Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled – 360 – Review

As one of the top franchises of
the 80s, it should not be shocking to see that the Ninja Turtles have been
making a recent comeback. After all, it’s far easier to let the grown-up fans
of a beloved franchise flock to movie theaters for some grotesquely
resurrected remake, than to work on developing a brand new intellectual
property. Everyone’s favorite shell-backed protagonists are certainly no
exception to this trend, and in their latest outing, they’ve been thrown back
into the familiar video-game, “Turtles in Time”. For this revival, however,
there’s a twist: the graphics engine has been completely overhauled, bringing
the turtles into three dimensions.

Of course, this three-dimensional
rebirth is like many others; it is essentially superficial, and has no bearing
on the gameplay itself. Like the original “Turtles in Time,” the player still
navigates the side-scrolling levels by pressing up, down, left, and right.
Some might miss the original visual design, but after playing the previous
Ninja Turtles game on XBLA, I can’t honestly say that those old pixilated
characters are as charming as one might remember. That being said, the new
“Turtles in Time” is not exactly a visual powerhouse. We are still talking
about a casual XBLA game, one with graphics that could have easily been
generated on the previous Xbox. The cumulative impression one may receive is
that the graphics are not mind-blowing, but still much easier on the eyes than
the original.

As indicated earlier, the gameplay
is virtually identical to the original. Like any classic arcade side-scroller,
you’ll guide your turtle across the screen, whacking baddies left and right
until reaching a unique boss character. Sadly, the bosses still bring with
them the familiar frustration. Very often, they can be defeated with the cheap
hit-and-run strategy, which is made easier once you get a feel for their move
set. Strangely, there are a few new problems that drag down the experience.
There seems to be a substantial remixing of music, effects, and voice-overs in
this updated version. Much of the new music, however, just comes across as
annoying; it plays at virtually the same tempo and volume throughout a given
level. The voice-overs can be similarly obnoxious when, for example, a turtle
is repeatedly jamming his toes in an endless series of floating sewer mines.

The turtles themselves are nicely
arranged on the character selection screen, not only aesthetically, but in a
manner which reveals their technical stats. Most turtle-fans are already aware
of the various strengths and weaknesses of each turtle, but it’s nice to have
their attributes laid out plainly for quick reference – something that was
not done in the first game. Beginners who learn that their beloved Leonardo
doesn’t have quite the same attacking range as Donatello
might find themselves reconsidering their selection, which I believe makes the
experience more balanced. The mechanics for knocking around enemies still
follows the basic rules of your typical button-masher. There are power
attacks, aerial attacks, and a few maneuvers that weren’t in the previous
game, such as double jumps and the cyclonic spinning attack, the latter of
which is a side effect of consuming pizzas found lying on the street. This
would probably explain some of the odd behavior I’ve seen when visiting the
real streets of New York.

The enemies and bosses have not
really changed substantially. Sure, they look better in 3-D, but you’re still
going against the rainbow of foot soldiers, each one’s threat level being
clearly indicated by the color of their uniform. It seems like after so many
years, the developers might have taken a chance on introducing a new element
or two, even if it was an optional feature that could be toggled to avoid
irritating the purists. There have been a few more goodies added, such as a
survival mode and the obligatory cooperative campaign, but these don’t offer
anything startlingly fresh from the traditional single-player. The short story
is not a surprising one: you should enjoy Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled if you
like the original Ninja Turtle games. Otherwise, this game feels a tad too
simple to hold the interest of the contemporary gamer. 

Gameplay: 6.0
Simplistic and
fun, but there’s not quite enough here to hold a player’s long term-interest.

Graphics: 7.0 

An
appealing color palette with simple, animated violence that will only upset
the most prudish of parents. Good stuff.

Sound: 6.0

The
audio is cleaner now, but oddly annoying in some areas.

Difficulty: Medium
Familiar
frustrations, but co-op makes this much more bearable.

Concept: 7.0 
Yes, it’s a
remake, but some credit is deserved for the additional modes and visual
upgrade.

Multiplayer: 7.0

All the fun of four-player
co-op is back, but it seems difficult to find matches much of the time.

Overall: 7.0
Turtles in Time
definitely provides the primitively satisfying, thumb-numbing enjoyment of the
original. However, its adherence to the original game doesn’t help with
replayability, and newcomers may find its
“hardcore” appeal somewhat befuddling.