Ever since the ’80s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been one of the hottest properties to adapt into games. Across several decades, dozens (close to 50!) of games starring the lovable crime-fighting reptiles have graced our screens. Though there have been a lot of misses in that time, there have been countless adventure games, beat ’em ups and platformers that have charmed fans endlessly. At this point, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a cross-media staple and are a property that’s as surefire as time itself. Still, in all that time, there hasn’t been a game that takes the different turtles’ skillset and combat know-how and turns it into a tactics adventure. Well, in comes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, some of the best characterisation I’ve seen of the iconic crew, meshing it with thoughtful combat and the style and pizazz the IP is known for. It’s a bloody blast.

The turtles’ biggest role model, Master Splinter, is dead. Though, so is their biggest rival in Shredder. Growing up and soon reaching the end of their teenage years, the crew of Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo are all growing apart. In the streets of New York City, the Foot Clan, along with their mysterious leader, are taking control. It’s up to the band of brothers to put their differences aside and save the day once more with their martial arts know-how, tech and gnarly skateboard skills. Though there aren’t huge story swings here, the writing chops shine through and show some fantastic characterisation of the beloved turtles and deliver some feel-good moments.

For one, seeing the turtles in this new light is refreshing. When both their master and their rival are gone, what is their drive? What do their lives look like without these known quantities for the gang? The staples in their lives?  The answer is a group of brothers in disarray; rusty on their combat skills and, when they do meet up, disagreeing over even little things. You observe the team impacted by these sudden holes in their lives, trying their best to fill them. With these stabs at characterisation, it’s apparent how much the writers care about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and they truly do the squad justice. We get a still of Raphael and Leonardo hugging it out at the end of one mission. Following the end credits, you get a really endearing still of the entire crew as a thank you from Strange Scaffold to the player. It’s very heartening to see the Ninja Turtles having a fun time in a genuinely good game. It’s food for the soul.

That reverence and justice to the IP also translates everywhere else you look in Tactical Takedown. The HUD is stylised like that of a comic book, with visual novel-esque dialogue having cutouts of the characters and yellow panels for the text. The streets and sewers underground of New York are home to graffiti. Pizza and energy drinks are vital health pick-ups in levels, while a select few missions have hot dog vendors that can throw a dog your way. The characters on the battlefield are little action figure props, reminiscent of a nerdy tabletop RPG. There’s stellar soundtrack work by RJ Lake (composer of other Strange Scaffold games like El Paso, Elsewhere and I Am Your Beast) this time around, fusing techno beats with urban and hip-hop elements. Little audio flourishes like quasi record scratches when you take down a foe… It’s a feast of an experience. The best part yet? It even emulates the classic beat ’em up games, having satisfying moments like cars careening through the middle of a turn that you must dodge in advance.

Of course, the vibes are right, but it’s nothing if it doesn’t get the balance and tactical strength out in full force. Though it won’t set the world on fire with deep, thoughtful mechanics and a little on the easy side for a tactics campaign, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown understands the assignment and delightfully translates the reptilian crew’s combat prowess into the IP’s first-ever turn-based affair. Across 20 missions that take about five to six hours to clear up, you’ll get ample time with each brother, learning their ins and outs and engaging in their own personal story.

Maps take the form of city streets, rooftops, snaking in and out (and on top of) trains and train carriages, and sewer channels. Though they’re not rich in detail in snaking paths and different routes to take, they’re quality enough not to get old in the campaign. What they also do is always encourage you to be on the move: segments of the map every few turns or so fall off and can make you lose a life if you’re not careful. It’s in these tight, hanging-by-a-thread moments where you utilise your skills best, having just the right amount of action points to save yourself from falling off the map.

At the end of the day, Tactical Takedown still teeters a little too much on being easy and the most approachable possible entry for tactics newcomers. That’s not a bad thing when it comes to getting new people into a genre that, quite frankly, rules. However, there is only one level that gave me trouble in the entire campaign, about three-quarters through. It wasn’t even the final boss mission, which, while we’re at it, is a walk in the park. The hardest parts of play you’ll experience in-game are chasing high scores in missions to clear the ‘radical’ ranking (achieved by keeping up combos by taking down many enemies in a given turn), and also teaching yourself how to use some of the new abilities from the shop that the game simply does not teach you how to use.

Still, score chasing remains fun if not for working towards the many unlockables you get in the game’s shop. Not only do you get a whole boatload of new abilities to try out, but you can net all the RJ Lake tracks to listen to in the menus. It’s not the deepest means of progression by any means, but just an enticing enough extra layer to the delightful cake that is Tactical Takedown.