Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is as synonymous with the scrolling beat ’em up genre as they are with ’80s kids’ TV. The former enjoyed a resurgence last year, proving there’s still life left in a genre that seemed dead. for two decades. There’s a lot to love in Shredder’s Revenge – check out our hands-on with the most radical beat ’em up of 2022 – but here are the top five reasons why you should turn it on ASAP.
1. It’s a six-player game, local and online
Have you ever played a game that lets you team up with three of your friends for a night of 4-player co-op action, but you have to shut out a couple of them? First of all, look at you, social butterfly. But second, don’t leave anyone behind in a game of Shredder’s Revenge. It turns the session into an absolutely chaotic time, but it has the brilliant side effect of letting you rack up some really high combos by working together to take down the various enemies that stand in your collective way. It’s also on Game Pass, so if you have six companions who have access to the service, then you have six people to team up to set foot in the Clan.
2. The soundtrack is playing!
The classic Konami TMNT beat ’em ups had great and memorable soundtracks, and producer Tee Lopes (Sonic Mania) has done a fantastic job of capturing the same vibe and sound of those, but what was completely unexpected is the appearance of some vocal tracks throughout the game. . What was even MORE unexpected is that one of these contains the legendary members of the Wu Tang clan, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, rapping about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The icing on this tasty soundtrack cake is the inclusion of Faith No More/Fantomas/Mr Bungle/a million others, frontman Mike Patton, singing the original Turtles cartoon theme music. They have come a long way from Partners In Kryme and Vanilla Ice.
3. It looks beautiful
The sprite work in Shredder’s Revenge evokes both the Super Nintendo title Turtles In Time and, of course, ’80s cartoons, but in an idealized way. It’s a bit like a SNES title that ignores the 16-bit limitations of that machine. Each turtle has unique animations, whereas in the original game they were all largely just a different colored eye mask and the weapon they were holding. The real stars of the show are the pied-color members of the Foot Clan: the Foot Soldiers. Each flavor has its own different set of animations that give them their own character and within each of the game’s sixteen stages there are also specific and unique variations. So it’s just generic enemy foot soldiers (literally, here) that have charm bags.
4. It’s full of brilliant references for TMNT fans.
The unlockable playable Casey Jones is obviously a really cool addition for TMNT fans, but there are so many moments that are reminiscent of the cartoon series, but also previous video game releases. Seeing characters like Baxter Stockman, Rat King, Leatherhead and the Triceratons show up as bosses will make everyone a fan of the Turtles but also references to things like The Punk Frogs, Channel 6 cameraman Vernon and Tokka and Rehzar from the second movie, you know. This is a game made by people who love the source material and, more importantly, know exactly what fans want to see.
It’s true that nostalgia can be a powerful and blinding influence, but Shredder’s Revenge is more than just a trip down memory lane for those nearing 30: it’s a smart, modern hit in the same way that Streets is. of Rage 4, both showing that after years in the wild, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in this classic genre. Seamless cooperative multiplayer both online and offline, a blended system that rewards players looking for a high-level skill challenge as well as people who just want to mash buttons and beat bad guys and visuals that evoke memories of the classics but which are actually quite impressive. It’s pretty daring, as the Turtles guys would probably say.
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