DEVELOPER: AHEARTFULOFGAMES
PUBLISHER: Outright Games
REVIEWED ON: PlayStation 5 (PS5) from a copy purchased by the author.
AUTHORS NOTE: spoilers will follow for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
It’s a good year to be a lover of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the video game space. Though they were ported from other places, 2 new-to-console/PC games released earlier this year or will drop shortly. The terrific Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge also got its final round of downloadable content in the form of a remixed soundtrack and 2 new characters.
For those looking for an original experience, publisher Outright Games along with development partner AHEARTFULOFGAMES has players covered with their latest offering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed. Set in the same universe as last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and its streaming spin-off Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutants Unleashed visual identity fits in nicely with this latest take on the long-running franchise. However, It’s unique mixture of action and social simulator make it a title that’s frequently at odds with itself as it struggles to unite its two disparate halves.
After the events of Mutant Mayhem, the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers find themselves in a world open to the existence of mutants, so much so that they’ve even enrolled in public high school. The fragile mutant/human relationship becomes strained as a new wave of mutants, dubbed “Mewbies”, start to wreak havoc in New York. With curfews quickly being imposed, it’s up to the Turtles, as well as allies both old and new, to get to the bottom of the mystery of why their new neighbors are acting out this way and what forces could be pulling the strings from behind the curtain.
Outright Games and its partners are among the few companies keeping movie tie-ins alive, and to their credit, developer AHEAERTFULOFGAMES put a lot of work into capturing the style of Mutant Mayhem. The scratchy, almost rough pencil look popularized by Sony’s Spider-Verse films is emulated wonderfully here both in the environments you traverse and the characters that live within them. If you’re Turtle of choice disappears behind a piece of scenery for example, you can see their sketched outline, and it’s just one of the ways that Mutants Unleashed is a visual delight that also succeeds in building upon the world of Mutant Mayhem.
Mutants Mayhem‘s cast featured everyone from John Cena to Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, and while none of the stars recorded lines here for characters like Bebop, Rocksteady and Mondo Gecko, the soundalikes hired to voice match them do an excellent job. The actors behind the TMNT themselves lend their talents to Mutants Unleashed, and their commitment to the material goes a long way in making this brand extension fit within the source material.
Taking a que from Atlus’ beloved Persona franchise, a feature that makes Mutants Unleashed stand out amongst the dozens of other TMNT games is that its part social simulator. There’s still plenty of stages that have you hacking and slashing mutant bees and hippos, but between them, you’ll build relationships by interacting with characters at designated spots. Its worth investing in these bonds too, because strengthening them opens up new combos, items, and other flourishes.
What makes this version of the Turtles stand out amongst others is that the teenage part is played up more than others. Splinter, while still their sensei, is more of a fatherly figure and the banter between the brothers, bolstered by them being performed by actual teenagers, puts more emphasis on the first “T” and less then “N” in TMNT. The standout moments here never come from fighting bosses or getting “S” ranks it battle, but rather Raphael relating to an amputee who’s training to be a swimmer or Mondo Gecko teaching the Turtles about art. There are lessons in Mutants Unleashed about acceptance, tolerance, and belonging that hopeful those who play it will take to heart. Mutants Unleashed is quite funny too, especially during a chain where Splinter is showing his sons well known films just with legally distinct names.
You can do an activity in the daytime as well as the evening, and you’re only locked out of extracurriculars when you have a story mission that you must complete. If an important task is due in 5 days for example, you’re free to do whatever you choose up to the evening of the 5th day. Mutants Unleashed gives the illusion that you can potentially lock yourself out of certain events if you don’t do them in time, but there’s plenty of time to see everything in one playthrough with just a modicum of strategy.
The only downside to this half of Mutants Unleashed is that it slows down the pace of the story somewhat. Narrative beats already tend to repeat themselves as each chapter effectively boils down to one of your friends breaking bad, only for the Turtles to have to come up with a solution to get them back on the side of the angels. The new villain that’s introduced disappears for most of the plot, and much of the urgency gets sucked out as you find yourself more engaged with Mikey and a streamer playing an in-universe take on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES, called “Sushi Sharks” here. There’s even commentary that pokes fun at the dreaded dam level.
Of course what people expect from a TMNT game is action, and Mutants Unleashed has plenty of that, almost too much in fact. After a brief tutorial section wherein you play as all four of the Turtles, each with their own unique abilities, players can choose which they want to tackle each level with either by themselves or with a single friend via local co-op. Mutants Unleashed has what you expect from an action game with combos generated by chaining light and heavy attacks, it’s just that hits don’t feel particularly refined which makes the constant barrage of fights a slog. Even if you mash the 2 attack buttons, chances are you’ll leave a battle with an “S” ranking without breaking a sweat.
All of the team can block and Raphael can parry enemies by timing it correctly. It’s not something you can rely upon though because inputs don’t feel like they got that extra refinement pass. No matter the turtle you use, you’ll find yourself mashing light and heavy attacks until you deplete the energy meter of the few enemy types you come up against. This universe is still absent the Foot, so cannon fodder here is the Mewbies, made up of lucha libre hippos, gas mask wearing bees, and eels with lasers on their back among others.
Mutants Unleashed has a few different enemy types you come up against that must’ve been a blast to design, but you’ll grow tired of fighting what feels like hundreds of them. For some reason, the game feels the need to stop dead in its track to introduce them like a random encounter in an RPG hours in too. Even as you gain abilities like calling in other Turtles for brief assists, battles don’t speed up. As assist attacks regularly miss, about the only one you’ll fall back on is Donatello dropping health and other pick-ups. None of this is alleviated by the few side-missions you pick up from the social simulator areas that largely have you engaging in the same battles as important story levels in areas you’ve traversed dozens of times before.
One of Mutants Unleashed biggest sins that you’ll pick up near instantly on is that there’s a lot of recycled environments that aren’t terribly interesting to traverse. You can run on walls like in Prince of Persia and grind on rails with your skateboard, but neither of these skills are used for interesting challenges. Instead, you’ll just work your way through the same sewers, subway tunnels or rooftops where the biggest obstacle you’ll face is waiting for a fan to turn off. It’s not uncommon to complete a story mission where you’re investigating the docks, only for you to then have a request not long after that has you going back there.
You can’t adjust the camera, and while it’s framed well for the most part, there are instances where its placement is less than ideal, causing you to fall off ledges in obnoxiously enclosed arenas. There’s also a lot of visual noise on screen, from auras that surround both the Turtles and their enemies to a combo counter in the top right corner. What is meant to be a helpful way to teach new moves similarly takes up the lower right corner, and only goes away once you’ve performed them. As these combos aren’t helpful, all they serve to do is block your view. During my playthrough, I searched for an option to turn this off but couldn’t find one. All it does is help the enemy get in a few cheap hits as you try to decipher what it is you’re looking at.
Though few in number and spaced very far apart, Mutants Unleashed does have some interesting boss fights. A battle with Bebop and Rocksteady is not unlike every Rhino fight you’ll find in a Spider-Man game, but a stand out encounter with Leatherhead is straight out of Metal Gear Solid. They add a shot to the arm in what rapidly becomes an exercise in repetition, and they’ll make you wish that some of the fat was trimmed off so more of those could be added in.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed can be completed in a few sittings during a free weekend, but it feels longer than what it actually is due to the poor feeling, tedious combat. AHEARTFULOFGAMES is to be commended for capturing the visual look of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and its characterization of the Turtles in its writing. In the end, however, it’s a game at odds with itself. The social simulator portions will appeal to older players but a younger audience might not engage with them because they just want to get back to hitting things. If the action was a bit more refined, Outright Games would have another sleeper hit on their hands like DC Justice League: Cosmic Chaos. Instead what players are left with is a unique TMNT interactive outing that doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed is available now for the PlayStation and Xbox family of consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Comic Book Video Games 