Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled Review
Release Date: August 5th 2009
List Price: $10.00 on Xbox Live Arcade
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a comic book about four turtles exposed to a radioactive ooze that causes them to mutate and grow into four wise-talking, pizza-loving teenagers who are trained ninjas with attitude. They fight crime and a ninja clan known as the Foot. Not only was this a great comic book but also eventually made into a hit cartoon TV show and multiple live-action movies, as well as action figures and video games. I was a huge fan, and still am. In fact, I just recently bought the Bluray collectors’ edition of the live-action films. The movies still to this day bring a smile to my face and give me the occasional laugh. Yes, if you haven’t guessed already I am a bit of a geek – guilty as charged.
Back in 1991, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time’ was built for arcade machines. Eventually the game was ported over for its countless fans to the Super Nintendo System. The premise of the game was that the Statue of Liberty has just been taken by a mysterious giant android and once again it is up to the Ninja Turtles to make things right. I must admit I loved this game on Super Nintendo and spent countless hours hacking and slashing through endless waves of Foot soldiers. I remember playing this game over and over with my brothers until I think we burnt through the cartridge and needed to go buy a new one. So when I heard that Microsoft was remaking this game in new updated HD graphics and sound for the Xbox Live Arcade I was thrilled with nostalgia and had my credit card in hand ready for download when it released.
While yes it is still fun to play and does bring back some fond memories, sadly the level of fun and excitement just doesn’t feel the same as it did back in the day and is unfortunately a bit of a let-down.
The Good:
Nostalgia – Microsoft did do the fans a service and kept the same feel of the previous game: The turtles still make their goofy and quite cheesy comments, you still fight a bunch of the recognizable enemies from the series, and it still has, for the most part, the same level layout from the past game. It definitely brought back memories of me playing the game with my friends and had me saying out loud a few of the in-game sayings.
Easy to play – This game only takes a couple buttons on your controller to play as you move from left to right on screen while you punch, kick, and jump your way through the game. With a very simple control scheme anyone can play, from a small child all the way up to a non-game-playing adult. This is nice when you want to get friends or family that normally don’t play to join in with you.
Multiplayer – This game in the arcades was a four-player game; on Super Nintendo it was only able to be played with two people. Microsoft has thankfully decided to go with the arcade version of the game and offer a four-player game, which is quite nice when you have multiple people wanting to play at the same time. Fun when looking to play a game with a group of people.
The Ok:
Graphics – I am on the edge with the graphics in this game. While the new updated graphics do bring a fresh feel and look really good compared to the previous 32-bit versions, and add some depth to the picture, it just seems a bit off. While I am surprised at the amount of time they must have put into this and all the extra background details they added, I feel as if they probably should have just kept to the original graphics of the past games and perhaps just cleaned/sharpened them up to bring them into the HD era. To add to this, the new graphics at times appear very blocky and not very smooth. Perhaps this was the artistic approach the developers wanted, but it makes the game look a little unfinished.
Game play - This game is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles button masher, plain and simple. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to play this game. You pick your turtle (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael) and then immediately start the game swinging. The levels are a side-scrolling punch and kick fest, that doesn’t take any real level of skill to play. A simple and fun to play type of game which anyone can enjoy even if not a gamer when you are looking for something mindless to do. Back in the day the very basic button masher was a very common type of game (‘Streets of Rage,’ ‘Double Dragon,’ etc) that was great to play and would cause hours to pass by, but now does seems a bit out a date and doesn’t quite hold up to the level of enjoyment of today’s caliber of button mashing games. Also, I found that you can easily go through the game in one roughly hour session and then feel as if you do not need to replay it. While yes this is just a remake of the previous game which was quite simple compared to today’s standards, I for some reason feel like the previous versions took longer to go through.
The Bad:
Level Structure – For this game Microsoft decided that they were going to go for the arcade version to structure the levels. While this is meant to be a remake of the original version, I feel as if the SNES version was the better game and offered more to the players as well as the more recognized version by gamers. Playing through this game there were levels missing that I really enjoyed playing on the SNES (the entire tecnodrome stage) and 4 bosses from the SNES where also not present (the Rat King, Bebop and Rock Steady, Battle Tank Shredder, Slash). Not only did this disappoint me a little bit but also it shortened the actual game and made the story not flow as well. I really think for the money this game costs they should have used the longer version. Perhaps there were licensing issues or something else that prevented this from happening. Either way bad decision on someone’s part and not cool!!
Game Modes: In the SNES version of the game there was not only the story you could play through but also a time trial mode and two players versus fight mode. While they were very basic and didn’t add much to the game they were still fun to play on occasion. Unfortunately Microsoft decided to not include these modes in the game but instead to have a survival mode which you play through a level with only one life and need to try and make it to the end. They also included a quick play mode where you can play any level to rack up a score without the worry of having to lose lives since they give you 99 to start. I really think they should have kept the time trial and versus mode on top of the new modes to add to the replay value of the game.
The Bottom Line:
Being a big fan of the series and original games as well as putting in so many hours back in the day on the SNES I was really looking forward to this game and couldn’t wait to start it up. Unfortunately I think Microsoft decided to remake the wrong version of this game. While this game is still fun to play, looks good and is worth checking out, it just doesn’t feel the same. They could have done so much more with this game and really captured what made the originals so great. Will I continue to play this game with my friends and enjoy doing so? Yup, I sure will, but I will definitely be wanting more and wishing the developers took a second look at this before putting it out.
Is this game worth spending the 10 bucks on? That’s a question I am on the fence with. For nostalgia purposes and some quick fun sure, pick it up, it’s not too bad, but I recommend you download the trial version first and give it a look, then make your decision if you want to pick it up. If you’re looking for a simple button mashing game to waste some time with family or friends this might be for you, but you might want to also see what your local game store has first before dishing out the 10 bucks.
Til next time, keep on gaming!!
List Price: $10.00 on Xbox Live Arcade
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a comic book about four turtles exposed to a radioactive ooze that causes them to mutate and grow into four wise-talking, pizza-loving teenagers who are trained ninjas with attitude. They fight crime and a ninja clan known as the Foot. Not only was this a great comic book but also eventually made into a hit cartoon TV show and multiple live-action movies, as well as action figures and video games. I was a huge fan, and still am. In fact, I just recently bought the Bluray collectors’ edition of the live-action films. The movies still to this day bring a smile to my face and give me the occasional laugh. Yes, if you haven’t guessed already I am a bit of a geek – guilty as charged.
Back in 1991, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time’ was built for arcade machines. Eventually the game was ported over for its countless fans to the Super Nintendo System. The premise of the game was that the Statue of Liberty has just been taken by a mysterious giant android and once again it is up to the Ninja Turtles to make things right. I must admit I loved this game on Super Nintendo and spent countless hours hacking and slashing through endless waves of Foot soldiers. I remember playing this game over and over with my brothers until I think we burnt through the cartridge and needed to go buy a new one. So when I heard that Microsoft was remaking this game in new updated HD graphics and sound for the Xbox Live Arcade I was thrilled with nostalgia and had my credit card in hand ready for download when it released.
While yes it is still fun to play and does bring back some fond memories, sadly the level of fun and excitement just doesn’t feel the same as it did back in the day and is unfortunately a bit of a let-down.
The Good:
Nostalgia – Microsoft did do the fans a service and kept the same feel of the previous game: The turtles still make their goofy and quite cheesy comments, you still fight a bunch of the recognizable enemies from the series, and it still has, for the most part, the same level layout from the past game. It definitely brought back memories of me playing the game with my friends and had me saying out loud a few of the in-game sayings.
Easy to play – This game only takes a couple buttons on your controller to play as you move from left to right on screen while you punch, kick, and jump your way through the game. With a very simple control scheme anyone can play, from a small child all the way up to a non-game-playing adult. This is nice when you want to get friends or family that normally don’t play to join in with you.
Multiplayer – This game in the arcades was a four-player game; on Super Nintendo it was only able to be played with two people. Microsoft has thankfully decided to go with the arcade version of the game and offer a four-player game, which is quite nice when you have multiple people wanting to play at the same time. Fun when looking to play a game with a group of people.
The Ok:
Graphics – I am on the edge with the graphics in this game. While the new updated graphics do bring a fresh feel and look really good compared to the previous 32-bit versions, and add some depth to the picture, it just seems a bit off. While I am surprised at the amount of time they must have put into this and all the extra background details they added, I feel as if they probably should have just kept to the original graphics of the past games and perhaps just cleaned/sharpened them up to bring them into the HD era. To add to this, the new graphics at times appear very blocky and not very smooth. Perhaps this was the artistic approach the developers wanted, but it makes the game look a little unfinished.
Game play - This game is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles button masher, plain and simple. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to play this game. You pick your turtle (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael) and then immediately start the game swinging. The levels are a side-scrolling punch and kick fest, that doesn’t take any real level of skill to play. A simple and fun to play type of game which anyone can enjoy even if not a gamer when you are looking for something mindless to do. Back in the day the very basic button masher was a very common type of game (‘Streets of Rage,’ ‘Double Dragon,’ etc) that was great to play and would cause hours to pass by, but now does seems a bit out a date and doesn’t quite hold up to the level of enjoyment of today’s caliber of button mashing games. Also, I found that you can easily go through the game in one roughly hour session and then feel as if you do not need to replay it. While yes this is just a remake of the previous game which was quite simple compared to today’s standards, I for some reason feel like the previous versions took longer to go through.
Level Structure – For this game Microsoft decided that they were going to go for the arcade version to structure the levels. While this is meant to be a remake of the original version, I feel as if the SNES version was the better game and offered more to the players as well as the more recognized version by gamers. Playing through this game there were levels missing that I really enjoyed playing on the SNES (the entire tecnodrome stage) and 4 bosses from the SNES where also not present (the Rat King, Bebop and Rock Steady, Battle Tank Shredder, Slash). Not only did this disappoint me a little bit but also it shortened the actual game and made the story not flow as well. I really think for the money this game costs they should have used the longer version. Perhaps there were licensing issues or something else that prevented this from happening. Either way bad decision on someone’s part and not cool!!
Game Modes: In the SNES version of the game there was not only the story you could play through but also a time trial mode and two players versus fight mode. While they were very basic and didn’t add much to the game they were still fun to play on occasion. Unfortunately Microsoft decided to not include these modes in the game but instead to have a survival mode which you play through a level with only one life and need to try and make it to the end. They also included a quick play mode where you can play any level to rack up a score without the worry of having to lose lives since they give you 99 to start. I really think they should have kept the time trial and versus mode on top of the new modes to add to the replay value of the game.
The Bottom Line:
Being a big fan of the series and original games as well as putting in so many hours back in the day on the SNES I was really looking forward to this game and couldn’t wait to start it up. Unfortunately I think Microsoft decided to remake the wrong version of this game. While this game is still fun to play, looks good and is worth checking out, it just doesn’t feel the same. They could have done so much more with this game and really captured what made the originals so great. Will I continue to play this game with my friends and enjoy doing so? Yup, I sure will, but I will definitely be wanting more and wishing the developers took a second look at this before putting it out.
Til next time, keep on gaming!!
Labels: Arcade, Games, Review, TMNT, Xbox
This entry was posted by James Dumas, on Monday, September 21, 2009. You can
leave your response
. 
