Developer: Incog, Inc.Publisher: SCEA
Reviewed by SailorMur on 12/11/01

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First Impressions:

Graphics:

The graphics are phenomenal: again, this is what the designers had in mind for the first Twisted Metal. The game has such details as rain, snow, churning skies, and lightning. The vehicle details are breathtaking: every time the player cycles through his or her arsenal, the car goes through a smooth little animation of changing weapons. If the player's character is set to lob a gas can at an enemy, the gas can comes online in an animation that is unique to that character's car. For example, Brimstone, the mad evangelist, has a struggling, unrepentant soul chained up in the back of his El Camino. The ever-present Sweet Tooth has traded in his boring old ice cream truck for a transforming ice cream truck. Hit the special weapon button, and the truck folds and unfolds on itself until it becomes a rolling robot with a clown's head.

The environment is almost totally interactive: players can blow up just about anything, including trees, glass, houses (I didn't know that so many people store missiles in their house), a gigantic Ferris wheel, and a passing plane, among other things. There are some levels, such as the Snowy Road and the rooftops (of course), where the main hazard is falling to your doom. According to the designers, some of the environments have nearly 1000 interactive elements. The attention to detail is astounding.

Sound/Music:

The music is very well done, creating alternating feelings of foreboding and urgency as you play. The music is a fantastic mixture of well-timed moody background music that swells to a more dramatic and intense tune. The music is excellent in its own right, is a pleasure to listen to as you play, and won't cause you go to bed singing it as it loops in your mind.

The same painstaking detail put into the graphics is also in the sound effects, and it shows. Each missile the character's car throws, each special attack, and even the two different machine gun effects all have different sounds. The fire missile sounds different from the homing missile, and the freeze effect is audibly distinct from the shield.

Gameplay:

Calypso is back, and he's returned with his insane game. The mastermind behind all of the Twisted Metal plotlines, Calypso's function is to get all the combatants together and have them duke it out with their bizarre cars on the battlefield for unimaginable prizes. This time, he fishes in the local insane asylum for his contestants, getting the most peculiar characters yet. They and their weapons-heavy cars to battle on different landscapes for the ultimate prize: whatever the winner's heart desires.

In this newest installment, the game's characters are in an asylum for a variety of disturbing reasons. For example, there's Bloody Mary, an "always the bridesmaid and never the bride" woman who stabbed her best friend and ran off with her new Spectre sports car for daring to throw her wedding bouquet at Mary. The origin stories for some are mysterious, as in the case of the creepy Preacher, a character that harkens back to Poltergeist II who is trying to atone to God for some monstrous sin he committed. Twisted Metal: Black also has hidden cars to be unlocked, including my favorite, Mr. Johnson (a.k.a. Axel). Yes, they have Sweet Tooth.

In single-player mode, gamers choose one car and get a starting movie about the car's driver. They are in the asylum, some not understanding their crime, others knowing full well what they did and why they did it. Then Calypso frees them, giving them the opportunity to drive for redemption, revenge, or true love. Then your character and car begin the game in the Junkyard.

One of the small things that completely turned me off of the more recent Twisted Metal titles was the inability to save the customized controller setups. I had gotten used to the "Run 'N Gun" mode in TMII, and the idea that I had to load TMII, write down all the button combos, then load TMIII and program the entire thing - and reprogram the controller every time I played - left me with little incentive to play the game. Fortunately, all of that is fixed in Twisted Metal: Black. All the old favorite combos are back, and they can be saved. Little details like these can make a difference in a game.

The first impression I had of the game play, besides the amazing graphics, was its level of difficulty. This title is much harder than its predecessors, but the environments are massive, and there are many weapons, health upgrades, and hiding places. One of the few downsides to the game was the obvious advantage the AI has over the player. Sweet Tooth (the ice cream truck that morphs to a robot and shoots several homing missiles at anyone within range), is supposed to have an excellent secret weapon. He can destroy Mr. Grimm (the motorcycle with little armor) in one to two blasts - if you're Mr. Grimm and the AI is Sweet Tooth. Reverse the players, and suddenly your weapon does much less damage and the little motorcycle has gained a great deal of armor.

To combat the extreme difficulty of the game, the developers did throw players a bone: you get three lives to complete a level, and once the level is completed, you start the next level with three fresh lives. You also have the opportunity to save after each level instead of having to worry about passwords. You can also save the multiplayer games.

Except for the inconsistencies in the weapons and armor, the cars are well balanced. Speed demons will be drawn to Spectre and Mr. Grimm, while people who are more cautious will prefer the heavily armored Junkyard Dog and Darkside (and old favorite Warthog, when you unlock him). Whatever car you choose, you will be penalized in some way. You could go for extremes: for example, Sweet Tooth is heavily armored with a strong secret weapon, but the vehicle's speed and handling is akin to a bathtub on wheels, while Mr. Grimm gives up armor for a strong weapon and excellent speed and handling. Alternatively, players have the option of going for a vehicle with a better balance of speed, handling, armor and weapons, such as Roadkill or Outlaw.

Enjoyment:

This game is the kind that makes your eyes water from forgetting to blink, and that gives you a divot in your thumb from constant playing. The single player storyline is unique to each character, which provides gamers with incentive to try to beat the game with every character. The multiplayer has the danger of keeping you up far past your bedtime and/or causing loud, childish fights at parties. You've been warned: this game is dangerous fun.

Multiplayer:

The true fun of the Twisted Metal franchise lies in multiplayer, and Twisted Metal: Black doesn't disappoint. Players have even more options on how to destroy (or cooperate) with buddies. It's possible to go through the game in story mode, running the same game as single-player with two cars, or players can do the most popular option: head-to-head destruction, just two cars, you and your enemy. A new play style is interesting: each player chooses two cars, and each starts with the same car. As you are destroyed, you get a new car until you cycle through all 4 cars, and the last one alive wins.

A plus for Twisted Metal: Black's multiplayer interface are the colored triangles that hang above the cars. Considering that there are several cars that look very similar when driving around in the rain at top speed (Brimstone, Spectre and Roadkill come to mind as similarly shaped cars), it's good to realize that your pal in Spectre has a white triangle following her around so you can avoid friendly fire. Your friends get mad at you when you shoot them in co-op. Trust me.

Twisted Metal was never a game designed for those who prefer to sit at home alone and beat the computer. It is an excellent game if you choose to play it that way, but the true fun lies in the multiplayer.

Overall Impression:

Twisted Metal: Black is a fantastic game, worthy of its early predecessors. The stories of the individual characters are detailed enough to keep gamers interested, if the fun of driving around blowing things up wasn't enough. A lot of hard work and loving detail went into creating this game, and it shows in every aspect.

The storyline may strike some as very disturbing, and that could detract from some players' enjoyment. The game is very violent, down to loud screams (gender specific depending on the driver) piercing the air when a vehicle goes down and seeing the flaming person running away from their destroyed vehicle. TMB worked hard to earn its ESRB rating of M, and they mean it. This is not a game for kids or the faint of heart.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Let's face it: women are not the target market for this game. The advertising is dark and disturbingly violent (one ad I saw had a road sign impaled by a jawbone). The marketing for the game is as dark and disturbing as the game itself, which is probably not going to pull in a lot of new female players. Then again, the marketing doesn't fall back on the "put a sexy female in the ads and the game will sell" mindset, so I will give them a mark in that category.