Game Rant: Twisted Metal

Release Date: February 14, 2012
Platforms: PS3
Genre: Vehicular Combat
Rating: Mature (M)

Ah, Twisted Metal. Just drive around and blow up all your competition before you get blown up. It's a simple formula, but it works. The newest iteration is no exception.

Twisted Metal is good old fashioned quick play fun. Nothing complicated, nothing too story driven, just quick fun. Speaking of Story Mode, there is one. It is broken off into 3 sections of 6 events each with a boss battle being the 6th event. Each section starts with an intro movie, a halfway movie, and an ending movie. The first section follows Sweet Tooth, the second section follows Mr. Grimm, and the last section follows Doll Face. When you select an event, you can choose any vehicle you want from the pool you have. You have a limited selection from the start, but you gain more as you progress which can then be used on all the levels from then on. On most events, you pick 3 vehicles, the 1st pick being the one you start the event with, and the other 2 being alternates. The other 2 vehicles can be swapped out for by driving into a Garage marked as a Green Wrench on the map. When a vehicle is in the garage, it will slowly be repaired so it can potentially be used again. Just remember, if the vehicle you are in control of gets blown up, it counts as a loss, so book it to a garage before you do! Some events however only allow one vehicle to be used, so you have to plan carefully. The events are varried enough to not feel monotonous throughout the story, but the dialogue can be a bit cheesy at times. The boss battles are pretty fun and provide a healthy challenge.

The Multiplayer mode is where Twisted Metal shines. You have the classic 2-4 player split screen play, but on this game, you can take the CARnage online! You can get in the game fast through the "Quick Multiplayer Action" option or you can go in and search for games. You can play in both Ranked and Unranked battles, with Ranked battles being more regulated and professional for XP rewards and unlocks, while Unranked battles being more flexible with the options for more customization. You kick off at Rank 1 and through Ranked battles you gain XP and Rank Up and earn more unlocks to use. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are the standard blow up your opponents more than you get blown up affair. Last Man Standing and Team Last Man Standing give you or your team a set amount of lives and you have to outsurvive your opponents. Hunted marks one person as Hunted, and that person gets points for kills, while others have to kill the Hunted to become the Hunted themselves, while Team Hunted marks one person on each team as the Hunted, and your team has to protect your Hunted while destroying the opposing team's Hunted.

The new addition to the multiplayer mode is Nuke, a new Team Objective Based mode. The game is divided into innings. One team starts off Defending while the other starts off Attacking, which the teams switching roles after time expires or it the Attacking team is successful. The objective in Nuke mode is for the Attacking team to capture the Defending team's leader and bring the leader to the Sacrifice Launcher. The leader must then be kept inside the circle for sacrifice until the meter is full. Once it is filled, the leader is sacrificed and the Nuke is launched. The Nuke must then be launched into the giant statue walking around the stage. If the Attacking team is successful in hitting the statue with a Nuke, they get a point. The Defending team has to try and prevent the Nuke from hitting the statue until time expires for them to receive a point. Teams continue to switch off between Attacking and Defending until the score limit is achieved. Nuke mode is a fun addition to formula, relying on more teamwork than the other modes. Games can last for quite a while too.

The online experience is good, but there are still bugs. Sometimes you may not be able to get into the game right away or not at all, and sometimes get disconnected from the servers all together. Once you get into a game though, it is smooth and fluent throughout the whole game. Hopefully the other issues will be fixed in time, with the game being recently released and all.

And let's not forget the selection of vehicles available to slaughter the competition with. Each vehicle has 3 stats: Armor dictates how much damage it can take, Speed is the maximum speed it can achieve, and Special Weapons shows how effective they can be as well as listing what they are. Each vehicle has a Primary Special and an Alt Special which can be switched between. The Specials also charge so they can be used more, Bing able to have up to 3 uses stocked. All the Special Weapons are balances and can all be used effectively. The vehicles are all pretty square as well, anybody can win with any vehicle. Of course, there are the standard arsenal of weapons out in the field to use as well as a sidearm which you can customize.

Bottom Line: Twisted Metal is excellent for the Multiplayer, but if you are only interested in the Single Player, a Rental would be a better choice. If you like Multiplayer Action, it's a Buy.