Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled has landed with a flop on my 360. The Summer of Arcade title is one that many fans of the Turtles and the old school arcade and SNES port have been licking their chops over since its announcement. Well, here it is... and quite frankly it's downright uninspired.
I'll say that I never played the arcade version of this game. I was probably too busy playing the giant, three screen X-Men Arcade game with my friends. But the SNES port was one of those games that has survived all the yard sales and trade-ins and still sits in my collection today between Zelda and Super Mario World. The arcade version of Turtles in Time was a bit different when compared to the SNES port. Most notable of the differences is the absence of an entire level, Technodrome. The Technodrome level was added to the SNES port and it served as the starting point for the time travel. Since this is a port of the arcade version you won't find that level within your play.
So why is re-shelled so uninspired? Well, all it is for us gamers and fans is a new look. It's the same game with a few bells and whistles. But here's the kicker, the new look doesn't even look that good! The toony look of the originals was part of what keeps these games so familiar. You see a screenshot of Turtles in Time and you know exactly what game it is. This just looks flat and boring. Yeah, it's been rendered in 3-d, but the models and backgrounds are all so run of the mill that you'll actually start ignoring them. Why not hand paint the action like Monkey Island's remake or Street Fighter II? And why not include an option to switch back to the original look while playing? It just seems like they slapped the fresh coat of paint on this thing and hoped for the best.
