but there’s a wonderful undercurrent of sincerity running through their story, which is what has made TMNT so endearing over all these years.
Image: Strange Scaffold/Paramount Game Studios
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Breakingown doesn’t overstay its welcome. Each level takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete, and you can finish the entire game in five hours or less. Its short runtime keeps Tactical Breakingown from dragging; its combat, while enjoyable, can get stale over long play sessions, and I think making the game longer than it should would be a mistake. Instead, Strange Scaffold presents a game that works in bite-sized chunks when you only have less than half an hour to play, as well as a binge-able game if you find yourself unable to put it down.
While Shredder’s Revenge may be the most highly regarded TMNT game of the past two years, Tactical Breakdown shouldn’t be overlooked. It tries something new with the Turtles, and its experiment pays off; hardcore Turtles fans and those who can’t remember which Turtle is which can find something to enjoy in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Breakdown ‘s enjoyable combat and heartfelt story.
