There’s nothing quite as exciting as a surprise showing up in your email when you’re reviewing games at the rate I do, and Tactical Takedown absolutely raised my eyebrow when I saw its description. Having now played quite a few games with the Turtles at this point, pretty well all having a focus on intense action, who would have considered instead throwing them into a turn-based and more strategic situation? Apparently the folks at Strange Scaffold did, and the great surprise is that they not only made this somewhat odd combination work, they also managed to infuse it with plenty of character-specific personality to help add to the unique flavor.

Taking place in a somewhat frightening future where both Shredder and Master Splinter have passed on, it appears that the Turtles have begun to grow apart, opening the door to a new set of threats taking them on. Working through the game’s story mode, you’ll begin by playing through a campaign with each of the turtles, and you’ll quickly see how wonderfully different each of them play. Outside of your basic movement and attacks, each turtle has their own sense of flair, whether that involves quickly moving around and vaulting through enemies, carefully working on chained combos, laying down traps, and more. Given the fact that you’re typically quite outnumbered and the area you have to work on will continue to change, you’ll need to be as adaptable as you can manage to make the best use of every action point and opportunity you have available.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, even if you’re used to strategy games of this type, all of that variety can also initially make it hard to get your arms around. While the game does a fair job of explaining some of the strategies and your core moves, sometimes it will simply take some experimentation and time for everything to click. In particular, early on the sheer number of foes you’ll often be facing can be intimidating and frustrating, so the ramp up may be brutal, especially if you happen to be a genre newcomer. Certainly other titles in the space have done a better job of being approachable to potential fans both old and new, but with some effort the means for success are at least there to be found.

Putting it all together, this is absolutely a pleasant surprise showing for the heroes in a half-shell, working their way out of the comfort of action-based games into something very different. If it weren’t for the variety of moves, making each of the foursome play distinctly, as well as an ability to then make modifications to help them even better suit your style, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful. With the level of investment the team behind the game obviously had in truly making the most of the property, not merely re-skinning a generic experience with the trappings of a well-known license, they’ve earned a glance from strategy fans.