Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate – A Comprehensive Review
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) have captured the hearts of fans for decades, from their humble beginnings as comic book characters to becoming cultural icons through animated series, movies, and merchandise. Among the many adaptations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate emerges as an exciting video game that brings the turtles back into action. This detailed review explores every aspect of the game, from gameplay mechanics and narrative to graphics and replayability, ensuring you get a complete understanding of what this title offers.
Gameplay: A Masterclass in Cooperative Action
One of the standout features of Splintered Fate is its cooperative gameplay. Players can embody Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael, each bringing unique abilities and fighting styles to the battlefield. Whether you prefer Leonardo’s balanced approach, Raphael’s raw power, Donatello’s technical finesse, or Michelangelo’s agility, there is a character to suit every playstyle.
Core Mechanics
Combat: The game features a fluid combat system that blends button-mashing with tactical maneuvers. Players can chain combos, dodge incoming attacks, and execute powerful special moves unique to each turtle. The responsive controls ensure that every move feels impactful, with combat animations adding a sense of weight and intensity to every punch, kick, and special move.
Exploration: Levels are designed with a mix of linear progression and open areas for exploration. Hidden secrets, collectibles, and bonus missions encourage players to thoroughly search each environment. Environmental puzzles add a layer of complexity, requiring players to think strategically to unlock certain areas or gain extra rewards.
Co-op Multiplayer: The game truly shines in its cooperative multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to team up. The synergy between turtles creates dynamic combat scenarios, making every battle feel fresh and engaging. Cooperative mechanics, like assisting a downed ally or combining special moves for devastating effects, add depth to the multiplayer experience.
Character Progression
As players progress, they can unlock upgrades and abilities, enhancing the turtles’ effectiveness in battle. The skill tree system allows for customization, ensuring no two playthroughs feel identical. Each turtle’s progression path offers a mix of passive buffs, such as increased health or attack power, and active abilities, like area-of-effect attacks or defensive shields.
Story: A Rescue Mission with High Stakes
The narrative of Splintered Fate centers on the abduction of Master Splinter. The turtles must navigate the seedy underbelly of New York City, facing off against the Foot Clan, mutants, and other iconic villains like Bebop and Rocksteady. The stakes are high, and the storytelling delivers a balance of humor, heart, and action that fans of the series have come to expect.
Key Highlights
Cinematic Cutscenes: The game incorporates beautifully animated cutscenes that advance the story while immersing players in the TMNT universe. These scenes are filled with dynamic camera angles, expressive character animations, and intense action sequences.
Engaging Dialogue: The witty banter between the turtles keeps the tone light-hearted, even during intense moments. The humor feels authentic, capturing the essence of the characters while balancing the darker aspects of the narrative.
Twists and Turns: The narrative includes unexpected plot twists that keep players engaged and eager to see how the story unfolds. The emotional stakes are heightened by moments of vulnerability, as the turtles grapple with their sense of duty and personal fears.
Visuals and Sound Design: A Feast for the Senses
Graphics
The art style of Splintered Fate pays homage to the TMNT’s comic book roots while incorporating modern visual effects. Vibrant colors, detailed character models, and dynamic environments make the game visually stunning. Each turtle’s design is faithful to their iconic look, with subtle updates that enhance their individuality. Enemies and bosses are equally well-designed, showcasing creative interpretations of classic characters.
Level Design
From the dark alleys of New York to underground lairs and high-tech facilities, the game’s environments are diverse and packed with detail. Each level feels alive, with interactive elements and background animations that add depth. Dynamic lighting effects and weather conditions, such as rain-soaked streets or dimly lit corridors, heighten the immersion.
Soundtrack and Voice Acting
Soundtrack: The soundtrack perfectly complements the action, blending upbeat tracks with intense battle music. Each level features a unique musical theme, reflecting its tone and setting.
Voice Acting: Voice acting deserves special mention, with each turtle’s personality shining through their dialogue. The voice actors deliver energetic and heartfelt performances, bringing the characters to life. Even the villains have memorable voice work, adding gravitas to their roles.
Features and Replayability
Core Features
Customizable Difficulty Levels: Players can choose difficulty settings that match their skill level, from casual gamers to hardcore action enthusiasts. Each difficulty level adjusts enemy behavior and resource availability, ensuring a tailored experience.
Unlockable Skins and Easter Eggs: Dedicated fans will appreciate the numerous nods to TMNT lore, including unlockable costumes and hidden references. These rewards incentivize exploration and replayability.
Boss Fights: Each boss encounter is uniquely designed, requiring players to adapt their strategies and use the turtles’ abilities to their fullest. Boss battles often incorporate environmental hazards, making them more challenging and dynamic.
Replayability
The game’s replay value is bolstered by:
Multiple Difficulty Settings: Replay the game on harder difficulties for a greater challenge.
Hidden Collectibles and Achievements: Completionists will enjoy tracking down every secret and earning all achievements.
Experimenting with Different Turtles: Each turtle offers a distinct playstyle, encouraging multiple playthroughs to fully appreciate their abilities.
Post-Game Content: Additional challenges, such as time trials and survival modes, extend the game’s lifespan.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Engaging Cooperative Gameplay: Perfect for friends or family looking for a fun gaming session.
Authentic TMNT Experience: Captures the spirit of the franchise with its humor, action, and storytelling.
High-Quality Visuals and Sound: Immersive environments and stellar voice acting enhance the experience.
Replayability: Offers plenty of content to keep players coming back.
Diverse Boss Battles: Unique and challenging encounters keep players on their toes.
Cons
Limited Solo Appeal: While the game can be played solo, it’s clearly designed with multiplayer in mind.
Repetitive Combat: Despite the fluid mechanics, combat can feel repetitive during extended play sessions. A wider variety of enemy types or more complex AI could alleviate this issue.
Short Campaign: The main story might feel too brief for players expecting a longer adventure. However, the additional content helps mitigate this concern.
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Final Verdict
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a must-play for TMNT fans and cooperative game enthusiasts. Its engaging gameplay, charming story, and polished presentation make it a standout title. While it has a few minor drawbacks, such as its short campaign and repetitive combat, the overall experience more than compensates. Whether you’re a long-time fan or a newcomer to the TMNT universe, this game offers an enjoyable journey that’s worth your time.
Customer reviews for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
Im pleasantly surprised. Was very hesitant on purchasing this but my roguelite appetite got the best of me when I seen it on sale and I must say it's a lot better than I had thought it would be.All the turtles have a different playstyle (Ralph and Mike stand out) and Casey Jones is pretty good too. Great power ups but if you've played other games like this you know what to expect with different elements and such. The difficulty is the real surprise because it's pretty tough on the normal setting. Ok story line plenty of one liners like saying Pizza covers all 4 basic food groups lol and all in all it's better than most of these early access titles I've played recently. Shorter than the top Rougelikes but still has a lot of teeth and a lot of bite.The Turtles came through for us again gamers
It is insane how good this game is. My favorite TMNT game used to be Turtles in Time. Then I played this. Splintered Fate gives you an old school vibe where you need to play over and over to understand which enemies will spawn where, which upgrades are best in certain situations, and there's a little RNG involved which is actually incorporated really, really well. The bosses are diverse and fun. The different combat styles of each turtle and Casey are really fun to exploit depending on how you want to play the game, and each build can be mixed for a unique challenge each run. You can change the difficulty at any time, and it's fun to jump back and forth seeing what's different. I cannot recommend this game enough, and I hope there is another on the horizon as soon as possible, maybe even with new playable characters or game modes where you take control of Rocksteady and Bebop or Karai. Fingers crossed. Pick this up, it's worth at full price, but if it's on sale, do not miss the opportunity to grab it.
Super fun roguelite game. Played with one of my friends and we had a blast. Reminiscing about the OG TMNT Movie and the anniversary rerelease coming up this weekend. Remember, it is a rougelite so expect to grind to get upgrades before completing the game. Lots of throw backs to the turtles and their journey. Would recommend especially with friends.
This got dull pretty fast for me.I don't think the game plays very well. The turtles feel cumbersome, chunky and slow and the dodge feels vague. There's a lot going on on screen with lots of un-necessary flashes, effects and even level geometry that obscure what you need to see. I play other fast paced games just fine but in this one, I was unable to stop getting hit and it was very annoying. You don't lose a lot of health, but it feels like getting hit is almost inevitable in this and it's "part of it", I don't really like that.The enemies like to play a "don't stand here" game with many battles devolving into you just looking at the coloured patches on the ground and dodging out of them whilst spamming the attack button. It's gets so bad that often during some bosses you're just endlessly dodging around them waiting for the coloured patches to go away so you can get close as nearly all your attacks, of course, use melee weapons. It's a pain in the butt, it does not feel fun to me.The runs feel the same too, the powerups are mostly stat driven so your moves look the same regardless of what powerups you get. They are pretty dull and mostly, for example, just replace the purple sparkly effects with green sparkly effects or whatever colour is on offer. Each turtle is outfitted with a medallion thingy that makes one elemental power more attractive than the rest and makes them appear more for you, this sounds good, but often you'll just get maybe one or two of those types you want, and the rest will be underwhelming nothingness, like a temporary upgrade that lasts 4 rooms or some cash for the shop that sells more of these almost identical "upgrades". I felt almost constantly underwhelmed with my powerups each run.The music is incredibly weedy for some reason and always sounds like it's coming out of a early smartphone, very odd. The graphics are nice though, the art is strong and the levels and characters look pretty good.
I highly recommend it. As a Turtles fan, this game hits the right spot and is incredibly satisfying. However, as a fan of the franchise and now also of this game, I do have some notes that could help with development going forward.I played most of the time in couch co-op with a friend, and while the small bugs we encountered didn’t break the game, they did get a bit frustrating at times. For example, the shop opening mechanic can sometimes be inconsistent. If player one opens the artifact shop, no one else can open it afterward. This didn’t happen all the time, but the inconsistency itself could be irritating. Also, player two can’t buy locked items when they appear and require a specific item to unlock; they only show up if the shop was opened by player one.Another thing I think is a big miss for modern games is the lack of a colorblind mode. My friend is colorblind, and there were many moments when he got really confused about which Turtle he was.That said, we still had a great time. Aside from these quality-of-life issues, you have a solid game in your hands. I’m eagerly waiting for new content, as this is the only game that has ever made me write a review on Steam, which should tell you how much I believe in it.
i once accidentally sat down and played this game for 8.5 hours straight. i did not move, i did not eat, i did not drink. something about combat-centered games eats my brain. if you enjoy hitting things until they do not move, this is a game for you. do i have complaints about this game? yes. but they are focused almost entirely on non-fighting issues. such as story and lack of new dialouge. "its not ruperts but it'll do" raph you have said this one thousand times please set me free please let me go please say something else. that issue is fixed by muting dialouge though. which i haven't done because its really funny when they demand their father back when he is,,,, at home. i finished the game. perhaps too many concussions in the field is finally doing them in. leonardo please go to the hospital and get your head checked out because im worried for you. also conducting that much electricity cannot be healthy. i expect the turtles in boxes tomorrow, splintered fate, you clearly don't know how to take care of them.anyways would reccommend. i've also played a shit ton of Hades, if you liked that, you'll like this, its like the same game but a bit easier and with 90% less story and unique dialouge.
Have to play this game with other people doing gauntlets, otherwise one cannot fully upgrade character without gauntlet coins or whatever. It's a decent game, just not for single players.
There's not a whole lot of game here.Even for a roguelike this game is very repetitive. There's not even close to enough variation or content for a game at this price point. I would price this game at somewhere between $5-$10, but anything more than that, and you likely will not get enough value out of it.It's also very buggy. I encountered at least a dozen very obvious bugs that should have been fixed months ago. I'm not even sure what the developer is doing. It's a strange amount of bugs for a game that's not a solo indie dev.
This is a pretty small game, but an absolute gem of one. There's a lot of heart mixed into the almost tv show like game play that only gets better with each successful run. It'll only take you about 45 minutes to beat the game on a good run, but there's loads of replay value between the 4 turtles and the many builds within them.
TLDR; Do you like Hades? Do you like TMNT? This is that. Grab 3 friends and have a shell of a time, but be ready for some minor (although ANNOYING) bugs and a story that is serviceable but doesn't fully come together.
Rate: 8/10, wait for sale then buy it.
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So I'm gonna be honest, wasn't a big fan of the roguelike genre. I've played quite a few in the past but never really felt compelled to play more than a few hours. This game has changed that for me and at the time of writing this, I am only a few achievements away from having 100% completion. Basically, the goal is to get to the end over and over, each time you beat the game something new will be revealed to you (plot, items, etc.)
Now that being said, you may think man this game is just repetition of the same thing over and over... if you play that way you're playing it wrong. Each character has different abilities and tools which change how you play the game entirely. On top of that there are a few different artifacts which give you random power-ups which can alter how you play too, so even though there is only 4 characters (5 with DLC) there are MANY different builds for you to try out.
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I know this sounds like I'm praising the game but I do have a couple complaints. Aside from the plot and story never really coming to a satisfying conclusion, there are some bugs. There was a couple times where my friends got stuck in infinite loading screens, or would disconnect randomly mid-run. Not entirely gamebreaking, a quick restart and they could join back with all their power-ups, but still those are very annoying and far too common.
[b]Splintered Fate had potential, but it feels half-baked[/b]Runs get soft-locked if you press the wrong button in menus, co-op crashes when opening chests, and artifact unlocks don’t always stick. Some builds are wildly overpowered, while others feel useless. It’s fun when it works—but between broken upgrades, glitchy portals, and constant crashes, it often doesn’t.
Fun, but very grindy and at a certain point simply unplayable alone. At least the tone and characters are kept intact, unlike in the abomination that is Mutant Mayhem.More to do would also have been nice here; more character unlockables, level unlockables, anything unlockables. Once you've played through it once there's no point in continuing except to just waste time. Grinding for the odd artifact or two isn't very enticing when you do it in the same four levels and against the same 8 bosses, but I didn't hate it and it made for a fun afternoon.
Pros:
Co-opCons:
Super Short
Super Repetitive
Screenshake that can't be turned off
Idiotic Anti-AFK detection that can't be disabled, which literally kicks everyone from the game if someone stops to have a quick drink/bathroom break for a couple of minutes
This game is a blast to play! Even better with friends. It is definitely one of the better rogue-lite games on Steam, in my opinion. Trying to beat it solo is pretty challenging but with friends, it is much more doable! I'd have to give this game a 7/10
The game has slowly gotten better and better. Tried it a year ago and it was too riddled with bugs but they seem to have fixed a majority of them and now the game is a blast.
controls are so unresponsive/laggy that it plays more like a Saviourslike than an ARPG. since that's the core of the gameplay loop it makes for a very mediocre experience.
A really enjoyable Hades-like. Satisfying to make incremental gains towards completing the game and even when a run doesn't go so well you still end up with plenty of resources to improve your character. Looks and runs really well on the Steam Deck.
Play for several hours and then saves fail to load. Loading bars gets to the end, and I can hear my character and map sounds, but the loading screen remains.
