Twisted Metal: Black

"I see a line of cars and they're all painted black..."

You and I both know why you're reading this, so I'll keep this intro short. Twisted Metal:
Black is the best game for the PlayStation 2, as of July 2001. There, I said it. It may only
be my opinion, but I've got plenty to back it up. Read on, and find out what exactly
makes this game so great. If you feel like it, that is. I'm not forcing you to...

Story: 9

In a word: Demented. In a different word, disturbing. Evil. Psychotic.
Violence. Mayhem. Murder. Destruction. Blood. Suicide. Insanity. Revenge. Any of
these could be used to effectively describe the theme of Twisted Metal: Black, but the
word black does it well enough, I suppose. This man named Calypso breaks into the
Blackfield Insane Asylum, to recruit contestants for his little game. His game? The
participants climb into their vehicles, which are armed with turbo boosters and dozens of
weapons, and try to kill the other drivers. But there is no special arena designed for his
game, it takes place out in public, among city streets, in the mountains, on top of
buildings, and even at a drive-in movie theater, and pedestrians are everywhere. Wouldn't
it be nice to be walking along, minding your own business, when a bloodthirsty asylum
escapee driving an ice cream truck start firing missiles at you? Each character has his or
her own disturbing, sickening story, that unfolds with each level completed, and most of
the endings are very satisfying. Each ending is very well done, and yes, they are all
demented. Demented, demented, demented, that is the perfect word for describing the
story. And I love it. There are a few minor plot holes and mistakes, but they get no
worse than miscounting how many people one of the characters has killed. Nothing
seriously wrong, but they could have easily been fixed.

Gameplay: 9.5

As stated above, you choose a driver and fight. That's what the gameplay is comprised of,
and boy does it go FAST! You must keep moving at all times if you wish to survive,
especially on the higher difficulties. Just make sure you don't get too carried away, or you
might plunge to your death 100 stories below. There are a multitude of power-ups
scattered about each level(all of which have excellent designs), and you must stock up on
any of the variety of weapons you may find to help destroy your enemies. The controls
have a slight learning curve, and may even seem somewhat flawed at first(unless you are
a veteran of Twisted Metal games), but once you get the hang of it, the controls are
perfect. And the thing is, there is always room for improvement. No matter
how good you think you are at this game, you can always get much better. Does it all
sound too easy for you? Well, beating the game on HARD mode is one of the greatest
challenges I have ever faced in a video game. Hell, even NORMAL was a major
struggle. I suggest you begin on EASY, until you get the controls and all the tricks down,
because even that can be pretty hard your first time playing. But you're not afraid of a
good challenge, are you? Besides the difficulty, it delivers lasting appeal in many other
ways as well. There are three single player modes to go along with the three difficulty
levels, and each should keep you busy for a looooong time. And don't forget the four
hidden characters, find them if you can. There are even some multiplayer levels waiting
for you to unlock. Speaking of multiplayer, the two-player games are among the best on
the system so far, although I have yet to try the 4-player mode. Twisted Metal: Black has
practically infinite replay value. Plus, the silky smooth framerate greatly enhances the
overall experience, as you'll find out later.

Graphics: 9

Very impressive. The horizon stretches as far as the eye can see. While the background
textures may look a bit grainy when you study them up close, they look great when you
go zooming by, which is all you'll be doing. The animations are awesome(watch Sweet
Tooth when you start his special move). The cars are incredibly detailed. The cut-scenes
have this very dark, disturbing feel to them, and of course they look great. The particle
effects are practically flawless. Just watch the trail your weapons leave behind as you fire
them, the explosions they make when they meet their target, the smoke that arises, and the
ashes that are left behind afterwards. Very nice. And the framerate. Ohhhhhhhhhh
mama, the framerate. I love you Incog, for giving me such a perfect, unwavering
framerate. I hear it's 60 fps in single player, and I have yet to see a reason to doubt that.
It's really incredible, especially considering all that is going on at any given moment in
the game. You, your enemies, missiles and machine gun fire everywhere, people
walking, cars going by, helicopters delivering power-ups, environmental effects, and the
fluid animations that go with each. This is the most impressive framerate performance I
have ever seen in a game, period.

Sound: 9.5

Twisted Metal: Black boasts one of the greatest rock 'n roll songs ever written, ''Paint It
Black'' by the Rolling Stones. This was one of my favorite songs in the world prior to
playing this game. I like to think that the game was inspired by the dark, moving lyrics of
the song. Oh yeah, the rest of the music is good too. It all fits in with their respective
levels very nicely. I really like the moody yet upbeat sounds of Minion's arena, and the
atmospheric tunes of the Snowy Roads. Overall, a very above average soundtrack. The
voice acting is very well done, they sound exactly like you'd expect people as weird as
this to sound. The vehicles all sound pretty realistic, the explosions are great, weapons
can sound very intimidating when launched, people scream when you shoot them or run
them over, and pretty much everything else you can think of, is handled quite well. You'll
find no problems with the sound effects in Twisted Metal: Black, no matter how hard you
look.

Rent/Buy:

It's never wise to buy a game without playing it first, so I advise you to rent. You may be
one of unlucky ones who get sick when a game moves too fast, and this is as fast as they
come. You may think the story is much too grotesque, and just can't handle how messed
up it all is. Or you may just not like the car-combat aspect of it, so rent first, just to make
sure you'll enjoy it. But don't even think about giving it a rental if you are afraid of
clowns, because you'll have nightmares for the rest of your life after witnessing
Sweet Tooth's story! But if you enjoyed any of the past Twisted Metal games, this is a
must have. It is, hands down, the best game in the series. Plus, you have to hone your
skills before the ONLINE version comes out!

In summary, Twisted Metal: Black is fast and furious car combat, with the most
incredible framerate in existence, a very creepy and demented story behind each
character, and one of the most classic rock songs of all time. In other words, the highest
quality game on the PS2 so far, and is definitely worth a play from everybody.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/01, Updated 06/28/01