Where do we go now?
User Rating: 7 | Twisted Metal 4 PS
Ah Ha! My first drive at the wheel of the long, great crusader... TWISTED METAL. It is a game that will split the fans into two categories, those that can tolerate the huge change that now has a bluntly effective style that 989 studios has brought forward will be pleased to know that not much else is screwed up anymore. The graphics are better indeed by wide margins; yet every tire is a friggin square and it looks very plastic like (which isn't good). The explosions are good looking and the pop up / fog issues that clog other games are apparent but its rare to see such an effect to bring with it. Gameplay is mostly retained; there are new weapons and combo moves and the physics is mostly fixed. I mean mostly by some still dubiously wierd things but acceptable such as the fact that if you keep your car on a small platform it will slowly roll do the edge, when it does it hangs on for dear life to edge and is akward to get back on a platform and the fact that you could swear 100 times that you would have landed on your top but instead alway end up wheels down (thats rather preferable in spite of no realism). There is more destruction then again there still is nothing like the Paris Tower to wipeout. The sound department is good with the same old kinda Heavy Metal music as before and interesting missle echoes (I especially like hearing a missle trailing up your ass as you gun it with your turbo boosters hoping you can outrun it). The voice acting though, is not helpful. As said before the style is really something else (even more than before) but somewhat achieves style on its own level compared to other entries. Sweetooth owns the contest for now and disturbing clowns run the contest. The wishes are OK some are worthless, some get somewhere and around 3 or 4 are quite the achievement. The cutscenes are also decently more variated but they still follow a somewhat laid out path (just with more variation) though around half are quite similarily followed through. The game features only 4 returning characters (in name characters), many are heavily redone versions of past characters (Quatro and Outlaw are still the same characters but dressed up as someone else). This is heavily apparent with each of the levels bosses, 'Super Axel', 'Super Thumper', and so on. The game is about 18 hours long. That all folks; like I said this is a game that will split the fan base over this entry. I would have liked it to go out with a bit of a bang, but I still urge a rental for anyone intersted and fans.
