Twisted Metal Review

Twisted Metal came onto the scene in 1995 for the PSX, and provided a taste of what vehicular mayhem could amount to. Later the following year, Twisted Metal 2 came out and sanded a lot of the rough edges its predecessor had – not to mention it was one of the shining games of my PSX childhood. After a few bad apples, the series was looking bleak, until it took the next generation by surprise with Twisted Metal: Black. This was the darkest entry in the franchise, offering truly twisted tales for each character, rock solid gameplay, and with the help of a re-release, online support. Now, in 2012, Jaffe and his team at Eat Sleep Play have released Twisted Metal for the PS3. And we should all give a big warm welcome for the king of violent vehicular combat is back.

The story mode for Twisted Metal is laid out in the same structure, but this time around, it's focused on three characters: Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm, and Dollface. Each twisted character has their own agenda, and reasons for entering Calypso's contest, and as always, their demands are granted with certain twists. As a whole, the campaign is like the classic Twisted Metal, however Eat Sleep Play have also included levels where you actually race for a change. It's an interesting change of pace, and it still keeps the fundamental death match rules intact. But make no mistake, Twisted Metal is all about the battle royale death-matches and you'll find the majority of the missions consist of that.

Fans of the series may feel betrayed that some of their favourite characters were dropped in favour of these, however Eat Sleep Play realized the true characters are of course the vehicles you play with, and not the avatars that drive them. As expected, the game boasts a diverse cast of vehicles, all of which are balanced to the point where no car is at the top of the food chain. All have their strengths and weaknesses that will be exploited by opponents, and it's up to the skills of the player to best them all. Newest to the roster is a helicopter called Talon, which is great for the eagle eye view of the terrain, but much weaker in armour. Each car has two unique special abilities on top of the plethora of weapons at your disposal. Talon has a chain-gun as the primary special, and a magnet to pick up other vehicles and drop them as a secondary. Some have disturbingly hilarious specials, like Meat Wagon, whose speciality is chucking gurney-bound patients at enemies.



Gameplay is the tried and true Twisted Metal formula, with several tweaks to keep things fresh in today's market, all the while retaining that crucial essence that let's you know you are playing Twisted Metal. Controls may seem tricky at first, but like any game, a few hours spent getting past the game's initial learning curve will have you navigating the maps with ease. Not only that, but Eat Sleep Play has catered to a wide audience of players, offering different control schemes depending on your preference so if you have problems with the classic control scheme you have the freedom to change them to your liking.

There are passive abilities that return to the scene, and are all mapped to the D-Pad. You can add a shield, fire a freeze blast that forces an enemy to restart their engine (button mashing time for human opponents), drop mines or even fire some weapons in reverse. These abilities all have upgrades as you progress. This adds a deeper level of strategy and all benefit the player when used properly. A well placed mine, or a timed shield can easily turn the tide. These game mechanics quite flexible and are only going to be as deep as you make them, so it's a good idea that you play through the tutorial to get a good sense of everything.