REVIEW – The veteran franchise has recently turned its attention back to games, as evidenced by the creation of Aheartfulogames. You don’t have to play the game alone, which can be seen as a mix of a beat’em up and a 3D platformer, but you can take on your opponents with a friend. The game feels a bit simple, but that doesn’t detract from how much fun it can be.

In recent years, we’ve actually seen more games from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise (whether old collections or new titles); the last time we saw this kind of frequency was probably in the 90s.

The eternal battle of the four turtles

Of course, this wouldn’t be a TMNT title if it didn’t include the controllable characters Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. They all have different styles, of course, and yet the gameplay is fairly straightforward. Two attack buttons, one to defend and one to dodge, and of course you can summon a companion to attack or give you some items. Based on the visuals and atmosphere, it will almost certainly appeal to a younger age group (not as dark as Konami’s beat’em up titles). The game doesn’t seem too difficult, and if you play co-op it might seem even easier, but that’s the advantage. It makes the experience more chaotic (in a good way), because it’s more fun to pick everything up and get through the harder platforming sections. And if you’re not on one of the tracks, it’s worth taking the time to explore New York, because you can visit some places.

Then the characters are more fully developed, which in more than one case leads to entertaining dialog. It’s also worth taking the time because it opens up some previously closed sections of the character’s skill tree, and it’s also a way to get new apps for your phone (they move with the times…). There’s no shortage of mini-games either: there’s one where you have to deliver pizzas (as if someone in the development team was inspired by Spider-Man 2 for PS2, because that had a mini-game with music that turned into a meme), and there was a virtual brawler mini-game. These also rewarded good performance. The result is slightly spoiled by all the arrow issues. It tells you where to go, but you run into an invisible wall (especially in co-op), and then you have to run backwards a bit and then forward. This is annoying, as is the surprisingly frequent loading screen (you shouldn’t see this so often on a PlayStation 5… but it’s a cross-gen game, and maybe it shows that the developers didn’t really make TMNT:MU for modern hardware…). In some cases, the respawn points are not placed quite right, which can be annoying, because if there’s something the player can’t do, it’s something like this. But what is there to get good points for?

After the mutant mayhem…

The title is no coincidence: this game takes place after the events of last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Chaos. The four Turtles, now accepted heroes in the game, fought a mutant named Superfly and tried to integrate into society. The game also sets the stage for the movie sequel in 2026, linking the two works. It should be noted, however, that the game has a bit of a Persona feel to it after the initial warm-up. There are changing times of day, mutants going back and forth, a plethora of side quests. These build the relationship between mutants and humans, but don’t be afraid to spend at least 75 hours on this game. No, that’s not what it’s for.

However, it deserves to be praised for the voice actors, who were also heard in the movie. They are great, and in some places the dubbing is improvised. If you take it more seriously, you will notice that the private lives and friendships of our heroes are at stake. The four turtles are different, but not as seriously as before. The camera is sometimes very bad. The fights are not perfect, despite their simplicity: some of them are simply imprecise, and there is an element of annoyance when your opponent sends you into something damaging. Because one attack isn’t enough, you have get hurt twice in a row. This is counterbalanced (perhaps not so coincidentally) by the fact that a lot of HP pickups are left behind by defeated opponents.

Difficulty balancing on the thread

That’s why the score is interesting. If you play alone, 6.5/10. If you have someone to play with, 8.5/10. Let’s take the average for this one: 7.5/10. It’s not bad, especially when you consider that it’s a game based on a licensed IP. And such a product is often average or below. But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed was not. If you like the IP, you will enjoy it. And those who don’t might want to check out a few minutes of gameplay…

-V-

Publisher: Outright Games

Developer: Aheartfulofgames

Style: Beat’em up, platformer

Release: October 18, 2024.