XBLA Review: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled

Categories: Featured Articles, News, XBLA | one response

I am usually not the type of person who is biased when he is writing reviews, but in this case, i have to be completely honest with you, I am, and have been, a Ninja Turtles fanboy since I was about 6 years old. Throughout my childhood life, I have played every game that the turtles had to offer (yes, even the very difficult one for the NES), some of which I loved(Turtles in Time), and some I hated (Turtles 1 for NES), but in the end, I still played them all.

Developer – Ubisoft
Publisher – Ubisoft Singapore
Genre – 3D Beat Em Up
Price - 800 MS Points ($10)

Turtles in Time was by far my favorite out of the series (the Snes version), simply because of how fun, easyt, and exciting it was to play. And now, after about 10 years or so, Ubisoft has decided to re-release the original arcade version of this game for the XBLA, with some updated 3D visuals. Is this still as fun of a game as it was 10 years ago, I would have to say that yes it is.

As I mentioned before, this version of the arcade classic did receive a 3D upgrade to its presentation, and to be honest with you, it looks pretty good. All of the turtles look more like their counterparts from the newer cartoon series than they do the old, with a little bit more of a mean look on their faces, but thats fine to me. Some of the Bosses that you encounter look great with a visual upgrade, especially leatherhead(alligator in train level), he looks the way I imagined he would look if he received a 3D upgrade, but still has that southern style to him, with the sleevless T-shirt, and blue ripped jeans, so it still captured the style from the old cartoon, and that was much appreciated. All of the foot soldiers, enemies, and bosses, all look pretty good, and are animated quite well.

That was another thing that was updated in this version, the facial expressions and animations of your enemies. Some foot soldiers will lose their balance on an object, all bosses with cringe their faces as you are attacking them, and the turtles will give you a different facial expressions whenever they are being hit, doing the hitting, getting captured in a trap, etc. The level designs do just look like the old school levels, with some modern upgrades made to them, and it works, because honestly, that is all you can do with a game like this, especially since any fanboy, like myself, can nitpick a difference between the original title and this adaptation.

This game does tend to falter a little bit in the music and sound department for a certain specific reason . If you disregard the original Turtles theme from any game in the series, or try to remix the original version with your own adaptation, you are simply asking for trouble. What made turtles games unique from most others was the fact that the music gave the Turtles their own unique sense of style and heart, and represented the time in which the turtles were most popular, the 90’s. Was it really that hard to get the rights from the original game for the music, I guess so, since the only familiar song is the remixed version of the opening screen, which honestly, just flat out sucks.

I did like the fact that the bosses received some audio upgrades, and had some different voice actors fill the roles of Stockman, metalhead, etc. No lines were changed at all, and they all sounded just like they should. The people who did the voice overs for the turtles were from the new cartoon series, and they sound pretty good. Every turtle has their own unique pitch and volume to their own tone of voice, and it easy to distinguish one from the other. A complaint froma few sites was that the lines the turtles had, such as my toes, my toes, or my nose, or forgot the sunscreen, were all not funny, and completely unneccessary. Let me tell clear this up once and for all, those were quotes from the original game, and if they were not in this one, then you could not call it a remake, because that was the type of humor the show was using during that time, and for me, that adds just the right amount of nostalgia to call this a Ninja Turtles game.

What do you want me to say about the controls, that they are hard, of course they aren’t, this is a beat em up through and through. You move with the left thumbstick, attack with one button(X), and jump with another(a). You can throw your enemies, and smash them to the ground, do a special attack with the y button, but that is about it. It makes the game simple and fun to play for gamers of all ages.

Playing this game is much more fun than talking about it, as I am talking to you right now, I want to go back and play it. Sure it gets repetitive, but dont all of the great beat em up titles get repetitive after awhile. It does not stop the game from being a fun experience to have with your friends every once in awhile. What makes this version a little bit is some minor additions that they made to make some parts less frustating. All bosses have a life bar now, which will actually let you know when they are defeated, and all of your special attacks will not take away any health from your life meter. Granted it might make things to easy at times, but these types of additions also give fans like me some much needed help in certain areas of the game, especially since I am not as good at playing it as i once was.

There are a few modes to play through to extend your play time with Turtles in Time reshelled. You can
jump into any of the levels in quickplay with 99 lives, and practice trying to beat the bosses. You can play survival, in which you have to complete the entire game with just one life, or you can play the regular story mode, with four different levels of difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hardcore), and have to play through the game with a limited number of lives.

You can also play locally, or online with, up to 4 players in each of these modes. All of your scores from single, and multiplayer games will post to a leaderboard that you cans how to your other friends online. I have expierienced no lag with only play also, just a little FYI. There is alot to do, and you will spend at least the next month or so playing this online with friends, simply because of how fun it is to play.

Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled is a great game, despite my little nitpicks with it. Anybody looking for a fun beat em up that you can play with your friends online, or anyone who is a fan of the TMNT series, and is looking for some nostalgia should look no further and pick this one up. A great game for gamers of all ages, buy it right now, no questions asked. (A)

-Matt H.