Not So Lovely Being a Turtle Anymore

In the early ‘90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the kings of pop culture with a hit television show, an award-winning comic book series, a series of successful movies and even video games. The biggest success amongst the video games was “Turtles in Time,” which before becoming a mega hit on the Super Nintendo was an even bigger hit in arcades all over the world. Though now a simplistic button-mashing beat-em-up by today’s standards, “Turtles in Time” is a classic title that is worth checking out for nostalgia-hungry gamers and newbies alike.

Last year however, Ubisoft decided to put a new spin on the Konami classic by updating the graphics and adding 3D elements to the side-scrolling fun. While the end result is a much better looking game, there hasn’t been as much added to make them game a truly viable rehash.

As a result, much like the game it draws its inspiration from, “Turtles in Time: Reshelled” is a game that will bring back your oldest gaming memories, but unlike the original, it will not inspire new ones.

In spite of the new 3D elements, the biggest problem with this game is that the game essentially plays the same as its nearly 20-year-old counterpart. The fact that you can attack in more directions makes the game a bit easier, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into a more fun experience. If you grew up on the game, you’ll find the A.I. is just as cheap [the bosses especially]and easy to manipulate as ever and the addition of 3D movement doesn’t change that at all. Had Ubisoft made the enemies a bit more different and made the turtles a bit more distinguishable from one another, the game perhaps could have had more staying power. In the end however, it’s a half-hearted attempt at making a classic appeal to a new demographic.

Graphically, the game is one of the better looking titles on the 360 Live Arcade, but aside from 3D backgrounds and updating the animations and colors, this game could have looked a lot better. The same thing goes for the sound and the cinemas, which are still inheritably retro in fashion. While it’s understandable that Ubisoft wanted to keep the motif of the original, they could have done more with the graphics in-between the stages to spice up the look of the game.

In spite of all of these small problems, if you’re a retro gamer, looking to rekindle your youth on the Live Arcade, you can do a lot worse than “Turtles in Time: Reshelled,” as long as you’re willing to revert back to the tactics of button-mashing and repetition that games like this buttered their bread with. The addition of online and local multi-player does make it more attractive, but overall, it just feels like the energy and fun that this game provided when it was originally released was unable to be added to this version.

The end product is a solid beat-em-up that doesn’t pack the punch it should.

As a result, the new coat of paint this game has gotten ends up not doing the original the justice it deserves.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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