Xbox Indie Review: Hurdle Turtle

I really needed a game like Hurdle Turtle. My brain actually had to bribe my hands to pick up a controller again after the muscle-cramping disgrace of Avatar Ninja and the totally uninspired cash-in, The American Hot Dog Race, and I was in dire need of some good old-fashioned retro-game loving. Hurdle Turtle thankfully delivers and is the total nostalgic package, complete with authentic 8-bit sprites, chiptune music and of course, quarter-munching difficulty.  The namesake hero is a delightfully designed reptile donning a white cotton headband and sweatbands on all his tiny turtle feet. As his name indicates, he’s a bit of a track and field fan, and the purpose of the game is to survive as long as possible on three increasingly difficult courses. It’s a simple game to understand, yet it’s surprisingly fun and becomes quite difficult in a hurry.

There are two types of obstacles that must be avoided: one that can be bypassed by guiding the turtle up and down on the track and another that has to leapt over.  Every few seconds the turtle’s velocity increases and in short time, the obstacles are flying at our poor little reptile friend. Turtles can apparently get those stubby legs moving at an enviable pace, which means that avoiding the obstacles becomes no easy feat.

I’m not sure who was in charge of  scouting the track for Tyrannosaurs rex tails prior to the race commencing, but these are possibly three of the most hazardous tracks known to the reptile-racing circuit. Not since the BMX and roller skating tracks of California Games have we witnessed such ill-conceived tracks littered with potentially crippling obstacles.

If it wasn’t for the lack of a boxy controller, I would swear I was playing an actual NES game. The presentation of the game mimics the feeling of an old Nintendo game right down to the cover art, and the graphics are intentionally blocky but large and colorful. The catchy chiptunes soundtrack completes the experience along with sound effects that appear to be pulled directly from a Nintendo sound board. I’m especially fond of the explosion that inexplicably thunders through the speakers when the speeding turtle collides into one-too-many barriers.

The three levels vary up the obstacles, but the differences are mostly cosmetic. Although there is very little difference between a moose and a triceratops, the levels are at least arranged differently to create varying degrees of difficulty. Speaking of which, the average game probably doesn’t last more than a minute because the game accelerates so rapidly that it becomes impossible to accurately time all the jumps. It is similar to the racing levels of Battletoads in its desire to punish anthropomorphic reptiles. I found it difficult to survive more than a minute even after playing the game several times; although honestly, in this type of game that isn’t a bad thing at all. Aside from the abysmal button-mashing aspect of Avatar Ninja, its other crime is that it is a total cakewalk for the first five minutes, where Hurdle Turtle ramps up to the exciting parts right away.

Another great feature of Hurdle Turtle is the two-player function in which two players can compete to see who can survive the longest on the racetrack of death. It’s kind of a minor touch, but multiplayer games are almost always preferable to single-player experiences for these types of games and that general rule holds true here.

The only problem with the game is that it is only really entertaining in very short bursts. It isn’t the kind of game most people would want to play for more than a few minutes at a time, but I do find that going back to it for a run or two remains entertaining even after several days. It’s not a bad buy for an occasional nostalgic distraction, but turtles are rather delicate critters and some people might prefer a bit more meat. At the very least, anyone fond of retro 8-bit games needs to check out the demo.

Visit the Xbox Live Marketplace to add a free demo of Hurdle Turtle to your Xbox 360 download queue.

Hurtle Turtle was provided for review by Holmade Games. It is available for 80 MS points ($1)

By Mike Wall at July 11, 2010.

About Mike Wall

Mike grew up and lives near Philadelphia and has been intrigued with games ever since his parents preached that they rotted his brain. He studied journalism at Penn State and got his master's degree in secondary education before realizing that not even summers off would make that job palatable. He now works in marketing and is trying to find time to continue writing a book about zombies, aliens, vampires, the end of the world, and a talking cat.