Twisted Metal Impressions

If you have stumbled onto the PSN since yesterday you may have noticed a giant flaming clown face staring at you. Yes, this is the demo for the widely anticipated new Twisted Metal developed by the infamously outspoken David Jaffe and his team at Eat Sleep Play, and after putting in around 2 hours of solid gameplay, here are my overall impressions of the demo:


The demo offers 4 different modes, a training mode for single player and a challenge mode which is simply a 'last man standing' match, with 10 other AI opponents. Sadly, there are only 2 maps on offer, but as this is a demo, this is wholly understandable. The training mode does a very good job at introducing you to the controls and how the game runs, but the challenge mode seems to be, well, too much of a challenge. Supposing a cautious gamer is going to try their hand at the challenge mode before the online, its a little unforgiving and a bit too difficult. There is a choice of two modes if you choose to play online, a classic deathmatch and a new game mode named Nuke which was shown at E3 2010. Out of both modes Nuke seems to be much more team orientated and structured whilst, although it is still incredibly fun, the standard deathmatch is incredibly hectic and chaotic.

So the game modes for the demo are overall solid, offering 3 completely different styles of play and a very comprehensive tutorial, which comes as a surprise in these modern times. In terms of a look (I understand this is a demo, but its pretty close to the final thing), the game looks great. The animations are incredibly smooth which is a god-send when the screen is filled with colourful rockets and projectiles The car models seem to be very detailed and wonderfully designed. There also seems to be an overall darker tone to Twisted Metal, much like Black, which was almost too dark. Its not exactly cel shaded, but the style is certainly very bold with a very dark colour palette. Whilst the look is certainly atmospheric, some longer lines of sights look slightly dull and brown, however, this may just be a personal preference.

The demo offers a range of vehicles, including a motorbike and even a new helicopter.

The actual gameplay is very fun and mental, which suits the game perfectly. Even after a short tutorial, you will be able to send huge flying homing missiles or even be able to utilise the amazing special attacks to great extent. There are many power ups spread around the map but a seemingly dire lack of health packs which is a mild irritant. The one main niggle with the entire Twisted Metal demo though are the controls. Do forgive me, but I have never played a TM game before so I may be completely new to the franchise's control scheme, but as a newcomer the control lay out is incredibly counter intuitive and unnatural. The use of Square for accelerate and X for sharp turn seems to be a very strange choice as most games would have the controls the other way round. Likewise, the use of the L2 and R2 buttons for firing is awkward as L1 and R1 are change weapons, resulting in a constant scramble of weapon choice and then shooting. Apart from the counter intuitive control scheme, the responses are very sharp (which is needed!) and seem to incorporate all moves nicely. 

So there we are. I understand that it is merely a demo but I think many of you will agree that it is pretty close to the final thing. I love the huge array of weapons, the awesome style and the smooth gameplay, so chuck in the amazingly deranged characters and a full rooster of modes, and Twisted Metal is a must buy release for me. Twisted Metal is bound to be a hit in the US, but over in Europe? Im not so sure. Us Europeans may find it a bit to explosive and manic, but Eat Sleep and Play, you have gained yourself one extra customer in the form of yours truly.