Resonance Gaming: Turtix Rescue Adventure Review

Turtix was one of the only casual gaming reviews I've written. I'm not a massive fan of casual gaming as a rule as I find a little watered down and repetetive when you're dealing with anything beyond the basic puzzle games, but I'm quite happy with this review, although we never really made any effort to promote this one as it was written towards the end of the sites lifespan.

Turtix Rescue Adventure is the sequel to Alawar Entertainments recent puzzle release, Turtix. The game is a platformer at heart, although the usual collection and exploration typical of the genre has been mostly removed in favour of a strong puzzle element, somewhat similar to the style of Lost Vikings or Rainbow Island. Puzzle gaming may well be the most popular genre in the casual gaming world, so can Turtix stand to its multitude of competition?

The short answer? Yes, providing you enter play in Turtix knowing exactly what type of game you’ll be playing. The original Turtix was a true arcade platformer, but Rescue Adventures has moved in a slight different direction and is not a Mario clone by any respect, and those looking for fast paced action style gameplay will be disappointed. Take away the occasional difficult jump or frustratingly well placed enemy and you’re left with a game that has far more in common with Lemmings than with Nintendo’s diminutive plumber. Interestingly, if you want a more platform styled turtle game one does exist; Turtle Odyssey by Realore Studios.

Turtix’s forgivably simple plot involves a spell casting lesson gone awry, as the sorcerer miscasts a spell, trapping all the students in bubbles. For some reason unknown, Turtix manages to escape the spell and is sent out to rescue his friends. It’s presented in a bold opening cinematic that sets the stage more for the games excellent visuals than the story.

Gameplay in Turtix is simple to learn and introduced over the games first few levels. Jumping on your friends may rescue them from their bubble, but devoid of intelligent thought they’ll then run mindlessly forwards, bouncing off walls and other barriers and falling into pits and various dangers set throughout the levels. Your job is to make sure that those dangers are avoided, either by blocking the turtle from moving down the path at all, or by destroying the danger. For example, pushing crates into a very genre-typical pit of spikes that will kill your friend.

Turtix doesn’t get much more complicated than that, although despite a simple idea, the game actually gets quite difficult in the third world, and should provide even seasoned puzzle fans with some entertainment, especially on the hard mode. Despite some occasional spikes in difficulty – boss battles are included for each of the games worlds - most of the time Turtix does a good job of keeping everything paced just enough that it doesn’t get too boring.

That said it would probably have been all too easy to get bored with Turtix if the graphics and controls weren’t so spot on. Turtix’s world isn’t a particularly large one, with only three different environment spread across 60 levels, and as the first world serves largely as an introduction with no real difficult puzzles, you’ll expect to be spending the vast majority of the time on the last two. However, what graphics Turtix does possess it pulls off incredibly well. Bold, bright cartoon graphics and incredibly smooth animations and little details bring everything to life and play a big part in the role of keeping you interested once you’ve mastered everything the game has to offer.