We've talked a ton about first series' first games over the past few weeks, but now it's time to shift gears a little bit. It's time to talk about reboots.
I really hope it came through just how great I think Twisted Metal 2 is. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way, reviews and sales numbers back my conclusion that it's absolutely a game worth playing. The first game put the series on the map, but the second took it to the top of the world. TM had become one of Sony's flagship franchises and it looked like it was going to become a huge cash cow, turning out game after game like a well oiled machine. That was, of course, until the machine broke down. But it wasn't an explosive ice cream cone or a barrage of patriot missiles that did it in. No, it was something much less interesting. A contract dispute between developer SingleTrac and Sony caused the gaming giant to shift development duties to one of their in-house teams, 989 Studios. But that was okay, right? They were known mostly for sports titles, but most of those sports games were of good quality and a demolition derby featuring the grim reaper and a deranged clown is kind of a sport...right? Besides, Sony owned the TM license, so they wouldn't even have to get creative with using the Twisted Metal name and characters, so we were going to be okay? Right? Right? Wrong. Sony may have owned the license, but SingleTrac owned TM's game engine. That means that 989 Studios had to build the next Twisted Metal from the ground up...and they did a really, really bad job of it. Twisted Metal 3 and 4 are, to be kind, not great. I may review them at some point so I won't go into details, but suffice to say they fell a long way from the high of TM2.
But fortunately, we aren't here to talk about TM3 or TM4. Because in 1999, most of SingleTrac's staff left the company to start a new development studio, Incognito entertainment. With them, they brought the rights to that coveted TM engine that helped make the first two games what they were. And they immediately got to work on a brand new Twisted Metal. They were going to do away with the silly, goofy atmosphere that permeated parts 3 and 4, going back to the more demented and disturbing aspects of part 2. Then, they were going to push past that and park themselves firmly in the range of Silent Hill levels of messed up. The result of all this was the series' first reboot, Twisted Metal: Black. It was very, very well received at the time, as it's gameplay took the series back to its roots, at least at a surface level. It was edgy, grimy, violent and unnerving, a 180 turn from where the series, and the vehicular combat genre as a whole, had been headed the previous few years. Upon closer inspection, TMB has quite a few flaws, but it was still a welcome return to form and it's very easy to understand the effusive praise the game received when you play it after playing a few minutes of TM3 or 4.
Story was a much bigger focus this time around, with each of the 15 characters receiving intro, middle, and ending cinematics, as well as story text on each loading screen. Calypso returns as the villain, though he is largely mute here and he looks far more realistic and grungy. The same can be said of all the characters, who are far darker and more sinister than they were in any of the previous games. Sweetooth's driver Needles Kane is still a deranged clown, but he's no longer the quirky, bizarre kind of deranged he was in the other TMs. Now, he's a serial killer, preying on the citizens of Midtown and its suburbs. Having Mr. Grimm as the grim reaper seeking the end of life on earth was disturbing in a fantastical, action movie kind of way. But having Mr. Grimm as a Vietnam veteran, scarred by the war and the (extremely) brutal things he had to do to survive is much more disturbing in a way that feels very, very real. Most of the characters are inmates at Blackfield Assylum, suffering from some sort of severe illness. Their profiles take the form of medical notes from the Blackfield staff, including danger level and treatment (for Sweet Tooth, it simply says 'none. Lost cause.') which adds to the atmosphere. The levels are similarly grungy, with the decrepit, depressing areas around Midtown serving as intentionally poorly lit battlegrounds. Everything here is on theme and on point, moreso even than in TM2.
My issue here is they went a little bit too far with the whole "disturbing atmosphere" thing. I guess I would have rather had them take it too far than not go far enough and have it come off as toothless. But TMB is just ridiculous. It wasn't enough to just have serial killers and murderers and revenge fantasies. Every character is a cannibal or is cutting words into their arms or being horribly disfigured in some completely out there way that it just feels like it's forced. It doesn't feel organic, it feel like the folks at Incognito just sat in a room for a few hours and had a brainstorming session about the most messed up stuff they could think of. Eating people? Got it. Unnecessary Surgery? Sure. Killing children? Why not? A lot of this stuff seemed like it was there sheerly for shock value rather than for actual character development. Sometimes it actually does make the characters more compelling, Grimm specifically comes to mind, but a lot of it is filler and doesn't even make sense logically in what's supposed to be a more gritty, realistic world. I can just imagine the conversations going something like this:
Incognito Employee 1: "Alright, so lets lock in the child murdering preacher and the mutated inbred guy. Any other ideas?"
IE 2: "How about, like, a dude that doesn't have a face. Like, he has his eyes and mouth sewn shut permanently or something."
IE 3: "Yeah, that's messed up! Like from a botched surgery or something? Wait, maybe they did it to him on purpose. Like he owed the surgeon money or something. Maybe he was a boxer or something and the doctor lost money on his fight!"
IE 1: "And we can make him from Staten Island! I'm loving this guys, let's put him in there too! Anyone have any concerns?"
IE 4: "uhhhh, yeah. I guess that's messed up, but if he doesn't have any eyes, how does he drive?"
Crickets: "(chirping)"
IE 1: "Alright, so what do we name the guy?"
It may have felt a little forced, but it was still a huge step up from the previous two games. The same can be said of the gameplay, which has gone back to the series' roots. Each character is once again rated on four attributes and this may be the most balanced TM has been yet. Every single character is viable and they all have strategies they can employ to make them worth using. Specter, Mr. Grimm, Axel, Shadow and Roadkill are back, relatively unchanged from TM 2. Sweet Tooth, Outlaw, and Warthog return, but have been drastically altered from their previous selves, while Yellowjacket and Darkside are back after spending the last few games on the sidelines. New characters include Junkyard Dog, a tow truck, Brimstone, a converted El Camino with stained glass windows, Crazy 8, an old timey rally bug, and Manslaughter, a dump truck. The vehicles are all well designed and, with the exception of Axel, are more realistic than those in the previous games. Controls are the same as TM2 and they are even tighter here, with a noticeable difference in characters based on their attributes. You have a much bigger variety of weapons this time around, with most of the weapons returning from TM2 meshing well with the new additions. The addition of weapons like the satellite missiles, zoomies, gas can and environmental attacks really add a lot to the gameplay and it really makes you feel like there are a variety of options to attack your enemies.
The specials are also very diverse, which is a big improvement over the previous games. Some are just "fire and forget," but most of them actually involve some level of interaction that wasn't present, even in the excellent TM2. The stages are also bigger and better, with tons of destructible buildings and environments. There's nothing here quite as memorable as blowing up the Eifel Tower or Statue of Liberty, but there are a lot more things to destroy and a lot more of them are actually meaningful in-game. There also seem to be a lot more power ups laying around, which allows for more aggressive gameplay. The biggest thing here though are the secrets, TMB has far more than any of the previous games. Crashing into buildings or going off seemingly random ramps will give you access to items, powerups, unique areas and hidden characters (Yellowjacket, Warthog, Axel and Manslaughter are all hidden at the start). There are also a lot more arena hazards, which can be frustrating at times, but is definitely more positive than negative. These hazards are generally pretty creative and while most of them will one hit kill you, they are also obvious and not cheap. Health restoration combines the pickup system of TM2 with the platforms of TM2, which is kind of nice. The hit detection is way better here, so it's much easier to deal with the platforms and they are placed in far more logical locations. That's good, as you will almost always be facing off against most of the enemy roster.
But now we have to talk about the most polarizing aspect of Twisted Metal: Black...the difficulty. It's pretty common knowledge that TM:B is a challenging game. But I think it's understated just how difficult. When people talk about the hardest games of all time, people never bring up TMB in the conversation and honestly, they should. This game is absolutely brutal, The controls are spot on and the hit detection is fair, so it does take away some of the frustration factor. However, the A.I. is absolutely brutal. They will get to your flank and your rear with relative ease and while it's relatively easy to get away, it's impossible to do so without taking a little damage. That would have been okay in one of the previous games, but TMB is a different animal because 1)There are a lot more enemies on each map and 2)the levels are much larger and its harder to get to health powerups in time. Add in that its hard to deal too much damage to enemies before they speed away, and that there are a tons of traps and environmental hazards, and that most specials do tons of damage, and a million other factors you understand why the game is so hard. Oh, and the bosses are absolutely insane. Minion is back as the mid-boss and he isn't too bad, but the final boss? Oh goodness is it a pain. Warhawk, the plane from SingleTrac's early PS1 title of the same name, is brutal and honestly I can't beat it. I know I've done it before, but its been a while. I don't necessarily have an issue with difficult bosses or difficult games, but TMB's challenge level is just oppressive.
Really, that's the key word here, oppressive. Playing TMB is a challenge, the atmosphere is dark and heavy, the story is gut lurching and disturbing and the game itself is incredibly difficult. A lot of people consider TMB a return to form for the series and, trust me, it is. It's well designed with balanced, interesting characters and well crafted lore. But this isn't a game you where you can kick back and mess around for a few hours like TM1 or 2. You have to be on your game if you want to make it past the first few levels and ready for anything, both in terms of gameplay and story. Still, TMB is a quality title, the graphics and sound are top notch for the era and the same themes are well presented throughout. There's even a somewhat-cannon explanation for why the game is so much dingier than the rest of the series (not going to get into it but basically, TMB isn't real and its events take place inside Needles Kane's head). Overall, TMB is too unnecessarily difficult and has an aesthetic that, while great in a lot of ways, is too much a product of its time. But it's still a great game that was a vast improvement over TM3 and 4. It managed to successfully reboot a series that was on life support and went a long way in extending the life of the vehicular combat genre.
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