Twisted Metal - A Look Back, Pt. 2

Welcome back. Last time, we took a look at the four 90's Twisted Metal games which were a big part of my childhood. Now, we look beyond the turn of the century, and the four additional games that came to be part of the series (Well, five if you count a re-release).

Twisted Metal Black - 2001

Twisted Metal Black

Following the somewhat rebound performance by Twisted Metal 4, the series decided to take a break for two years, while two brand new games materialized. Following the turn of the century, the PlayStation had faded away thanks to the release of the then-cutting edge PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 had far outsold company expectations, and just like its predecessor, a brand new Twisted Metal game was to be a launch title for it. What came to be, was Twisted Metal Black. Black took what was made popular by the first four games and slapped it in the face with an insane amount of brood and darkness to the story. Gone was the campy colors, gone was the witty humor, gone were the comedic overtones. Now, Twisted Metal was a brooding story about revenge, murder, and of course, violence. Even the game menus were completely dark, and it made the game really favorable amongst gamers. In fact, several gamers even today claim Black to be their favorite entry in the series. This edition shot life back in the series, with dark takes on popular vehicles and maps. Gamers even today celebrate this game, labeling it as one of the greatest launch titles of the PlayStation 2...However, a mere six months later, another Twisted Metal would take its final shot on the original PlayStation...

Twisted Metal: Small Brawl - 2001

Twisted Metal: Small Brawl

For reasons no one can clearly understand, someone had a staff developer meeting said "You know what'd be awesome? A Twisted Metal universe set on a school playground involving children!" While the premise itself sounded silly and ridiculous, the game itself took off. Of course, the highly-popular Twisted Metal Black was just released on the PS2, so the thought of yet another game on the same console just six months later would already make the series seem stale. Developers decided to release the game on the original PS1, and hopefully gamers would "dust off" their old consoles and show it one last bit of love. Unfortunately, Twisted Metal: Small Brawl did almost nothing to rejuvenate interest in the dying console. The graphics were glitchy as hell, the media would seize the gameplay, and the controls were mortified. Twisted Metal: Small Brawl was an interesting idea, making Calypso just a school bully and the drivers his victims, but still, nothing is ever good when the game is this big of a mess...

For a few years, the series remained dormant. Twisted Metal Black was more than enough to keep gamers entertained for the years in between. Suddenly, the staff developers under David Jaffe began work on another innovative game.  They decided that now, Twisted Metal was going to make its jump to the little screen, for "portable mayhem"...

Twisted Metal: Head On - 2006 & Extra Twisted Edition - 2008

Twisted Metal: Head-On

Even by now, gamers were hungry for more madness. Twisted Metal: Head On was released was released for the PlayStation Portable, which was popular at the time. Gamers found it to have the same touch of madness that Twisted Metal Black delivered on the PS2. The PSP port of Twisted Metal: Head On was popular among gamers, but with the rising popularity of online gameplay, the game's popularity diminished and was forgotten. Classic gamers still played the game religiously, and love it to this day. However, those who didn't favor the "portable" aspect of the game, were quickly brought back with Twisted Metal Head On: Extra Twisted Edition released for the PS2 in 2008. Of course, this was after the PS3 had already been released, so now the novelty of the PS2 was wearing off, and the Extra Twisted Edition fared well at first, but soon sales plummeted and the game was rendered into obscurity.

With seven games under the series' belt, it became the longest running PlayStation exclusive title in the country, spanning (at the time) thirteen years and seven games on three different consoles. However, one console had yet to become "twisted" enough for the mayhem. That was the PS3, and still, gamers were anxiously awaiting the resurrection of the classic series. The PS3 Twisted Metal game suffered countless delays, and was thought to be lost. Then, On Valentine's Day 2012, the classic car-combat game got its newest jolt of life!

Twisted Metal - 2012

Twisted Metal (2012)

Simply titled "Twisted Metal", but it no way a remake, the game rebooted the series and represented gamers with the same linear-style mayhem made popular in 1995. The game resurrects characters "Sweet Tooth", "Roadkill", "Darkside", "Axel", "Warthog" and "Mr. Grimm" (now called "Reaper"). But it also introduced a plethora of new characters, including "Meat Wagon", "Vermin", "Road Boat", "Death Warrant" and the powerful and resistant "Juggernaut". Plus, for the first time in the series' history, an aerial vehicle is now playable, a news helicopter-turned death machine known as "Talon". This also happens to be the first game in the series I bought brand-new, while the others I played elsewhere. I love this game and I can't stop playing it. The game maps included a rock stadium, a treacherous mountain road terrain, a dilapidated city, and a ravaged harbor setting. The mayhem never stops at the split-screen, as this is also the first game to include online gaming functionality. The online aspect makes it more fun to kick someone's worthless ass in a country on the other side of the world. All in all, Twisted Metal Black might still be considered the best, but this one is far superior to Black in every way. I enjoy this one more than any other ones. It's the greatest...

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my little "video game retrospective". I certainly had fun doing it, and I plan to do some movie-related stuff down the road, for as all of you who know me know that I'm quite the film buff. So, keep coming back for more!!