Twisted Metal: Black

"And I thought Barney was disturbing"

Let me give you a little history of me and twisted metal. When the first TM came out I thought it was the greatest game in the universe, no other game was like it, and no other game could surpass it. That was until TM:2 came out and all of a sudden it was like I was playing the first TM, just amazed by the entire game. When I heard there was going to be a TM:3 well, I don't need to tell you how excited I was. First day it came out I went and bought it, and that very day I returned it. 989 Studios had butchered a classic, to make it short the game just sucked. Then 989 Studios went at it again and came out with TM:4 it wasn't as bad as TM:3 but it still sucked the ass of a virgin Spanish monkey. But oh baby when I found out that Sony would come back and publish the game with the help of Incognito Entertainment I nearly crapped myself (but really that's a medical condition and I thank you for not laughing) Incognito Entertainment is made up from allot of the people from Singletrac who developed the first 2 TM games.

But any ways let me tell you about the game. Hrmmm well where to start? There are so many great points. The game has you taking control of 1 of 8 characters to choose from. Each of the characters stories starts off in the Blackfield Maximum Security Asylum home to some of the most evil people you wouldn't want to bump into in a dark alley. The basis of each story is the same, revenge. While sitting in their contemplating about how they got in there our hero (not really) from the previous TM games Calypso walks on in and just like the other games offers to let them fight in his little contest and if they win, well anything their heart desires will come true. Who could refuse eh? Some of the stories such as Sweet Tooth's and Billy Rays may be a tad bit um what's the word.... SICK, this game is not for the faint of heart, I remember a little game called Thrill Kill that got banned, well I was able to get a copy of it and didn't think it was too bad, and after playing TMB, Thrill Kill looks like a Spyro the Dragon game on Prozac. The stories are showed and told in great detail, either in a CG or CONCEPT ART style or some times a mixture of the two.

With such detail in the stories one could only expect great detail with the in game graphics. You won't be disappointed my friends, TMB's graphics are very smooth and slick, everything from the environment, to the cars, to the buildings and even to the little soldiers and people running around on the streets. While playing TMB I only came across some slowdown like twice, but when you look at the amount of detail they got, plus how big the levels are, plus all the stuff going on in the background like other cars and etc, you'll wonder why isn't this game running at 2 FPS. Some of the cars are so detailed it's just down right sick, take for an example the Preachers car, Brimstone, all through the game while you're playing as him he has a body hidden in a bloody sac chained to the bed of his car, all the time he is struggling to get out, it is one of the most freakiest things I have ever seen and his special attack is one of his many followers impaled on a huge spike at the front of his car and if he gets close enough he launches them at other vehicles then they grab onto the roof of his enemies car and detonates the dynamite strapped to his chest. As far as the environment details, picture this, you're in your car on a huge barge on it's way back to the Blackfield Asylum, you start off inside, then after you kill some bad dudes, you're allowed to fight a couple more on the outer decks and top of the massive ship, and during all this the sea water comes flooding onto the ship at the front, then after you have killed those enemies you have to wait a bit for the barge to dock, when you get to the asylum you see a huge bridge open up to let you through and then, you guessed it, time for a beach battle, 3 more cars and you're finally done. The thing is, never once in that entire level did I get slowdown.

As I was playing this game I was bewildered at the amount of interactivity you have, in one of the levels there is almost 1000 things to blow up, drive through and open. Planes, cars, people, windows, buildings, street lamps, trees, signs and just about anything you see is at your mercy. But again, not everything is a perfect. To me the biggest problem I had with this game is the controls, now I know I'm going against the grain here but I hate games where they pre-select your controls for you, like give you controls-a, controls-b and etc. LET ME PICK MY OWN DAMN BUTTONS! But there is quite a bit of a selection, but for me it's always like 1 or 2 buttons off of being just right. I know I'm nuts but hey, there's so much I love about this game I gotta pick on even the smallest of problems.

Some parts of the game like the roof top fight or the end boss can be pretty tough even on the easiest level, now I'm not saying it's down right impossible but what I am saying is that you only get 2 lives and when you keep on falling off buildings or into water and you gotta start all over again, well it gets pretty frustrating and I do not remember the comp being hard to freakin kill, not once did I see a computer controlled car kill another comp car so it is basically sure 8 vs. 1. lol again not a huge problem but just one of those little tiny things that gets on your nerves after awhile.

The Pleasant & The Unpleasant:

The Pleasant
+Lots of Eye Candy
+Awesome Cars
+Even Better Characters
+Huge Environments
+Cool Levels
+Lots Interactive Areas
+Sweet and Sadistic Story Lines
+Paint It Black - Rolling Stones as the main theme song, common it can't get better then that

The Unpleasant
-Stories may be a little to much for some of the younger players (anyone under 50)
-Really Difficult On Some Parts
-Control Issues
-Same Old Twisted Metal

Graphics: 8.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Control: 6/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 8/10

In closing Twisted Metal: Black is a hella fun game, I'm glad to see Sony came back to take over from 989 Studios who lets face it ruined TM:3 and TM:4. Some people may get bored cause well it's just basically the same TM you've been playing over the past years but if you a really huge fan of the TM series, buy this game I highly recommend it. But if you played the first 4 and didn't think it was all that great don't expect anything new game play wise that is. Oh and I wanted to mention this too, Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones is the main theme song to the game......3 words, OH MY GOD, TM has always had great music, like rob zombie and some great original songs but the Rolling Stones, comon, that's the coolest! = )

Overall Score: 9.1/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/01, Updated 10/09/01