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Twisted Metal
Plenty of people look back at the Twisted Metal series as a bit of a cult classic. Despite how it's viewed by many gamers, I consider it to be one of my favorite games of all time. Something about its gleeful silliness, comic violence, and wicked sense of humor grabbed my full attention as a kid, and I've been wanting a full-scale new version since 2001's Twisted Metal: Black. David Jaffe, Scott Campbell, and Eat Sleep Play have done just that with the new Twisted Metal, and I got a chance to check it out today at E3.
The first level I saw was a boss fight against Iron Maiden, a gigantic robotic doll with a rotating head and tons of missiles. She flies around the level launching projectiles at you, while her lackeys drive around in cars and try to take your vehicle out. These lackeys can actually help you out however, as destroying their vehicles allows you to run over the driver for a quick health bonus.
There are several phases to the boss fight, and one involves launching a giant missile at the monster. After she takes enough damage and starts fleeing, a red circle appears around the Iron Maiden that you have to stay within. Keep up with her and launch a steady stream of missiles, and she'll eventually crash through a bridge for the final section of the battle. Boss fights such as these appear three times during the campaign, and they should be larger ordeals than the Minion fights from the series' past.
After watching the boss fight, the controller was handed over to me for challenge mode. Like in the past, this plops you down in an area of your choosing with the car and enemies of your choosing, and a free-for-all breaks out. The first thing I noticed is that veterans of the series will immediately pick up on the controls. Other than a switch of the L2 and R2 functions, controlling the various vehicles feels as smooth and natural as ever.
All of the series' trademark weapons are back, but some are slightly altered. The freeze attack is now an EMP of sorts, the remote bomb can now be shot instead of placed, and the ricochet bomb is now a remote control car. Some weapons can be charged, such as the swarm missiles and homing power missiles. The sniper and shotgun weapons allow a gunner to lean out of your passenger window and fire at the enemy while you drive.
Eat Sleep Play has created a new Twisted Metal that will feel right at home for longtime fans, while still delivering new thrills to keep it relevant in 2011. Online multiplayer for this series has never been featured in a proper manner on consoles, so this should be great for hours upon hours of PSN fun. Keep an eye out for it when it releases this October.
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