Brutal, bloody, old school car combat is back!
Excitement, exclamations, and the occasional swearing comes in the form of the game's powerful weapons and myriad assortment of distinct vehicles which players will drive frantically around, shooting the whole while. Sweet Tooth's Transformer-esque ice cream truck, Mr. Grimm's speedy bike, and Dollface's heavy trailer truck all have their place in this Twisted Metal lineup alongside many others.
While the different vehicles will respond differently to acceleration and sharp turns, the controls remain steady the whole way through. Flooring down a street to bait an enemy before quickly turning around to unleash a barrage of missiles is easy to do with just a hold of the X button and a turn on the left thumb stick. Cars will jump (yes, jumping cars) over freeway medians with ease as a method of quick escape from pursuing enemies. It's manoeuvers such as these which keep the player knowing that they're the one in charge and not victim to overly simplistic or unfair controls.
Varying weapons are at your disposal to use. Every car will start with a standard weapon of their choosing (mounted chain guns, a submachine gun etc.) which will have unlimited ammo for the duration of the game. Most of your weapons, though, will be of the kind that you pick up on one of Twisted Metal's many diverse maps. These weapons range anywhere from a guided missile, to a shotgun, to a missile which drops a ton of napalm on an enemy vehicle.
The many maps which range from an idyllic portrayal of the American dream to Black Rock Stadium, where crowds of thousands cheer for your imminent death provide fun backdrops to the often chaotic action going onscreen. The chaos and wackiness are more rooted in the constant use of dizzying weaponry rather than just button mashing; this is a game that takes some easing into. Beginners will find it difficult just challenging bots on the easier difficulties. Careful maneuvering of your vehicle coupled with strategic use of the different weapons at your disposal requires some skill and can be unfriendly to players unfamiliar with the series' car combat.
The game's single player puts you in the hands of three different contestants, each in turn. Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm, and Dollface are staples of the series and you'll follow their respective journeys as they compete in Calypso's tournament for the ultimate prize. Some of the challenges presented in single player are quite fun and creative. Crazy melding of racing, death matches, boss fights, and wave modes all find their homes in these story events. Despite this, there are some features missing out of this mode. You can only play through the story modes of three characters, yet you can use any car from the series in doing so. This is a strange and confusing option and should have been better thought out before release.
The bulk of the game's fun and excitement stem from the multiplayer action which throws you against other players from all around the world, intent on blowing your vehicle and then running you over again just for good measure. Online play is even more fast and frantic than that against bots. The online death match offers frantic and fast paced (and sometimes, confusing) action which will give players huge amounts of satisfaction from killing the opposition. The risk/reward factor truly comes in to play in these matches which will see two players speeding at each other heads on, firing a selection of missiles, bombs, and guns while balancing the use of shields, landmines, and freeze rays. Other modes include a last man standing (players kill each other off until only one remains), Hunted (which sees a designated player who must be hunted down and killed by the others) and Nuke (a strange, team based game which sees players capturing enemy faction leaders and sacrificing them to launch a nuclear bomb at the opposing team's statue). Players will tailor rooms to their own needs, with capabilities to set game mode and time limits. This is a nice throwback to the multiplayer servers of last gen. Although multiplayer is fun in Twisted Metal it is immensely frustrating getting into games. Even a month after release, getting into an online game without disconnecting or experiencing network errors can be rare and oftentimes you will have to attempt to join many multiple games before you're able to actually jump into one. These networking problem make Twisted Metal's multiplayer almost unplayable at times, unfortunate because the main bulk of the gameplay relies on these very same multiplayer features which are simply inaccessible at times.
Twisted Metal is an incredibly fun title, throwing back to the days of old when games did not take themselves too seriously and allowed for specifically tailored online options. The competitive multiplayer makes the game worth buying, although you will have frequent headaches and frustrations due to the poor networking implemented by the developers. Twisted Metal remains a great game and is work picking up for its frantic and chaotic fun.