Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate – Casey Jones & the Junkyard Jam Switch Review
Summary: Casey Jones slap shots his way into Splintered Fate in this short and sweet DLC.
4
Whenever I’m told I can play as Casey Jones in a TMNT game I jump at the chance. Casey is by far my favourite character. A kindred spirit for those of us who are too lazy to learn martial arts but understand the value of a solid hockey stick in a street fight.
So when I found out he was being added to the already Superb TMNT: Splintered Fate in his own DLC, Casey Jones and the Junkyard Jam, which adds several new stages, bosses and artefacts, along with Jones, I grabbed my golf bag, donned my hockey mask, and jumped back into the radical roguelike.
Casey joins the fight because he wants to be a good friend after Splinter is whisked away by Shredder, and he has found the perfect shortcut they can use to get to their master, through a Junkyard where his car, which the Punk Frogs have stolen, just happens to be. Of course, this is just a coincidence.
Jones sets himself apart from the turtles by being an a-typical glass canon. He can swing for the fences, has a decent amount of range with his hockey stick, and has a handy special that lets you fire a rebounding hockey puck at enemies, as well as a tool that buffs his already powerful strikes even further.
If the thought of effortlessly smashing your way through waves of foes with an old hockey stick is your jam, Casey is your man. There is a catch though, although he can dole out punishment, he can’t take much at all.
This makes using Casey in the late game a tricky proposition, especially against bosses that can put the usually hardy turtles up against the ropes with a couple of well-placed attacks, since Jones collapses like a soggy house of cards with only a couple of strikes. Add to that the fact that his final, hardest-hitting combo strike needs a brief windup, and chances are you’ll be too busy diving out of the way from the usual barrage of area-of-effect attacks later versions of Splintered Fate’s bosses love to dish out before you can mount a successful counter-attack.
However, once you’ve got used to his heavier combo rhythms, and the best place to position him, Jones is a ton of fun to play with.
The handful of stages that make up Junkyard Jam are also pitched just about right in the difficulty stakes, presenting a more enjoyable alternative to the mouser-infested streets Beebop and Rocksteady preside over.
Instead you’ll face off against a pair of bosses created specifically for the DLC culminating with a battle against The Junkinator: a mech made of spare parts and junk that hits with a heady mix of area of effect, projectile, and long-range attacks, that make seeing them off with Jones a fairly steep challenge (ooze dodging ftw). Returning to play the challenge mode version of the level sends the difficulty (with Jones at least) from tricky to obnoxious made all the more miserable by the stack of debuffs you’ll no doubt have accrued at this point, along with his weightier combos.
Final Thoughts
Casey Jones and the Junkyard Jam is a fairly concise DLC, but at only $10.49 for a new harder-hitting playable character, a new third stage that’s far more enjoyable than the original, and an expanded selection of artefacts that give you even more fun ways to dole out damage, it’s well worth a punt.
Though Casey can be a bit of a liability in the late game, he’s still a great addition to the roster, especially if he’s buddied up with someone a little speedier in co-op.
Ultimately though, Junkyard Jam is a decent excuse to play more Splintered Fate and that is no bad thing at all.
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