Twisted Metal is a storied franchise going back to the original Playstation. The formula for success was simple – “create compelling game play and stories that would allow the user to identify with the character.” The new installment of the series drifts far away from this concept choosing to focus on three of the main characters from the series; Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm, and Dollface. If your main purpose for buying this game is to see the twisted ending for each character in the game, I can save you the trouble and tell you not to waste your cash. Rent it and beat it in a weekend.
The new twist in twisted metal is that you can choose any of the cars to play as while you are moving through your single player adventure. This adds an element of game play that is not seen in previous installments. However, since there are no other characters that you play through, the cars themselves become the personalities rather than the driver. All of the cars you have come to know and love are there though.
Player each progress through 6 different stages featuring different levels of difficulty and game mode types. The ending being a large boss battle. The large boss battles are really where things shine and become creative. No spoilers here so you just have to play the game, but the boss battles are well worth it.
The three prong approach to the story portion starts off well with Sweet Tooth as the main character and the story is compelling. However, things fall flat after this. Mr. Grimms story was an older story reused from Twisted Metal: Black with the same outcome and the Dollface story is contrived that the player can tell that single player was an after thought in the creation of this game.
The single player game overall takes around 2 – 4 hours to complete and can only be summed up with the word “disappointed.” As a fan of the series I felt the developer put too much emphasis on the multi-player game and not enough on what Gamer’s actually purchase this series for.
The controls for the single player game are hard to get use to right out of the gate. Using the training area will help the player get comfortable with the controls. Once the player has the controls down head out into the arena and start your adventure.
The game`s creators once again did not spend too much time in the single player mode as evidence by the enemy AI. Pretty much the player can expect to spend most of their time fighting all of the enemies instead of the enemies fighting an equal amount among themselves. The enemies despite being in a contest to try and destroy the other cars in the group will spend all their energy on the players car.
The second glaring issue in the single player is the special non-equipped weapons such as the vehicle freeze which is just a reusable special all cars get. When the enemy AI is focused on one goal, kill the player, you can expect this to be used over and over and over again.
The enemies are too dumb too pick up health and even when they pick it up it does not effect them. The weapons and health are pretty much there for the players benefit. Only in the multi-player universe will see another car racing for a weapons.
Over all this is one of the most disappointing installments in the franchise. I cannot stress enough to rent this game first and buy second. Over all this game ranks a 10 out of 25 for simply the multi-player portion which I did not cover. Buy or rent the game and have fun with your friends if you are looking for a car combat appetizer, but just know that there is not a whole meal here.