Let’s take a look back at the game that made shooting traffic fun!
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Year: 1995
Played on: PS1
Also on: PC (Japan Only)
Developer: Sony Interactive Studios America, SingleTrac
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
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“WILL YOU DRIVE?”
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Date Posted: October 15, 2017
Premise
You may be thinking to yourself, “Man, early polygon based game on the PS1 do not hold up very well, do they?” And you may ask yourself, well “How did I get here?”. Then I would tell you to stop referencing the Talking Heads, and let me explain why your wrong, using one of my favorite early Playstation classics, Twisted Metal.
Circa 1995, Twisted Metal takes place in the far off future of December 2005. A mysterious man, and possibly the Devil, named Calypso promises the ultimate prize- a wish for anything you want! However, you must be the last man standing in a contest can only be described as “Vehicular Combat”, or if you live in LA, “Driving on the freeway”.
You have 12 different characters at your disposal, including a creepy clown that doesn’t live in the sewers, a guy who’s a ghost (Spooky!), some army guy, a Mary Stu police officer, a demon, a cabby, a hobo, some dudebros, a gangster who wants to turn his life around, a secret agent, an assassin,and last but not least, the Grim Reaper himself, Vladmir Putin!
Pretty much everyone I went to High School with
PROS
With this crazy cast of characters, come a very diverse set of vehicles, each with their own stats and special attacks. You have sports cars that zoom past opposition, a tank and an eighteen wheeler with lots of armor, a fast and small motorcycle with low armor, just to name a few. The special attacks are great and represent their drivers well- Mr. Grimm fires freaking souls at people, Hammerhead can do damage by driving over cars, and Spectre has a homing missile that goes though walls. All in all, there is a lot of variety here, enough so that I pretty much played the game with all 12 characters. I think that says a lot, personally. There also a lot of weapons to pick up, from different kinds of missiles, landmines, and such.
Here’s a cool picture of all the character’s I stole from someone!
There are only six levels to play though, but I think that some good variety in them. You start in a super small arena against one opponent. Next, you take to the streets in a medium-size warehouse district against multiple enemies. Then comes one of my favorite levels, the highway, which pretty much goes in a circle, making if fun to drive around in, seeing how many laps if would take to kill everyone. After, you go to another street level, and it here you can fight in a river, which is kind of cool. Then my absolute favorite level- Cyburbia. This level is the biggest in the game, and even has its own highway! There are also a lot of pedestrians that just fall over- its really kind of funny. Finally, you face off on the rooftops, where it is very easy to die. Its here you face the final boss, a friggin tank!
Each combatant has their own ending. They range from weird to funny. I especially love Outlaws ending- i’m not going to ruin it, but I think its great! The fact that it’s canon makes it even better! Fun fact: they actually recorded live action endings for most of the characters, but it was scraped at the last minute. They are all included on the extra-twisted version of Twisted Metal: Head On, and are, in my opinion worth watching though. (You could probably watch them on Youtube as well) Why they were cut baffles me, (deemed to sexist and violent apparently?) as they are 1990’s cheese, and God do I love them.
I think what I love most about the original TM is that you can play though the game with one character in a single setting, taking about an hour or so, depending how you play. Its something I really can’t do with other games in the series, especially after the huge difficulty spike in the game’s sequel (but I’ll talk about that when I eventually review it.)
It may not look that great, but I think it’s still worth playing today.
CONS
So, is there anything bad about it? Well, multiplayer, sadly, got the short end of the stick. There is no co-op, something that would become a staple of the series later on. The levels are severely watered down, and most of them have been downsized for whatever reason. Also, some might not like the fact there is only six levels, and there is no real unlock able content like secret characters and such. The controls also may get some getting used to, as they are somewhat different then the other games in the series.
FINAL VERDICT
I think the original Twisted Metal holds up and is still worth playing today. If you can get past it flaws, and its dated graphics, there is a solid vehicular combat game here. You just might not want to play it with your friends- I feel that the future games in the series beginning with TM2 are better for multiplayer. Just do your self a favor- avoid TM3 like the plague. (I’ll get to that one eventually, and maybe explain why TM4 really isn’t that bad as well)
Also, I know you don’t care about this series anymore, but if Sony or David Jaffe are reading, could please make a sequel? I know what happened with TM 2012, but I know you can go back to series roots. Just saying.
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
Gamer's Edge 