Hands-onTwisted Metal: Black Online

At the Game Developers Conference, Sony was showing off a playable build of its forthcoming multiplayer car combat game, Twisted Metal: Black Online. The online game is clearly built on its predecessor--at a glance, this multiplayer version looked no different from the original game. The one level we got a chance to try out was one based on the second level of Twisted Metal: Black (the one called "suburbs"). Three of Twisted Metal: Black's heavily armed vehicles were shown duking it out in this environment.

We played as Roadkill, the supercharged Dodge Charger. We were up against only two other players, one as Mr. Grimm, the skeletal motorcyclist, and the other in Warthog, a military vehicle. No computer-controlled players were in the match. We easily spotted our human opponents on our radar display. We made short work of them, as we were able to apply all our well-honed Twisted Metal: Black skills directly to the online game. The gameplay of the online version is identical to that of the original, and it retains Twisted Metal: Black's incredibly fast pacing and smooth frame rate.

Despite the fact that the three systems running this demo version of Twisted Metal: Black Online were adjacent to each other, a Sony spokesperson did confirm that the game was being played over the Internet (not over a LAN), through a test server located in San Diego, Calif.

Have a look at this gameplay footage of Twisted Metal: Black Online to get a sense of the game. Remember, the enemy vehicles shown in this footage are being controlled by human players.

Editor's note 03/24/02: When this article was originally posted, it speculated about connectivity issues relating to the game. A Sony spokesperson later clarified some of these points, so the article has been edited accordingly. GameSpot regrets the misconceptions stated in the original article.