Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Review (Switch eShop)

There were occasions in 2024 where I wanted nothing more than for the frequency of TMNT game releases to slow down a little. We got three new video game outings, and while some opted for big swings, I couldn't help but feel that the sewer-dwellers' saturation was becoming too much — it's funny how a hit like Shredder's Revenge and a widely popular movie like Mutant Mayhem will do that.

So, it was with some trepidation that I went into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, a turn-based reimagining from developer Strange Scaffold that launched on PC earlier this year promising yet another "new" take on the brothers' beat-'em-up formula. It's a promise that I've been stung by too many times in the past, and I expected nothing but the same again. Dear reader, I was wrong.

Tactical Takedown is a fresh take on what a Turtles game can be. The restraints and rigidity of a turn-based board shouldn't match the fluid motion of a beat 'em up, but somehow, here, they do. It's a bite-sized experience that isn't without flaws, but if you've grown tired of the IP's persistent punching in recent years, this is the reinvigorating pizza slice you've been waiting for.

Let's start with that big selling point: yes, it's turn-based. Tactical Takedown takes the Turtles' usual combo-focused combat and translates it into the world of strategy. Each hero has six Action Points per turn, which can be used to move around the arena or take on members of the Foot Clan. With them all spent, it's the Enemy Turn, and you'll see whether your strategic planning paid off, or if your Turtle is going to take a beating.

This format isn't especially new, but it is new for the Turtles. The beat-'em-up trappings are still there (giant 'GO' signs still crop up to guide you through the stages, don't worry), but Strange Scaffold has impressively folded them into the turn-based structure to create something that will feel instantly familiar to Turtles fans, even if you've never touched a strategy RPG before.

Take the brothers' four distinct playstyles, for example. It's a fundamental part of any good Turtles game, and it's well-translated to the turn-based arena. Mikey is all about manoeuvrability, Raph jumps straight into the action and deals heavy hits, Donnie attacks from range and has access to techy traps, and Leo chains together KOs to slice up foes with precision. You can purchase new moves and switch up each Turtle's 'loadout' before each level, but on the whole, Tactical Takedown nails the feel of each character without any tweaking needed.

Historically, such differentiation has meant there's objectively a 'best' character to play as (and let's admit it, it's Donnie), but the four Turtles feel nicely balanced here, with each level highlighting their pros and cons in isolation.

Wait, "isolation"? Yep. Chalk it up to another method of standing apart from the TMNT big hitters that have come before it, if you want, but Tactical Takedown's four-storyline plot means you'll only ever be controlling one Turtle at a time. I had no issues with this off the bat, where it's handy to play each hero individually to get used to their unique moveset, but the bros are best when they're together, so it would have been nice to see how these different playstyles and strategies could intertwine in later stages.

This is particularly true considering how nice the whole thing feels to play. It took me a couple of stages to get my bearings, but I was soon chaining together combos to get in and out of the action like a true ninja, and I can only imagine how satisfying that would feel if I could set the brothers up to bounce off each other. There's no option for touch controls, which I normally like to see in small-scale strategy like this, but the button inputs are simple enough that I didn't find myself longing to wipe my greasy mitts across the screen.

The brothers' separation aside, this is clearly a team that understands its source material. The story itself feels like a classic cartoon plot (Karai and Baxter Stockman are wreaking havoc in the city after Shredder's death, what a shocker!), and the brothers' distinct personalities shine through in the charming writing — Raph's hothead-to-loving-brother arc is particularly well handled.

Visually, it moves things in an interesting direction, too. Perfectly matching the turn-based tone of the gameplay, Tactical Takedown all looks as if it's a tabletop board game. Sections of the city pop up in isolation as you move through the stage (leaving plenty of room for punting enemies off the side of the map), and each character is represented by a miniature standee, which changes its pose based on its last action. Its simplicity feels right at home on Switch, and while the pared-back personality of the Turtles' look might not suit everyone (I, for one, missed a good idle animation), it's nice to see the heroes in a half-shell reimagined in yet another new style.

It's worth flagging that even if these visuals are completely up your street, you don't get to soak them up for all that long. Tactical Takedown is a bite-sized experience (I finished my initial playthrough in around five hours), and while you can head back into the levels with a new loadout or to beat your high score, it's still the same structure with the same difficulty, which is rather easy.

Remix Mode, a new addition for the Switch release, alleviates this somewhat... but only somewhat. This optional extra lets you replay each level at a higher difficulty with more variety in the enemy types. The difficulty bump is a noticeable one — I died once on my initial playthrough, but I was lucky to get through the opening stages unscathed in Remix — and the new enemies bring their own helping of challenges, but it does still feel like the same old level with the same old Turtle. Which, in fairness, it is.

So, replayability isn't the name of the game in Tactical Takedown, and that's okay. I do wish that the main campaign had lasted for a little longer, but I'd always rather be left wanting more than see a gameplay loop outstay its welcome.