Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Wrath Of The Mutants Review – Cowabummer

One of the best things about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that, despite being around for decades and sticking to the formula of butt-kicking ninjas who love pizza, it’s never been afraid to mix it up with different adaptations. From the serious and dark iterations like The Last Ronin and the Mirage comics to the more lighthearted interpretations like Mutant Mayhem and Rise, there’s a version of the TMNT out there for everyone.

Everyone’s got their favourite version(although you’re wrong if you say the Michael Bay) but there’s one series that gets overlooked more than most – Nickelodeon’s plainly titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 2012. Although the 2003 series will always be my personal favourite, the 2013 show’s perfect understanding of the characters, especially Mikey and Donnie, and its great mix of humour and action make me wish it received more love both at the time and all these years later.

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That love for the 2013 show, combined with my quest to play anything and everything TMNT, meant that I was excited when Wrath of the Mutants was announced as an upgraded port of the arcade game based on the show – one that I never even knew existed. The Turtles have always thrived when it comes to side-scrolling beat ’em-ups, so I hoped this would be the same deal only with the best version of my boy Donatello plastered all over it.

The Simpler Side Of Beat ‘Em-Ups

Right off the bat, if you’ve played any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game (or any TMNT game, really) in the past, be it Turtles in Time or the 1989 original that started it all, then you’ll know how Wrath of the Mutants works. You and up to three friends fight over who gets Donatello while the rest get stuck with the worse Turtles and you then button bash your way to the end of a stage filled with Foot, Mousers, and Krang bots until you reach a slightly harder boss battle to cap it all off.

There’s a reason why TMNT games have stuck to this simple formula so long – because it works. Beating up hordes of enemies, smacking fire hydrants to turn them into projectiles, and chucking enemies at the screen is just as much fun now as it was in the ‘80s, albiet perhaps a little less impressive thanks to games like Shredder’s Revenge that do the same thing but on a bigger scale.

That being said, Wrath of the Mutants is one of the simplest side-scrollers I’ve ever played and is more on the level of the 1989 game than more recent outings. The Turtles each only have a few basic attacks and a screen-clearing special move and, beyond the animations, there’s nothing that sets them apart. There’s really no strategy beyond whaling on everything in sight and tanking damage until you run into some health or have to use a life.

The only thing about Wrath of the Mutants that makes it stand out in regard to its gameplay is its power-ups. There are the usual suspects like shurikens and floor pizza, but you can also find ninja smoke bombs and a cooler containing Ice Cream Kitty that can be thrown around like a frozen boomerang.

You can also find tokens that summon characters from the show like Metalhead and Leatherhead to kill all the enemies on screen in a single action. It’s a nice touch that references the show’s history, but it does make the already simplistic gameplay feel even more basic when you can just find multiple collectibles that do all the fighting for you. I appreciate the nods to the show’s history, but there needed to be more depth here, not less.

Turtle-y Bogus Pricing, Man

Wrath of the Mutant’s incredibly basic gameplay might not be for everyone, but as a TMNT fan and someone who specifically loved the 2013 show, I was having a good time making my way through it. And then, after barely over an hour of playtime, it was over. With only six levels that take around 20 minutes each, Wrath of the Mutants barely clocks in over the 1989 arcade game and is just as simple for the much higher price of $30.

That short run-time, which I bumped up to around two hours with some co-op play and playing through on another difficulty level, is also taking into account the extra levels and bosses that have been added to the port, which doesn’t do enough to beef up the runtime. Combine that with there being no replay value through bonus challenges or unlockables and the co-op being local-only, and it’s hard to recommend Wrath of the Mutants as its current price point for anyone but the most hardcore fans.

Those hardcore fans are going to be the ones that get the most out of Wrath of the Mutants, since it clearly has a lot of love for the 2012 show. Beyond the tokens and power-ups, there are a lot of nice touches, from Raph’s eyes having flame symbols when he’s doing his special move, to boss battles featuring enemies like Fishface and Chrome Dome. It’s a treat to be back in this world, especially with the voice actors returning to record some new voice lines.

Even with my love of the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and my enjoyment of the fun, but simple gameplay, Wrath of the Mutant’s short run time and high price point make it an incredibly hard game to recommend. If this was a bonus game added to The Cowabunga Collection or a part of a sequel collection for some of the modern games then it’d be a notable treat, but on its own, it’s simply not worth it.

Score 2/5. A review code was provided by the publisher.

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