Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate Review – A fresh start or a half-baked run?

TMNT: Splintered Fate throws players into a fight for survival in the sewers and streets of New York City. As Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, or Michelangelo, you’ll battle mutant criminals and vigilante ninjas as you attempt to rescue your master Splinter from the evil Shredder. This roguelike brawler offers a fresh twist on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise with its unique character-driven combat and permanent upgrades between increasingly challenging runs.

Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2023, Splintered Fate has now made the jump to the Nintendo Switch. The core gameplay sees players exploring randomly generated maps room by room, battling enemies with each character’s signature weapons and abilities. Successful fights earn resources to purchase permanent stat boosts before an inevitable “game over,” encouraging repeat runs to slowly amass power. Dynamic story scenes are also unlocked over time to further motivate replay attempts.

While borrowing many conventions from influential roguelikes like Hades, Splintered Fate carves out its own identity with the beloved TMNT characters. Each turtle feels meaningfully distinct thanks to tailored stats and skillsets reflecting their personalities from the original comics and cartoons. Overall, fans will find this a creative new take, delivering all the mutant action they love in a challenging, progression-based format perfect for both casual pick-up-and-play sessions and dedicated grinding. With cross-platform accessibility now beyond Apple devices, many more players can experience this fresh reboot of the sewer-dwelling heroes in a half shell.

Mutagen Mayhem and Masterful Mutants

The plot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate sees Master Splinter kidnapped by the nefarious Shredder, forcing Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo into action to rescue their sensei. Presented through story vignettes unlocked over repeated runs, the story offers fans of the TMNT franchise a new tale of battles against their classic cast of adversaries from the Foot Clan.

What truly shines in Splintered Fate is how faithfully it translates the TMNT characters that fans have come to know and love. Each turtle feels distinctly portrayed in their abilities, fighting styles, and personalities, drawing directly from decades of source material in the comics and cartoons. Michaelangelo is the jokester who taunts foes; Raphael is the brawler who relies on strength over strategy; and Donatello utilizes his intellect and gadgets to support his brothers.

Providing voices to these living incarnations is a stellar cast, including Yuri Lowenthal’s spirited take on Michelangelo and Roger Craig Smith’s gruff Raphael. Their performances inject these digital doppelgangers with vivacity and emulate each character’s recognizable traits. While repetition dims some scripted moments, the vocal talent shines in sporadic site-specific quips and battle taunts that display an evident affection for the material.

Overall, Splintered Fate brings the TMNT mythology to life with a deft understanding and respect for the characters that fans worldwide have grown up with. Its storytelling works in concert with skillful voice acting to transport players into a hand-crafted TMNT world that will feel instantly familiar yet offers new surprises around every sewer corner.

Mastering the Martial Arts of Mutation

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate draws heavily from roguelikes like Hades in its core gameplay loop. Players embark on repeat runs through procedurally-generated levels, battling enemies to earn currency and power-ups between boss fights. Should a run end in defeat, players return to the hub to permanently upgrade their character before attempting again with increased strength.

Players select one of the four teenaged turtles to customize. Each has unique starting skills and upgrading paths catering to different playstyles. Leonardo focuses on swift, damaging dashes, while Raphael excels at brawling. Donatello offers supportive options that complement strategic defense. Michelangelo emphasizes area-of-effect attacks and taunting foes.

Combat relies on melee basics—light and heavy attacks, dodging, blocking—along with class-specific special moves and usable gadgets. Fights require tactical evaluation of attack patterns, spacing, and resource management. Additional mechanics introduce more nuanced strategies, such as elemental damage combinations and buff micro-management.

A variety of upgrades are purchasable with earned currency, allowing custom builds centered around abilities, stats, or rare artifacts. Progress unlocks augmented abilities, while challenge runs against mini-bosses or randomized modifiers offer high-risk rewards. Character strengths and chosen specializations dictate moment-to-moment decision-making in unpredictable scenarios.

While simplified for some contemporary brawlers, combat maintains adrenaline through readying attacks, interrupting assaults, and crowd control. Responsive enemy placement and AI keep players alert. Progressively complex encounters test the mastery of each turtle’s customized toolset against mutant monstrosities. Achieving victory through strategic application of martial skill and mutation feels tense yet rewarding.

Splintered Fate invites experimenting with different approaches to refining one’s ninja abilities. Its empowering yet punishing systems encourage learning from failures on the path to freeing Splinter from Shredder’s clutches.

Down in the Sewers: Art Style and Presentation

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate transports players back to the sewers of New York City with a presentation that feels both nostalgic and refined. The hand-drawn art style channels classic TMNT comics and cartoons, with warm tones and expressive character designs capturing the personalities of each turtle. Though somewhat simple in detail, animations are fluid, and attacks feel impactful. Environments exhibit a lived-in grime that immerses one in the underground lair.

Sound design is another strong element, with grunts, clashes, and other effects keeping combat feeling visceral. Iconic voices like Yuri Lowenthal and Mikey add authenticity. Music varies moods appropriately, injecting nostalgic melodies or building suspense. Voice lines, while sometimes repetitive, remain well-delivered.

On a technical level, performance is serviceable in docked mode, but drops occur in handheld mode. Loading times are also noticeable between runs. The interface is clean and intuitive, with controls responding smoothly. A photo mode even lets players pause to admire battle scenes or character portraits up close.

While visuals lack the polish seen in pricier titles, Splintered Fate wisely prioritizes art style over realism to channel the TMNT spirit. Presentation excels in its authentic interpretation of the license rather than technical prowess alone. Combined with quality audio, the end result immerses players in a lovingly crafted sewer simulator that does Heroes in a Half Shell justice. Overall presentation contributes to making each run a delight, even if technical hiccups remind us that this is a smaller-scale effort.

Teenage Turtles Together: Multiplayer Modes Unite Fans

Splintered Fate invites turtle teams of up to four with online and couch co-op, a welcome addition to this beat-em-up breed. Both options let allies revive one another and share earned currencies, encouraging cooperation. Online matchmaking runs smoothly, with simple share codes to join runs-in-progress.

Locally, the experience excels. Screen-splitting adjusts dynamically in Switch’s TV and handheld modes. Well-balanced AI fills empty slots competently for seamless sessions. Face-to-face high-fives and playful trash talk between friends enhance moments of victory and defeat alike.

Replay value stems not just from variable runs but also from self-set mission goals. Chipping away at the epilogue’s true ending drives completionists, while casual players find joy experimenting with wild character builds. Maxing turtle stats presents a meaty post-game challenge.

Regular events, like time-limited portal challenges, maintain engagement. Weekly missions provide focused objectives that remix familiar elements. Comedic Easter eggs and references tucked within procedural levels amuse repeat explorers.

With a motivated team, completion can consume dozens of hours. Yet constant progression and new elements unlocked even within a single run mean the journey, not just the destination, entertains. For Turtle fans new and old, Splintered Fate delivers lively, lasting multiplayer mayhem.

Emulating Excellence While Forging Its Own Path

With Splintered Fate undeniably drawing inspiration from Hades, comparisons are inevitable. Both games excel at marrying compelling character-driven stories with challenging, roguelike gameplay. However, Splintered Fate has further room to grow into its own.

While combat feels fluid, movesets could utilize more nuanced mechanics to cultivate greater strategic depth run-to-run. Hades empowers varied, customized builds; Splintered Fate’s permanent upgrades offer less variety but more meaningful impact. Interactions also lack Hades’ reactivity; characters recycle dialogue more frequently.

Addressing technical shortcomings would enhance immersion. Frame rate dips undermine an otherwise polished presentation. And repetition, whether visuals or narrative, emerges more noticeably given runtime similarities to a run of Hades. More procedurally generated elements could reinvigorate subsequent playthroughs.

Yet Splintered Fate establishes a charming TMNT world that celebrates the franchise. Clever characterizations immerse fans old and new. And co-op bolsters the appeal of an already accessible genre. With refinement, Splintered Fate shows promise to find its own strengths separate from its notable inspiration.

Areas for improvement exist, but this is an admirable first effort at marrying roguelike and TMNT. A continued evolution of combat and world-building systems, along with technical polish, could help Splintered Fate truly come into its own as a standout franchise mashup. For newcomers and devoted fans alike, there is fun to be had—and room yet for this journey through the sewers to reach its full potential.

Entering the Technodrome’s Depths

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate warrants praise for its hearty combat, wealth of character customization, and earnest portrayal of the TMNT mythos. Yet it remains but a test run, its full brilliance still awaiting the upgrades needed to escape Hades’ considerable shadow.

Make no mistake—this venture into roguelike realms is a fun one, brimming with fan service that will delight long-time Turtle Tamers. From its expansive bestiary to its sharp voice acting, Splintered Fate ensures its world feels lived-in. And its perk-granting procedural generation affords no two delves into the sewers to feel quite the same.

However, repetitive mission structure and reliance on random chance over player strategy diminish the illusion of progress. Where Hades empowers custom builds, Splintered Fate spreads upgrades thin. And technical flaws disrupt immersion in an otherwise sleek presentation.

Such qualms seem like modest hurdles for Super Evil Megacorp to clear in future patches. With refinement of combat mechanics, tweaks to story flow, and polish of performance, Splintered Fate could emerge as more than a pastiche—a true technophile trick as substantial in its own right as the media it honors.

For now, Splintered Fate offers a compelling first foray for fans. Its heart, at least, is in the right place. With tuning worthy of the Mutanimals’ lab, this adventure through the underbellies of NYC and beyond could reach great heights anew. For this critic, the next expedition can’t come soon enough. I plunged into the sewers once more. Cowabunga!