TM Black redefines one of the PS Ones most original franchises and the results are incredible.
Twisted Metal Black seeks to change all of that by rebooting the Twisted Metal universe. Gone are the days of Calypso being the most powerful man in the universe, with his contestants running roughshod over every locale in the world. While you will fight in a city or two, most of the arenas are abandoned locales, likely owned by Calypso. Whereas in previous Twisted Metal games it was understood that most of the world was a wasteland, TMB doesn’t give off that impression, seemingly more grounded in the real world. This doesn’t injure the setting at all, making it feel all the more realistic for its lack of post-apocalyptic storyline. The world outside of the arenas though, is very dark and decrepit looking place. Whether this is due to war or simply where Calypso chooses to have his fights is never explored.
This more realistic feel even extends to the storyline and contestants involved in the tournament. Calypso gathers his contestants for his tournament from a twisted crew of misfits from an insane asylum of all places. He promises to make their most fevered wishes into a reality if they win his tournament, giving the tortured souls of this game what they desire the most. And believe me when I say that the characters you can choose to play as are a bunch of messed up individuals; cannibals, murderers, disfigured hillbillies and our favorite sociopath, Sweet Tooth, who is more insane than ever. Once they accepted Calypso’s invitation, he used his money to help them transform ordinary cars into the vehicles of destruction you will use in this tournament. This makes infinitely more sense, than having basically ordinary people making their own personal vehicles of mass destruction.
Each character has their own intensely interesting storyline that is revealed to you in three different cinemas. One is given when you choose to play as them, showing their initial conversation with Calypso. The second will be shown to you after you successfully defeat everybody’s favorite Twisted Metal mainstay, Minion. This is no easy feat, as he now drives a giant fire truck looking vehicle, which can spray napalm, ram you or waste you with a variety of missiles all the while sitting pretty behind a permanent shield you have to take down before you take him down. When Minion is finally destroyed his shrapnel will knock out your character, leading to the flashback sequence that reveals more of their back story. The last cinema is given to you after you defeat the final boss, Warhawk, once the star of his own PS One game, now just a flunky of the police and all that is in your way of getting the reward from Calypso. One you complete this fight, no easy task I assure you, you are given your reward by Calypso although, as is usual, what your character actually gets, doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is going to live happily ever after.
The enemies in TMB are ruthless and fairly skilled at both attacking and evasion, causing difficulties for some from the very first stage. This means that you are going to need to learn how to handle your car, get used to using the special weapons you will find littered around the stages, your cars special attack, health pick ups and even the button input commands to even stand a chance against the other cars. The special weapons you are given in each stage are interesting and varied, ranging from homing missiles to land mines. This means that you will need to learn how to maximize their usefulness if you wish to complete the game as the enemies will not have this problem. This extends to each cars special attack and figuring out when is the best time to trigger it, which can get tricky for some of the vehicles.
Conserving health is also a major factor in this game. You will find health pick-ups as well as recharge stations; the health pick ups will respawn after some time, they heal half of your health or so and are generally more useful. However the enemies can pick these up as well, which can really stink when an enemy is near death and youre running low on ammo. The recharge stations are rarely used by the enemies, heal you fully of all damage, but they only have limited uses. Managing when you use each of these is of utmost importance when playing many of the harder levels.
You will also have to learn the button input commands, done in an almost street fighter-esque manner. These allow you things, such as firing weapons backwards, shields which provide invincibility for a very limited time or going invisible. However, there is a slow recharging power bar that limits how often you can use these, so once again knowing how and when to use these abilities will decide whether you can complete the game or not.
While it is a hard game, the payout is most definitely worth it. Twisted Metal Black is one of those rare few games where the learning curve feels just right so long as you have the reflexes to handle the quick and intense gun fights. The management of the guns, weapons, health and energy can be a bit much for some people, but most will enjoy the variety of options that you are given by the game and having to never approach a situation the same way twice. This variety and ability to improvise gives this game much of its replayability which isn’t hindered by the fifteen characters, four of which are hidden and one that can only be unlocked by beating the game with all the other characters. Twisted Metal Black is truly a great game that marks the high point of this series.
Score: 9.5 / 10