TMNT Wrath of the Mutants Review (PS5) – One For The Sewers
Spending most of my youth in smoke-filled, sweaty arcades, I poured more money than I care to remember into playing the four-player TMHT game Turtles in Time (and The Simpsons variant, for that matter), both from Konami. A year later, when the SNES version reached our shores, I again spent a small fortune (cartridges were expensive back then) on the arcade port.
At this point, you might be wondering why I called it TMHT. Well, here’s a brief history lesson: Britain deemed the word “Ninja” too violent, so they changed the name to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Thankfully, that’s all in the past. However, the Mutants remain alive and kicking, and there’s a brand-new game out: Teenage Mutant NINJA Turtles: Wrath of the Mutants.
After the excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, can this new four-player side-scroller, with its fancy 3D graphics, compete? Here’s the Finger Guns review…
The game starts with the usual brightly coloured urban graffiti style you’d expect from a Turtles game. It’s a brief intro, and almost immediately, you’re greeted with the stage select screen. My first thought was: odd. Surely, a beat-em-up of the scrolling nature is about progressing through increasingly hard levels until you confront the final boss who inevitably has a gun.
Not this game. You can start and choose whichever level you like. I mean, I get it if you complete the game and then choose a level to replay, but having them all “unlocked” from the beginning is madness.
Not that it really matters, as you can fly through all six stages in just under an hour, so perhaps that’s why they decided to give you everything before you’ve even started. It’s painfully short.
What else is painful is the gameplay. You have one button to attack. Forget about combos and specials; you just hammer the one button until your Turtle Power gauge fills up, and then you can finally press a different button to unleash it. Don’t expect a flurry of signature kung-fu moves to wipe out a screen full of thugs; instead, you get an energy tornado, throw pizzas at the enemy, or some other kind of nonsense that doesn’t feel very… Turtle-y. It’s quite the disappointment.
Of course, you do get all four Turtles to choose from, each with their signature weapons and moves, but they all essentially play the same. There is no real difference between them unless you count the awful dialogue, which can be seen in some quarters as borderline racist.
As an enhanced version of the 2017 game of the same name, you get nearly double the amount of game. Where the original just featured Subway, NYC, and TCRI levels, this enhanced game includes an amusement park and Dimension X. One thing that does shine in this game is the levels. They are brightly presented, with lots of scenery interaction, each level presenting new perils like cars when crossing the road or a tube train in the underground section.
It’s a shame, then, that the character designs are just awful. The 3D models lack any charisma or likability. The characters you have known and loved from the original have been butchered. What the hell have they done with Bebop and Rocksteady!?
Side-scrolling beat-em-ups have had quite the resurgence of late, with the phenomenally good Streets of Rage 4 (my game of the year when it came out) and the excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. Wrath of the Mutants, however, probably doesn’t deserve your time, unless your time amounts to an hour, or you ‘ve never played a scrolling beat-em-up before. If however you are looking for some beat-em-up thrills, head over to Shredder’s Revenge, or for more nostalgic tomfoolery, Cobra Kai is your best bet. This is one game that needs to remain in the sewer.
Considering the resurgence of the Turtles franchise of late. It’s disappointing to see the brand reduced to this. If Fisher-price produced a game titled ‘My First Beat-em-up, this his would probably bit it. Stick to the pixel perfection of Shredders revenge for your Turtle Time.
TMNT Wrath of the Mutants is available on now on PS5 (review platform), Switch, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Developer: Raw Thrills, Cradle Games
Publisher: GameMill Entertianment
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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