Playing the modern reboot of “Twisted Metal,” I felt like a classic-car buff looking under the hood of a modern vehicle. What is all this? Like the 1995 original, it’s essentially a “Mad Max” rip-off. The game puts you in control of a car competing in a destruction derby, except in this destruction derby, all the cars are outfitted with machine guns and rocket launchers.
This eighth “Twisted Metal’s” great curse, though, is that it arrives after 1996’s “Twisted Metal 2.” That first sequel wasn’t afraid to be funny, or take the kinds of chances you don’t see much in games anymore. Who couldn’t love smashing your competition as a front-end loader, or playing as a Formula 1 car whose specialty was to inexplicably turn into a tornado, usually doing more damage to itself than enemy cars?
Since then, this longest-running PlayStation-exclusive franchise seems to have been the victim of innumerable meetings where some guy in a suit goes, “All right team, do that again, but cut out the goofy stuff and make it edgier.”
| ‘Twisted Metal’ |
| » System: PS3 |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 3 out of 5 stars |
Take series star Sweet Tooth, a serial killer who drives an ice cream truck. Back in the day, his homicidal tendencies were danced around, like with the Joker, but not anymore. The new “Twisted Metal” is peppered with live-action movies where he ludicrously drops F-bombs and bemoans that one of his kids got away on the day he killed his family. Does Sony really want, as one of its mainline mascots, an imbecile whose sweetest dream is murdering his daughter?
The car combat has likewise suffered. Perhaps to appeal to a generation of gamers raised on frenetic first-person shooters, the action has been sped up, so it’s more point and shoot than chase and ram. In general there’s too much going on. Random pedestrians and non-player cars crowd the visual field, there are too many weapon types to cycle through, and even putting your car in reverse is confusing.
Amid the twists and turns of all this metal, of course, there are a few really good ideas. A motorcycle that zips around launching chainsaws is a blast to drive, and a helicopter is incorporated into the game way better than one might expect. Among its online modes, “Twisted Metal” boasts maybe the best video game version of capture the flag ever. Two teams compete to snag enemy leaders, convert them into rockets and blast them off. “True Lies,” anyone?
Despite all its flaws, “Twisted Metal” coasts on the basic car-combat formula established in ’95. If you skip the awful movies and spend most of your time playing with friends online, it could be a good buy. Better yet, just download “Twisted Metal 2” to your PlayStation 3 for 10 bucks.
