TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is the love letter of all love letters. What they did here, what they did for the fanbase of TMNT is nothing short of just awesome. I've gotten much more into TMNT since last year, but I've always been a little bit of a fan since I was a kid.
To start off, the Level Design in side-scrolling always seems so simple, but I feel like it actually takes a bit more skill to pull off a truly great and fun one. That being said, Shredder's Revenge did the design of each level great. From the overall design of the pathways the player had to move through, to the set pieces and the enemy placements, I though they did a great job.
To add to the previous paragraph, the Levels also looked absolutely fantastic. The Art style and Pixel art is something that I just love looking at. I've always been a big fan of Pixel Art, and the amount of care, detail, and love that went into each pixel is so obvious in this. I can't say enough about how good it looks.
The Gameplay is a ton of fun. It's classic 2D Side-Scrolling fighting game fun, with a TMNT flair. Just so much fun to hit enemies, use your Special Attacks, finding Collectables. It's all just great fun, and I struggle to think of much wrong, besides the things all 2D Side-Scrolling fighting games struggle with, such as hit detection and perception depth, but it's not that bad.
To quickly mention the story, it's good. It'd entertaining with great moments and great characters. It's not much, since the game is far more focused on the Gameplay, but the narrative does it's job and it does it very well. Nothing groundbreaking, but that's not what I needed it to be.
Speaking of characters, Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey, April, and Splinter are all well done any fun to play. I usually just switched between the Turtles since I thought April was way to weak and Splinter was to slow. Mikey is by far the best one, I only found that out later in the game for some reason. His speed is just so great that the enemies can't even react. All and all, they're all a lot of fun to play. Besides them, Splinter and all the Bosses in the stories have great designs as well, and were all very expressive and cool.
To touch on the Bosses, they were pretty damn awesome. They're also pretty damn hard, but that kinda adds to the fun, considering this game isn't that BS difficulty, it's tough but it's fair like it should be. I though the bosses had great mechanics and had great design. Just great stuff.
I already mentioned it a little bit, but the enemies and their designs are just great. Though they could be very annoying, especially on "Gnarly" difficulty, but for the most part they were good and fun to punch. I do hate any robot enemies though, just harder to kill.
To finish off my gushing of the game, the OST is pretty much perfect. Every track is a banger and it all matches the games tone and aesthetic perfectly. Everyone with ears should listen to it.
I think they only thing that makes me give this a lower rating than the review would suggest is that it's pretty damn hard, and at times annoying. It never took me to long to get passed a level but it did hinder the score just a little bit. Besides me just sucking at games, this game is pretty much a perfect 2D Side-Scrolling Fighting game, and it's no doubt a perfect TMNT game. From the OST, to the Levels, the Art Style/Pixel Art, the Bosses/Enemies, the Characters, and the Gameplay, this is just a great time. If you like this Genre, TMNT, or games in general, I'd recommend you play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-
To start off, the Level Design in side-scrolling always seems so simple, but I feel like it actually takes a bit more skill to pull off a truly great and fun one. That being said, Shredder's Revenge did the design of each level great. From the overall design of the pathways the player had to move through, to the set pieces and the enemy placements, I though they did a great job.
To add to the previous paragraph, the Levels also looked absolutely fantastic. The Art style and Pixel art is something that I just love looking at. I've always been a big fan of Pixel Art, and the amount of care, detail, and love that went into each pixel is so obvious in this. I can't say enough about how good it looks.
The Gameplay is a ton of fun. It's classic 2D Side-Scrolling fighting game fun, with a TMNT flair. Just so much fun to hit enemies, use your Special Attacks, finding Collectables. It's all just great fun, and I struggle to think of much wrong, besides the things all 2D Side-Scrolling fighting games struggle with, such as hit detection and perception depth, but it's not that bad.
To quickly mention the story, it's good. It'd entertaining with great moments and great characters. It's not much, since the game is far more focused on the Gameplay, but the narrative does it's job and it does it very well. Nothing groundbreaking, but that's not what I needed it to be.
Speaking of characters, Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey, April, and Splinter are all well done any fun to play. I usually just switched between the Turtles since I thought April was way to weak and Splinter was to slow. Mikey is by far the best one, I only found that out later in the game for some reason. His speed is just so great that the enemies can't even react. All and all, they're all a lot of fun to play. Besides them, Splinter and all the Bosses in the stories have great designs as well, and were all very expressive and cool.
To touch on the Bosses, they were pretty damn awesome. They're also pretty damn hard, but that kinda adds to the fun, considering this game isn't that BS difficulty, it's tough but it's fair like it should be. I though the bosses had great mechanics and had great design. Just great stuff.
I already mentioned it a little bit, but the enemies and their designs are just great. Though they could be very annoying, especially on "Gnarly" difficulty, but for the most part they were good and fun to punch. I do hate any robot enemies though, just harder to kill.
To finish off my gushing of the game, the OST is pretty much perfect. Every track is a banger and it all matches the games tone and aesthetic perfectly. Everyone with ears should listen to it.
I think they only thing that makes me give this a lower rating than the review would suggest is that it's pretty damn hard, and at times annoying. It never took me to long to get passed a level but it did hinder the score just a little bit. Besides me just sucking at games, this game is pretty much a perfect 2D Side-Scrolling Fighting game, and it's no doubt a perfect TMNT game. From the OST, to the Levels, the Art Style/Pixel Art, the Bosses/Enemies, the Characters, and the Gameplay, this is just a great time. If you like this Genre, TMNT, or games in general, I'd recommend you play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-