Video Game Review: Sweet Tooth Returns in Angrier, More Intense ‘Twisted Metal’ Reboot

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CHICAGO – Fans have been clamoring for a next-gen “Twisted Metal” game since the birth of the PS3 and their most intense nightmares have come true as the franchise finally gets its long-awaited reboot with a successful 2012 reboot. It’s far from a perfect game but it gets the job done as a mayhem-fueled diversion — a fun multiplayer orgy of gasoline and gunfire. It’s nice to have Sweet Tooth back on the gaming scene.

HollywoodChicago.com Video Game Rating: 3.5/5.0
Video Game Rating: 3.5/5.0

The original creative team behind “Twisted Metal,” David Jaffe and Scott Campbell of Eat Sleep Play, have returned the franchise to its roots. Honestly, I hadn’t played a “TM” game in years but the new version felt instantly familiar with its emphasis on unusual environments, unique weapons, and larger-than-life characters. It might have been tempting to “overly modernize” the franchise given its long time out of the spotlight but there are times where this “Twisted Metal” feels downright nostalgic. It seems like the natural progression in the series or what a new game in the franchise might look like even if the series hadn’t been dormant for so long.

Twisted Metal
Twisted Metal
Photo credit: Sony

How long? It’s been eleven years since “Twisted Metal: Black,” the last original game for the PS2 (which is included as a downloadable game on the Limited Edition of “Twisted Metal” and has held up remarkably well). The first game in the series game SEVENTEEN YSonyRS ago and was followed quickly by three sequels. “Twisted Metal” dominated the ’90s but went relatively silent after “Black” as numerous reports popped up of games-in-development only to disappear. Now, it’s a whole new gaming world as people born after the release of the first “Twisted Metal” game are likely to be the new title’s biggest fans. (Yes, I feel old too.)

Twisted Metal
Twisted Metal
Photo credit: Sony

The plot of “Twisted Metal” returns the franchise to its roots — win Calypso’s Twisted Metal Tournament. In the old days, that would have meant finding your favorite vehicle(s) and unleashing hell on opponents in arena-like combat. While there’s definitely still some of that in the new Tournament, Calypso’s gotten a bit creative this time as some of the levels require a different style of gameplay. In one, you’re not just battling but racing in what sometimes feels like a demented version of “Mario Kart.” As in life, there’s no consolation prize. Wipe out all of your enemies before the finish line or cross it first and trigger explosions along the track. Only one survives. In another, you are on a normal map but with an electronic cage that keeps resetting its location. Stay inside the cage or deplete a timer. When it’s done, you start taking damage.

The variety of gameplay — more than just deathmatch — translates to the multiplayer, which is the real focus of the game. You can play split-screen or with another 15 players online in more than just pure destruction and you don’t just choose a vehicle. You can customize your driver (as a Clown, Doll, Grimm, or Preacher), change your paint job, and even choose weaponry. You can jump right into a game through “Quick Online Action” or customize a death room of your own with rules, location, time, etc.

Of course, a game like “Twisted Metal” is all about the weaponry and the control. When it comes to the former, the developers got creative with each character’s special weapon truly delivering. My favorite is how Junkyard Dog literally launches a beat-up car that he is supposedly towing at his enemy like a catapult or how Sweet Tooth basically turns into a demented clown Transformer. And throughout the game you’ll find new pick-up weapons, unlockable weapons, etc.

Twisted Metal
Twisted Metal
Photo credit: Sony

As for controls, they take some adjustment. At first, I was employing a “just keep moving” strategy that I found just doesn’t work for every situation. Sometimes you need to slow down to take a corner or effectively combat without pushing down the pedal. I’m also not completely sold on the default control configuration as I’m so accustomed to gas and brake being mapped to the trigger buttons not the face ones. It takes some getting used to and the handling — taking corners, aiming weapons — feels like the least-refined portion of the game.

It’s certainly not in the level design. Like never seen before in a driving game, nearly everything is destructible. Want to get to an enemy on the other side of a house? Why drive around it when you can just drive through? You might even find a weapon or a health pick-up. Each level seems filled with secret areas and pick-ups. I feel like I’m just barely scratched the surface of the secrets of the level design here.

Despite some unrefined controls and a relatively-thin single-player campaign, there’s little else to complain about in the world of “Twisted Metal.” The people who made the series so influential in the first place have returned to bring it to a new generation of gamers. This is not someone co-opting a brand name. This is the originators of a legendary game trying to prove to a new era why they should still care about “Twisted Metal”…and succeeding.

“Twisted Metal” was developed by Eat Sleep Play and released by Sony exclusively for the PS3 on February 14th, 2012.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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