Summary
- Casey Jones has always been my favourite TMNT character besides Donatello and he's just been added to Splintered Fate.
- The hockey king is a total powerhouse that can be nigh-unstoppable with the right skills and upgrades.
- Junkyard Jam is a little slim on story content outside of the new area, but what's here is just as great as the base game.
For as long as I’ve been a fan, I’ve had no trouble saying that Donatello is my ab𝐆solute favourite of the four brothers, no contest. Don’t get me wrong, I love Leo, Mikey, and Raph but, like most proud and self-aware nerds, Donnie’s intelligence, kind-heartedness, and choice of a weapon I could probably use in real life make him the cream of the ooze-a🎀ltered crop for me.
While Donatel𒉰lo has always been my number one turtle, he’s not my favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character. That honour goes to the Goongala man himself, Casey Jones, who has been my TMNT MVP ever since I was first introduced to him through Elias Koteas’ godly good looks i💮n the 1990 movie.
♎ TMNT: Splintered Fate’s Steam Port Is A Big Improvement Over The Switch Release
Splintered Fate’s PC release has dragged me right back into the Hades in a half-ꦍshell life, and I don’t mind one bit.
Boyhood crushes aside, no matter what era of TMNT it is, Casey Jones has never had a bad adaptation and his down-to-earth New York charm shines brighter than the Turtles themselves at every turn. From his arguably most beloved showing in the 2003 series to the time-traveller we saw in Rise of the TMNT, there’s a reason why he’s become such a core part of the series and appeared 💧in p♒retty much every game.
Casey Jones Is Splintered Fate's Best Character By A Mile
All of that is to say that I love Casey Jones, and I’v💃e been putting him up to bat to become playable in ever since post-launch plans were announced. I practically cheered when that was confir൩med to be the case꧃ for Splintered Fate’s first DLC, Junkyard Jam, and I’m even happier with the end result after diving back into the game and ge⛎tting sucked into the roguelike routine for the third time.
Junkyard Jam comes with two main additions, the first and most important being a playable Casey Jones, who already appeared as an NPC during the base game. Right from the get-go, Casey is easily the most unique character on the roster, as his default move is a projectile hockey puck attac𝓀k that makes him the only member of th🌃e team with a guaranteed ranged move.
It’s a small change in the grand scheme of things, but one that adds a new layer to combat and makes Casey more versatile than the Turtles, who need to get lucky with abilities during a run for any kind of ranged capability. Whiܫle his puck isn’t quite as strong as🦂 Raph’s OP special, it’s🌟 better than the res☂t of the Turtle’s movesets and has the edge for opening combat up and letting you play a little more carefully.
You can’tꦐ be too careful, though, as the special still needs to be recharged by hitting enemies up-close.
I was expecting the hockey puck to be what makes Casey special, b🔜ut it’s his starti𒆙ng tool, called “The Juice”, that really makes him shine. Whenever this tool is used, Casey’s hockey puck attack recharges on its own and his overall damage is given a massive boost, making him an absolute unit against pretty much every enemy in a run.
The Juice can even be upgraded to become even stronger and when it’s combined with Casey’s puck projectile and his wide-reaching hockey stick basic attacks, it’s almost unbelievable how powerful he can become with the right abilities and upgrades. Raph u🌳sed to undeniably be the best character in the game, but he’s taken a backseat to the Goongala king.
I was always going to be a Casey Jones main, but he’s such a strong new addition that I’ll probab🌜ly never play as any of the Turtles again. Developer Super Evil Megacorp has shown what they can do with additional characters and🌼 now they’ve mastered my favourite, I’m fully on board with whoever they add next.
I can’t imagine I’ll get it right twice in a row,ꦦ but surely April makes the most sense for the next f༒ighter?
Jamming In The Junkyard
The second big thing that Junkyard Jam adds to the mix is a new area called, you guessed it, the Junkyard, which appears as an optional path to take once you’ve beaten Karai at the Docks. Once I’d gotten past having to fight Karai, my least favou🎐rite boss, over and over again to reach the Junkyard, I was so happy with what it brings to the tab🔴le, even if it’s not quite as good as Casey himself.
As a Casey fanboy, the highlight of the Junkya൲rd is his involvement in the story, which starts with him telling the Turtles that it’s a shortcut to reach Shredder. In reality, the Punk Frogs have seemingly stolen Casey’s car, the Slamboni, and he’s trying to get the Turtles to help out without actually askiꦓng them for help.
Splintered Fate already had a good handle on Casey, but he’s even better as a playable character in Junkyard Jam. His voice lines and sports references are consistently some of the game’s funniest, but he’s also got a deeper, more human side to him that you see in his nostalgia for the Slambo🌳ni and reluctance to admit to t꧂he Turtles that he needed a hand.
Outside of Casey’s involvement, the Junkyard is pretty much what you’d expect from a Splintered Fate level, although the spray-painted colours and abundance of tough frog enemies that used to only appear on rare occasions during normal runs does make it a bit more inteﷺrestingꦅ than the rest of the game’s locations. Gigi and the Punk Frogs are also a treat to run into, even if their boss battles are surprisingly tough and a harder alternative to Bebop and Rocksteady.
Gigi and the Punk Frogs are excellently written with gre𒈔at dialogue that shows just how well Super Evil Megacorp understands TMNT. Splintered Fate continues to be one of my favourite adaptations of the series to date.
My only big gripe with Junkyard Jam is that there’s not much story added to the game ꧒beyond what you see in the Junkyard itself. Casey does have some unique interactions with bosses, but he doesn’t get added to cutscenes beyond that and his new ♛additions to the plot cease once you’ve been through the Junkyard five times.
As someone who has alrea♛dy put more than 40 hours into Splintered Fate across two cons🐻oles, I can tell you that five runs doesn’t take time much at all, even if you’re likely to fail a few of ♔those attempts due to how tough the bosses are. Once you’ve done that and gotten to grips with Casey and the new artifacts, you’ve basically seen it all.
Even still, that 🐼didn’t stop me from putting more than ten hours into Junkyard Jam simply because of how great Casey Jones feels to play. While the Junkyard itself doesn’t spice things up too much and can feel a little short, Casey absolutely carries the DLC and feels like an essential addition to the game. Mor🔯e than anything, I’m just happy that TMNT’s all-star has been done justice once again.
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