Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Steam Charts & Stats

Its a cool idea. Feels unfinished. Was really hoping to get to control all the turtles in bigger sandboxes. Really cool idea and game though.

Massive caveat: I’m mad that there’s no Turtle teamwork. The Turtles never team-up for co-operative tactics in the field. It’s every Turtle for himself and that’s a real bummer in a genre rooted on working as a squad. That said, I really like the core actual experience of the game, even though it felt like it was getting dry in a lead-up to that team-up. It’s probably more of a me-thing since I love commanding a squad in games like this and the Turtles are the BEST SQUAD, but I can’t leave a negative review for a game I ultimately did enjoy. So, a low-key 7/10 cowabunga..

The game is quite fun, and you need to change your tactics depending on which brother you play (each level is fixed to a specific turtle). It also has some replayability, considering you can change which skills you use with each turtle as you buy it throughout the game. But certainly, there are optimized game play with each one, so a few powers might become moot points. The greatest hindrance is that the game is quite short, less than 10 hours, and repeating levels to obtain more credits to buy everything.

I don't know what else to say, other than it's one of the coolest, most inventive ways of presenting the turtles in a long, long time. And to top it off, it completely lands everything it tries to pull off. Making a fight feel like it does in the movies is hard, and this game gives a lot of reasons to play the game in an inventive way, through gameplay, UI flourishes, and "player expression" that feels genuine.

Okay. Let me start with a couple of things. 1) This is a turn based TMNT game. I was not expecting that when I learned abut it last week, but after playing the campaign, I feel like I want more. THat is NOT a bad way to leave a game that you finished. 2) I have seen other complaints about this game being too short for the price, being $20 for a five hour campaign (I took about 16 hours because I wanted to try topping my scores on verious levels, and I'm not normally like that. It was just that much fun.) Bear in mind that for quite a while, $20 has been the "bargain bin" price for a game, and actually having a game you can finish quickly for a bargain bin price seems perfectly fair. 3) This review will have a spoiler for the ending, but I try to keep it vague enough that the ending doesn't get completely ruined for you. Now, onto the review. I played it with keyboard and mouse after seeing a lets play struggle with a controller, so I figured it was best to just do that. I recommend that, too. What I love: * The story told is, perhaps not the most original (it's definitely a classic fanfiction premise), but I feel it's told pretty well, considering some of the limitations in place. (Apparently, only playing one character at a time is an order from the license holders). It's pretty much a story of a family torn apart by a traumatic event (the mutual deaths of The Shredder and Splinter) learning that they need to come back together because The Foot Clan is still in action, dealing with their own fallout of that trauma. * The action is pretty fast-paced, but I feel that this would not have been the case if you got to play all four of the brothers together on the same board. While I am perfectly fine with a slower-paced game, I have a feeling that most folks would not come to TMNT for that. Mixed Feelings. * The ability to knock enemies off the board is certainly fun and it gives Pushing a good reason to be an important mechanic. But, it can also break immersion if you care about that in Mikey's and Donnie's stages. * (SPOILERS) The last few levels have you playing as Splinter, with the justification that he is a virtual construct made, combining all four of the Ninja Turtles, to fight the Foot clan in a digital dimension. It does kind of diminish some of the drama, but I get how it works thematically, with Splinter living on in the Turtles themselves. Even if it is a little too cheesy for me personally. Then again, "cheesy" is as good for the TMNT as it is for a pizza. * There have been complaints from other reviewers that there isn't much of an enemy variety. And I get why that's a bit frustrating, since they did include such fan service as "Blaster Granny" (who, in the first season of the 1987 series, was some random, seemingly homeless old lady who screamed at the turtles because she thought they were monsters and shot at them with a surprisingly high tech blaster). Still, I am pretty sure that they had limitations, and also, extra mutants don't really make that much sense in the scope of the story they were trying to tell. (Though, it would have been nice to see Bebop and Rockstready working for Karai.) What I Wish Was Done Better * They could have done better with communicating some of the effects. While "Evasion" makes sense, calling your extra damage buff "Radical" was definitely a case of putting form ahead of function. The Buff-O-Pedia does help to clarify some of these things, and at least it's not as crazy about it as another game I can name, where damage types are listed as sound effects. Overall, I think it's a good game, well worth checking out , and maybe if a sequel gets made, we could have a broader adventure with the four Turtle brothers working as a team. But then again, if I put up my wishlist for a turn based TMNT game, that would just be me being self indulgent.

Such a fun Tactics game, taking out hoards of foot soldiers and knocking bad guys off the stage all makes you feel like a perfect improvising ninja crafting the perfect turn (Or getting the absolute shell beat out of you when you make a misplay) The campaign is a little short and leaves me wanting more however each level is EXTREMELY replayable and makes you work hard for Radical Scores

Contrary to that other review, I played both the full version and the demo on Steam Deck without any visual glitches or issues whatsoever. This is a very fun, fast-paced turn-based game. If you ever wanted a turn-based beat em up, here it is.

To preface this review, I'm a gigantic TMNT fan. I have a full-sleeve of TMNT tattoos, I have a huge TMNT action figure collection, and I named my oldest son Leonardo. I will be a bit biased with this review. With that being said, I literally never thought I would be playing a TMNT tabletop/turn-based strategy game. This is such a unique spin on an unsaturated genre, and I'm having the time of my life. There is a learning and difficulty curve, so if you're looking for a "for kids" game, this probably isn't it. If you think that you'd like an "X-Com meets TMNT" style of game, you'll probably enjoy yourself. This IS NOT a AAA title, and the fact that this game is 20 USD is a BIG plus to me. The art style is amazing and very true to the direction of the TMNT series. This game does a great job of making you feel like you're playing a comic book tabletop. Great job dev team!

I'm a massive fan, and I love the direction they were taking it, but when the credits rolled I said "...wait, that's it?" I finished it in four hours and I'm no pro gamer. You are playing one character at a time. There's move unlocks that you earn with points, but there's never a reason or demand to use them. It was lovely, but there wasn't any there there. At $20 I can't recommend it. At $5-10, maybe. Wait for it to go on sale. I'm really sad to have to leave a negative review on a Turtles game. :(

The TMNT have had a string of video games lately from 2022 til now, all trying unique things and Tactical Takedown is the latest of the bunch, I'm happy to report that this marks the third game I'd consider a true winner within this string of releases. I've played Fire Emblem, Disgaea, a decent share of SRPGs but this isn't really one of them, this a pure tabletop strategy game with no RPG elements and probably the most unique one I've seen since Bomberman Wars way back on the PS1 and Saturn, Each Turtle has their own customizable kit that makes them all feel distinct to use and despite this being a turn based affair they do a great job getting you into each Turtle's head space getting you to fight like the respective turtle you're controlling would. Like a beat em up the player is encouraged to scroll through each level, this is actually forced upon you by the stage literally mutating as you play with more enemy waves and layouts spawning ahead and the back half, previous areas of the stage collapsing, I like this a lot and one of the most fun things to do is using this to your advantage, whacking enemies off the stage before it builds or trapping them to their doom as it collapses is really great. Power-ups can also spawn allowing you more actions per turn or restoring your health and the level design does great things with unique stage gimmicks or hazards to be considerate of, there's one stage gimmick in Michelangelo's levels that's a really fun nod if you're a TMNT fan with a sharp eye I won't spoil it but I couldn't stop smiling every time it occurred. The music isn't exactly what I would think or had in mind for a TMNT game but It's done by RJ Lake from Unbeatable and like that game's OST it's a vibe I can see myself listening to it outside of playing this game and that's never a bad thing to remark about, really in regards to the non-gameplay aspects of this game I have a lot of nice things to say, the tabletop look was a bit odd in the announcement trailer but in-game when you're actually playing it, it's very artsy and there's something fun about the pieces clashing and shaking and dynamically changing poses based on your actions, it's super snappy and fitting in a game where you'll often make super snappy and quick moves per turn, I wish more games would embrace unique little aesthetics like this no matter how unconventional and it's nice to see something like it with my favorite comic book characters. The UI and character elements all look solid to me, considering the game's budget it's all clean and feels like the best they could do with limited resources, all of it compliments the main game aesthetic nothing looks clashing or phoned in really. The story is sweet, it's nothing you haven't seen before tbh if you know TMNT but it's executed well, reminds me a fair bit of the 2007 TMNT movie vibes wise only if that was somehow shorter but written better, there's a heartfelt twist at the end that impacts gameplay and narrative and I won't spoil it, it's cool. I don't really have anything negative to say that comes to mind I had a smile on my face my entire playthrough which took me about 7 hours but everyone works at a different pace, and I experimented replaying some levels a bit. You could argue the game leaves you wanting more that's sensible but I think it doesn't stretch itself thin with it's limited resources, when it's got no more ideas it's done, and that was a lesson I think the other recent TMNT game Mutants Unleashed didn't learn. replay-ability is encouraged a bit with getting high scores and utilizing different kits for different strats but I'm not gonna pretend most would feel inclined to if they beat the game, It's not very difficult from the perspective of someone who's not heavily invested in the genre but I don't mind I think it's more interested in being a unique and fast score attack than it is in pushing your mental limits, that being said it is a game where one reckless move can lead to pretty big consequences it's not brainless, it's just not hard. This was my introduction to Strange Scaffold and it's a very positive one, I can't recommend this enough for the asking price and I hope it comes to consoles so more people can experience it, this is one of the more unique TMNT games and definitely on the upper end of the Turtles game tier list.