June 2, 2009 - The TMNT arcade game that was responsible for so many happy memories during the 16-bit era has been one of the most wanted XBLA games for quite some time now. Well, this summer those wishes are going to be granted with a reworking of the original courtesy of Ubisoft. Turtles in Time on XBLA features reworked graphics and a few new gameplay mechanics, making for something a bit different than you might expect.
We got our first chance to try out the upcoming game at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. The game can be played with four players, one for each of the turtles, either online or off. I snagged a controller alongside fellow IGNer Hilary Goldstein to hop into the two playable stages on hand. Naturally, I played as Michelangelo because I too am a party dude. Hilary played as Donatello because he is a dork.
If you've never played TMNT: Turtles in Time, we'll give you a quick rundown. Turtles is an action beat-em-up where you move down streets beating the snot out of the Foot Clan and Shredder's other minions. Along the way you'll meet up with classic Turtles villains, including Tokka and Rahzar. Beat them up and they'll revert to their adorable puppy and snapping turtle forms. Simple attacks and combos can be done through combining the two attack buttons with jumping, and you can grab some special pizzas for power-up moves.
The game looks pretty slick in its updated form, but the cartoony style is still reminiscent of the original. The major difference comes in one little gameplay change. In the original arcade game, you could only attack to the left or right. Moving up and down did not affect those directional attacks. In this game, it does. You're free to attack towards the screen or back into the background, making four possible directions to unleash your turtle power. This little change gives TMNT: Turtles in Time a totally different feel to it.
The demo we played only had two stages unlocked and didn't allow for online play. One of the grayed out menus was named survival mode, indicating that some endless battle mode will be included in the final release.