TMNT: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled Review

Come on, Leo. You're too smart to fall for the old loose plank trick.

With the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game selling like hotcakes on Xbox Live, it made sense to bring the second arcade adventure to the service in some capacity.  However, we didn’t expect Ubisoft to go all-out with the high-definition remake TMNT: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled.  It’s far from perfect, but there’s some fun to be had, especially if you’re a fan of the original.

Aided by his alien buddy Krang, the evil Shredder nabs the Statue of Liberty.  The Turtles set out to get it back, only to end up trapped in a time warp that sends them bouncing through the ages.  One minute they avoid fire-breathing dinosaurs in prehistoric times, and the next, they battle their old crocodile nemesis, Leatherhead, on a train.  Eventually, all roads lead to New York, where Krang and Shredder await for the final showdown.

If you fondly remember the original arcade game (or the improved SNES version), then Turtles In Time Re-Shelled will make you warm and fuzzy.  Up to four players can take part in the action, either locally through the same console or online through Xbox Live.  Hooking up multiplayer sessions is easy, although the game doesn’t have convenient drop-in/drop-out options.  You’re either in it for the whole game or not at all.

Multiplayer works phenomenally well, and you’ll need the game running as fast as possible to keep up with the hordes of enemies.  Throw in a few environmental threats, like mines in the sewer (“My toes, my toes!”) and pop-up planks on a pirate ship, and it could become frustrating. 

Other than that, the gameplay works fine.  You can still slam Foot Soldiers, knock them into next week with a spinning power-up or throw them into the screen.  Although this grows repetitive, Turtles In Time Re-Shelled stays true to its arcade roots.  You can’t go wrong with that.  There’s also Quick Play (where you can stage select) and Survival (in which you battle as long as you can with one Turtle) modes, so if anything, there’s a decent amount of content to enjoy. 

Re-Shelled’s  audio, however, needs more work.  For some idiotic reason, Ubisoft didn’t use the original music from the arcade game. The new stuff isn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near as good as before. 

Sound effects also come up short.  Weapons make a “squish” noise whenever you hit enemies, and the turtles feature weak dialogue.   “Where’s the sunscreen?” only amuses us for so long. 

Fortunately, Ubisoft did a shell of a job with the graphics. The backdrops look amazing, particularly Krang’s futuristic city stage and the Prehistoric Turtlesaurus setting, with its overflowing lava.  The Turtles and their enemies animate very well, and the in-between cinema sequences, showing the gang getting sucked through a time portal, look good. 

How much you enjoy TMNT: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled depends on how much you like the original arcade game.  While the sound blows and the game lacks depth, the online/off-line multiplayer and high-quality graphics impress.  Check out the trial version and then decide if it’s worth shelling out for.