TMNT: Tactical Takedown is a radical twist on turn-based technique

I normally battle with technique video games. They’re usually too laborious for me, and I typically get overwhelmed at managing a number of characters or squads. However I couldn’t put down Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, which blends concepts from technique video games and traditional TMNT arcade video games to maintain issues snappy, simple to play, and stuffed with motion.

A technique Tactical Takedown — developed by I Am Your Beast maker Unusual Scaffold — retains issues easy is by having you play as only one character in every of the sport’s 20 ranges. The 4 turtles have totally different movesets; Leonardo, for instance, makes use of his swords to aggressively assault enemies, whereas Michelangelo can zip across the taking part in discipline on his skateboard. You’re in a position to customise every turtle’s arsenal by shopping for new strikes, however I didn’t change the movesets in any respect and acquired by way of the sport simply high-quality.

Battles happen in a grid overlaid on small chunks of very TMNT areas, like a road, sewer, or subway system. Each flip, you’ve gotten six “motion factors” to spend as you please, whether or not that’s transferring across the stage or attacking unhealthy guys. You simply press a button to make use of one among your strikes, no menu required, which speeds issues up significantly. You’ve gotten six hearts and three “lives” — lose a life and the sport will shortly flash a “Proceed” signal earlier than letting you select the place you’d wish to drop within the stage to maintain the struggle going. (You additionally lose a rating multiplier.)

The degrees really feel like tiny dioramas, and whereas characters will transfer right into a kick or a punch when attacking or a fall when taking harm, they aren’t actively animated second to second. All of it creates the sense that you simply’re taking part in with motion figures.

Maybe Tactical Takedown’s greatest trick is that the degrees are continuously shifting round you. Each infrequently, the sport will present you {that a} new piece of land goes to drop in on the following flip, and after that spot is in place, you’ll get a warning that one other a part of the extent goes to fall away. It signifies that you’re continuously coping with new terrain, layouts, and hazards like toxic sewage or automobiles driving by whereas additionally strategizing on the best way to struggle unhealthy guys. Generally, after including a brand new chunk of a stage, the sport even flashes the phrase “Go,” encouraging you to maneuver ahead such as you would in an arcade sport.

Even higher, if there isn’t a wall, you possibly can ship enemies flying off the sting of a stage into the void, defeating them immediately. It took me a bit to know that the sport needs you to try this as a lot as potential; sometimes, there can be a whole lot of unhealthy guys in a stage, and the one solution to effectively take them out is by sending them to their doom.

For me, all of it got here collectively in a stage the place you play as Leonardo in a subway tunnel. The extent began on a subway platform, after which the sport signaled {that a} subway automobile would seem. I navigated my manner onto the subway automobile, and the platform fell away. After a couple of activates the subway automobile, it “arrived” on the subsequent subway cease, and I needed to hop off. It actually felt like I used to be “advancing” by way of a stage in a faster-paced sport, and all whereas managing a legion of enemies with Leonardo’s swords.

The style is normally gradual, however once you get in a superb rhythm, Tactical Takedown nearly feels as crisp because the TMNT arcade video games — regardless of being a turn-based technique sport.

_{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is now out there on PC.}