So in the end, Head On: ETE turns out to be a solid entry in the TM series marred by being a PSP port.
Extra Twisted Edition on PS2 is Twisted Metal Head On on the PSP bundled with enough fan service to make any Twisted Metal or car combat fan happy despite the ugly graphics, and strange skipping errors.
ETE is broken up into tow parts, Twisted Metal Head On and Twisted Metal Lost. Head On is the port of the PSP version while Lost is the fabled sequel to Twisted Metal Black attached with an even more fabled haunting letter written by supposed dead videogame programmers that were attached to the cancelled project.
Lost sports a few of the characters from Black, some new levels and some extra characters while being an incomplete idea. It ends up more of a demo than anything else and is a nice little edition to the title. Lost pretty much mimics every part of TM: Black; from gameplay to graphics so that pretty much speaks for itself.
There are also a few interviews included on the disc along with a playable portion of another idea that never made it into a full game. This mode called Sweet Tour puts you in control of Sweet Tooth in a 3rd person perspective as you run through a sanitarium and surrounding impound yard to get to your vehicle. This mode is incomplete as well but is full of little tidbits of information regarding the TM series.
Now on to Head On which is the meat and potatoes of this title, right off the bat I noticed a few touches of slowdown and glitching during the opening cutscene. The game disc is spotless and my PS2 is only a few months old so this leads me to believe that some of the discs might be a bit faulty. There aren't game stopping bugs but they are a little annoying as they pop up in all cutscene and end movies.
Next thing I noticed is that the graphics look far worse than a PS2 launch title which is expected seeing as this is a port of a PSP game. Another instance of bad porting would be the slight pause every time a music track ends which doesn't happen to be detrimental to game play but is noticeable.
Speaking of music, everything is as it always was in the TM world. The levels are framed by the sounds of heavy metal and techno music which is a decent blend for these types of games. The sound effects are pretty much unchanged from previous entries.
Levels were one of the main attractions in the TM series but in my opinion the levels in Head On aren't as good as those in TM2 or Black. There are a few familiar feeling places but they seem to lack the cohesive feeling of the levels in Black and the depth of strategy of the levels in TM 2.
Gameplay remains tight and responsive yet arcady and over the top which is what made the series so refreshing. The different vehicles generally feel different from one another enough to affect the gameplay and strategy I use while playing as certain characters. I know as Mr. Grimm that I should slowly pick of each character one by one using hit and run tactics but as Mr. Slam, I can charge into a crowd and wreck as much havoc as possible without much fear.
What Head On adds to the gameplay is an enhancement system based on kills. The first eight or so kills will net you boosts to your energy meter, armor, jumping height, weapon and ramming power while kills after that will provide you with health refills or weapons. This system reminds me of the ones found in games such as Critical Depth of Vigilante 8: Second Offense. While enhancements don't improve the look of you car like it does in V8: 2 unfortunately, the system is still a welcome addition.
Head On is supposed to be the successor to TM2 so a lot of the storylines and characters are ripped from TM1 and 2 while pretty much ignoring the happenings in TM: Black. This means that there's a little more light heartedness in the stories but just enough of the craziness that gives TM its $tyle.
Another improvement Head On has over is the inclusion of boss introducing cutscenes. While the quality of the characters isn't good by any means, it's a nice little touch. However, like most of the game, while it bests one TM game, it falls short of another. These cutscenes don't achieve the quality of Black's.
So in the end, Head On: ETE turns out to be a solid entry in the TM series marred by being a PSP port. Twisted Metal 2 and Black are by far my favorite entries in the series, and while Head On usually bests one or the other in gameplay, level design and character design, its main fault is that it's never able to beat both games.