Turtles in Time is one of the greatest and most remembered arcade beat-em-ups of all time, it had good action, a variety of enemies, and a good variety of scenes to play through as the turtles were warped through time by Shredder. This arcade classic was ported to the SNES and the Sega Genesis (although it was called the Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis) and is widely considered one of the best games of all time. So when Ubisoft announced that they were going to be remaking the classic arcade title in honor of the turtle’s 25th anniversary this year I couldn’t wait to see how it would come out. It was announced that the game would feature new 3D graphics but that the basic gameplay would stay the same and up to 4 people could tackle the game cooperatively. The game was released today on Xbox live and PSN and it does not disappoint.
The new graphics are nice and stylish, they have good texture but they deviate only slightly from the original game. The foot soldiers and other enemies look exactly the same and the turtles have a look that is more reminiscent of the 1991 turtles and not the current turtles (although Splinter looks like he does in the new cartoon) You will still need to use the same visual cues to see where the wrecking ball is coming down in the first level and things like that.
The gameplay, which was always the best part of the game, is still stellar and it hasn’t been changed at all. You still have two attacks, a jump button, and a jump attack. You can also pull the left trigger to reveal an exclamation point that shows where your character is if you get swarmed and lose track of where you are on the screen. The pizza power ups are still there and they include the health pizza and the pizza power up that starts you spinning and it will knock down any enemies around you. You are given 9 lives and if you lose all of them you can restart the level you are on with 9 new lives but you’ll lose your score for the game. The music is the same but the dialogue has been re-recorded so the “shell shock” won’t be the same voice you are used to.
There are three gameplay modes the first is the classic story mode, the second is the survival mode where you are only given one life bar, and the third is the quickplay which allows you to play any level that you have previously beaten. There is local and online co-op and up to 4 players can play the parts of all the turtles. The ability to play 4 player online and local co-op is one of the strongest selling points in the game because playing the game with friends was always a lot more fun than playing alone, although the game is still fun solo. All three game modes are available online and local for multiplayer and single player.
Ubisoft has done a fantastic job of recreating one of the best arcade games of all time and the 800 microsoft points (or about $10) are well worth it. I would highly recommend
Gameplay 10
Story 10
Replay Value 10
Graphics 10
Overall 10
