Steam Next Fest is here and you ’re likely about to be up to your eyeball in video game demo . There are mint of promise indies you could try for free during the consequence , and we ’ll issue forth at you with some recommendations as we uncover the gems . If you need a place to commence , though , await no further thanTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Tactical Takedown .
The Turtles ’ latest risky venture is unlike any they ’ve embarked on before . It ’s not some shape of beat - em - up , but a turn - based strategy secret plan byI Am Your Beastdeveloper Strange Scaffold . The tactics genre may sound like an queer scene for our reptilian friends on paper , but it work astonishingly well . That ’s thanks to a new whirl on the genre that gives players much more to do on a single turn . It ’s a fast - paced tactics biz that feels spiritually link up to the Turtles ’ colonnade day in ways you may not see come .
In the 60 minutes - tenacious demo that ’s now on Steam , players move through a tutorial and then four stages . Each one commit players in control of a different blood brother , showcasing their unique move stage set . It all seems equation for the course early on as I move my turtle around a grid and attack ninjas , but I chop-chop begin to pick up what makes it different . For one , my surroundings are n’t static . As I defeat enemies over my turns , one piece of the map will disappear and a new piece will open up . I demand to keep myself out of a red geographical zone when that changeover happen or else I ’ll get involve down with the single-valued function .
In that means , Tactical Takedownalmost feels like a classic beat - em - up . I ’m fighting a screen full of enemies and moving forrader to the next field of battle . That connection becomes especially apart to me when I get myself in a level that has me moving down a street that ’s not so dissimilar from a set piece you ’d find inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Shredder ’s Revenge . Of course , I can even piece up stray pizza boxes to bring around myself just as I would in a beat - em - up . It ’s a ingenious genre turn that keeps a totally new kind of Turtles plot root in history .
That ’s further reinforced by its meddling tactic organisation . In most strategy games like this , I normally only get a few action at law point to work with per number . I can move and assail , perhaps even use an detail , but then my enemy gets a turn . Tactical Takedown shatters that idea by giving me a thumping six actions every turn . I can spend those in any manner I ’d wish , whether I habituate them to hop around , attack opposition , or give myself some perks . I can get a heck of a lot done by the clock time my twist finish , keep the tight - pace action of Hellenic Turtles game even in a bend - base undertaking .
Each hero adopt advantage of that flexibility with their moves . Donatello ’s play style is all about line enemies up and hitting them two at a clock time with his staff . On his turns , I use my actions to hop-skip around to any berth where two enemies are standing decent next to each other , take them both out in one go , and skip somewhere else . Raphael is more built around getting right in the heat of action , using slash to grant him stacks of equivocation . Michelangelo is more about mobility , as he can leap over far off enemies and taste them with his Nunchaku as he excrete by . Each hero sandwich pays a little differently , but can take out several enemies in one turn if played right .
Once I got the hang of it and could string together action at law with self-confidence , it well-nigh felt like I was playing a real - time action game . I especially bewilder into the groove in one rooftop stagecoach where I kept hop mighty in front of foe standing right on the sharpness of the roof , booting them off , and hopping to another . On a good go , I could completely pass over out four opposition within second of prompt thinking . That ’s what I want from a Ninja Turtles secret plan , and that ’s what this one fork out .
Tactical Takedownalmost feels like a return to a long - lost age of licensed games , in some way . It ’s the sort of experimental take on an IP that you used to get from the Super Nintendo to Game Boy Advance earned run average , back before ship’s company were much more guarded their their valuable franchises . It feels like rightfield holders are loosen up that Fe grip in late years , with games likeTron : CatalystandDisney Illusion Islandgiving us surprise gems from some of today ’s most talented indie developers . While unusual Scaffold is n’t the most obvious pick to treat the Turtles on paper ( this is the squad whose last project let in a game about a creep who gets off on watching people fall into place a button and and a horror game about a successive killing prowler who performs rakehell rituals on his victims ) , the studio ’s creative energy works wonders for a enfranchisement that ’s been adapted to death here . Tactical Takedown feels designate to become a cult classic among Turtles fans who need something new rather than another retro classic that pimp to arcade nostalgia .
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Tactical Takedown‘s Steam Next Fest demois available now through March 3 . The full game is set to launch later on this year on PC .
