Twisted Metal: Head-On Character Profile

If you've been playing games on Sony machines since the original PlayStation, odds are you're familiar with the Twisted Metal series. If you're not, well, you should be. The long-running car-combat franchise has consistently offered some of the most madcap, entertaining multiplayer action on any console. Now, Sony and developer Incog are wisely delivering that experience to on-the-go gamers with the upcoming PSP entry in the series, Twisted Metal: Head-On. In advance of the game's release (and, indeed, that of the PSP itself), we present the twisted cast of the latest Twisted Metal.

Axel

Name: Axel
Vehicle: Axel
Tale of the Tape: Age: 38 -- Height: 6' 3" -- Weight: 280 (60 pounds comes from his metal arms)

Backstory: More than a decade ago, Axel was imprisoned in a massive two-wheeled contraption by his father. Axel confronted his father and was told he'd have to spend another decade imprisoned. In a show of defiance, he tore his arms free from the contraption. Soon he found he couldn't handle living without the thing he'd been a part of for so long. He truly felt like he'd lost a part of his body.

Axel then met a doctor that constructed cybernetic arms and feet who would let Axel drive his two-wheeled vehicle once again, on the condition that he turn over his wish to the doctor should he win Twisted Metal.

Crimson Fury

Name: Agent Shepherd
Vehicle: Crimson Fury
Tale of the Tape: Age: 34 -- Height: 6' 1" -- Weight: 200

Backstory: Agent Shepherd is a good and dedicated FBI agent who entered Twisted Metal with the goal of bringing the FBI's most wanted man, Calypso, to justice. He's a simple and straightforward man, so if he wins Twisted Metal, Shepherd hopes to capture Calypso (with the help of the FBI).

Grasshopper

Name: Krista Sparks
Vehicle: Grasshopper
Tale of the Tape: Age: 15 -- Height: 5' 1" -- Weight: 105 (when she was alive)

Backstory: Krista Sparks is the long-dead daughter of Calypso. Calypso and his entire family were killed in a brutal car accident. Calypso escaped death by stealing a demon's powers, but he was unable to bring his family with him.

Calypso attempted to rescue his daughter from the afterlife but soon discovered that while he could summon her spirit, it would only be temporarily. For her to truly live again, she must win Twisted Metal and wish for this life herself.

Hammerhead

Name: Catfish
Vehicle: Hammerhead
Tale of the Tape: Age: 47 -- Height: 6' 1" -- Weight: 175

Backstory: Catfish, a man who prides himself as the mighty hunter, decided to modify his favorite rig to compete in this year's Twisted Metal, because after all, it's just another form of hunting, though it's done vehicular style. Catfish's illustrious, and often illegal, hunting obsession has resulted in the collection of the head of every type of big-game creature he's been able to claim to proudly hang in his trophy room. Now, Catfish's ultimate dream is to hunt the most intelligent species in the animal kingdom--the human--in an all-out, man-versus-man struggle for the survival of the fittest in the raw wilderness.