This game is bad
Great premise aged well but the controls didn't. The cars are pain in the ass to drive. The levels are well designed but too big sometimes, the AI doesn't find you. All the endings are cool but I wish they were actual cutscenes.
This game is stupid.
I wouldn't want it any other way.
It does feel a bit awkward by modern standards thanks to the controls feeling rather janky and handling being awkward, but it's dumb fun of the highest order and I'm down with that.
I wouldn't want it any other way.
It does feel a bit awkward by modern standards thanks to the controls feeling rather janky and handling being awkward, but it's dumb fun of the highest order and I'm down with that.
I admit, this game absolutely did not make a great first impression on me. I picked Sweet Tooth first because he's like the mascot of the franchise and the only character I knew of before (other than Calypso), and boy, his ice cream truck handles like shit. It didn't help that the enemies are quite gung-ho on Normal difficulty, which lead to a lot of annoyingly quick deaths. It could have been a one-and-done for me, but I'm glad that I stuck around to try out all the other characters, because this game can actually be quite fun.
There are 12 characters to play as, each having their own vehicles with different attributes and special weapon. If you're like me then you'll probably enjoy characters like Mr. Grimm the most, which have the fastest and most responsive vehicle, combined with a hard hitting special weapon, but also having a small health bar. The vehicle physics definitely feels janky, and the controls will also take some time to get used to, but it's not a big hurdle to climb over. Being able to turn the difficulty down also helps. I do wish that the combat is more punchy and energetic, as the visual and sound effects of damaging and destroying other cars are underwhelming.
There are six levels, all of them set in Los Angeles, and from a design standpoint they are pretty okay overall. I thought the last level was the one level that is actually interesting, the other ones are quite basic and same-y in comparison. Typical American urban hellscape stuff. I guess being limited to LA doesn't help that fact, huh?
My favorite part of the game are probably the character story endings. These range from being straightforwardly dark to somewhat silly, and I thought most of the characters had satisfying endings. I especially enjoy Outlaw and Mr. Grimm's endings. Sadly the production value is so low, the endings are just text paragraphs without voice acting, and the background visual is an extremely dorky picture of live action Calypso.
The first Twisted Metal is certainly a fun game to look back at. Its very barebones, but its quite forgivable considering that its the debut of the series, especially since its from the early years of 3D video games. It manages to be a fun romp with its own distinct personality, and it also sets up future successors for success.
And before I'm done, yes, the PS5 port job is pretty good. The platinum trophy is a quick one, provided you take advantage of the password system.
There are 12 characters to play as, each having their own vehicles with different attributes and special weapon. If you're like me then you'll probably enjoy characters like Mr. Grimm the most, which have the fastest and most responsive vehicle, combined with a hard hitting special weapon, but also having a small health bar. The vehicle physics definitely feels janky, and the controls will also take some time to get used to, but it's not a big hurdle to climb over. Being able to turn the difficulty down also helps. I do wish that the combat is more punchy and energetic, as the visual and sound effects of damaging and destroying other cars are underwhelming.
There are six levels, all of them set in Los Angeles, and from a design standpoint they are pretty okay overall. I thought the last level was the one level that is actually interesting, the other ones are quite basic and same-y in comparison. Typical American urban hellscape stuff. I guess being limited to LA doesn't help that fact, huh?
My favorite part of the game are probably the character story endings. These range from being straightforwardly dark to somewhat silly, and I thought most of the characters had satisfying endings. I especially enjoy Outlaw and Mr. Grimm's endings. Sadly the production value is so low, the endings are just text paragraphs without voice acting, and the background visual is an extremely dorky picture of live action Calypso.
The first Twisted Metal is certainly a fun game to look back at. Its very barebones, but its quite forgivable considering that its the debut of the series, especially since its from the early years of 3D video games. It manages to be a fun romp with its own distinct personality, and it also sets up future successors for success.
And before I'm done, yes, the PS5 port job is pretty good. The platinum trophy is a quick one, provided you take advantage of the password system.
This is garbage.
Proper, silly good time. The ridiculous premise aged well enough, but the controls? Less so. Cars drive a bit janky, like the sensitivity has been cranked up to 11. Higher difficulties feel a bit oppressive, but are manageable once one develops some familiarity with the controls and strategies needed to consistently progress. All and all, a very cool title to see added to the PS Classics Collection.
The game that breathed new life into the Car Combat genre and would become one of Sony's big staple franchises for 17 years and 3 Playstation genres, and boy oh boy does this game NOT HOLD UP AT ALL. Don't get me wrong, I love Twisted Metal. I consider Twisted Metal Black one of the best Car Combat games period. It's such a good game it was re-released on the PS3 AND PS4, which means its also available on PS5 as well. Super accessible and cheap to play. This first one though, woof. I get it. I really do. You need to start somewhere with a new franchise, and all the building blocks are here, but not exactly assembled. It's fine to take a first game to feel out what you want your characters to be and how you want your story to play out. The BIGGEST problem with this game though comes in its controls because holy shit they are a HUGE pain in the ass here. Everything just feels far too loose or too fast or too clunky. This makes every round you play such a tedious hassle and slog to play through. Not only that but it constantly feels like the damage you output to other cars is miniscule compared to the chunks of health an enemy car can just immediately rip from you of tou just so happen to lightly graze one incorrectly. The only correct way to play this game is by turning on the cheats for invincibility and infinite ammo. That way it doesn't matter of the controls are complete ass. You can just sit there completely obliterating those cars. The endings are also pretty disappointing in this first outing. A lot less monkey paw shenanigans the series will become known for and more 80% of the characters endings are just them shooting calypso in the face with another 10% being the characters just getting their wosh no caveats about it, which leaves 8% characters wishing for some stupid shit, while 2% is dedicated to the good Monekys Paw type shit. Overall, I'd recommend completely skipping this game unless you're a Twisted Metal diehard that has yet to play the game that started the series. Other than that, NOTHING TO SEE HERE FOLKS. Also David Jaffe sucks ass.