Twisted Metal 2 World Tour

[Athina Dollison]

Twisted Metal 2 (also known as Twisted Metal: World Tour and Twisted Metal EX in Japan) is the second game in the Twisted Metal series, and was released in 1996 for both the Sony PlayStation and the PC. It is set one year after the first tournament. It has expanded the area of play found in the games, incorporating areas around the world as death courses.

Calypso: All the city awashed in flames, nothing left to destroy. I face a dilemma: where will this year's Twisted Metal contest take place? Fourteen of the world's best drivers have already been chosen, ready to battle to the death in the hopes of becoming the victor, and to claim whatever prize their brave hearts desire. But where will the contest be held? Ah. The world will be my battleground. Paris, Hong Kong, even Antarctica! There will be no safe zones this year, no places to hide. In the next twenty-four hours, the entire world will know my name. They will see my beautiful work of art, first hand. No one will be safe. I promise you that. Good luck driver, and welcome to Twisted Metal.

TM2 has a total of fourteen contestants in the game, two more than the original 12. Five of them are new characters that are playable from the start, seven are returning vehicles from the previous title, and two are unlockable.

The Twisted Metal series first arrived a few months after the PlayStation's US debut. It was in the forefront of games that really showed off the difference between 32-Bit CD-based systems and the 16-Bit cart platforms that came before. While driving and shooting games had previously existed, Twisted Metal was responsible in part for defining the car-combat genre by putting over-the-top characters into vehicles with arsenals of weapons and special moves and letting them battle it out until only one remained. The second game in the line, Twisted Metal II: World Tour, was a longer, improved version of the original, and it is generally thought of as one of the best games ever released for the PlayStation. But by the time the third title came along, the series' developer, SingleTrac Studios, had been sold to GT Interactive, and publisher 989 Studios opted to bring the line in-house. While the game had new weapons, contestants, and multiplayer options, its levels lacked the originality of the earlier titles, and its new physics engine was more of a frustration than an improvement. Though it sold very well, Twisted Metal III was a huge disappointment, making the question of how Twisted Metal 4 has turned out all the more important for its fans. Rest assured; it's much, much better than its predecessor.

To begin with, the level design in Twisted Metal 4 is a big improvement over Twisted Metal III's. There are more hidden areas than in the previous games, and you'll likely play a level more than a dozen times before finding everything. Standout levels include Amazonia 3000 BC, which has quite a few different tiers to sneak off to, and The Oil Rig, which has lots of satisfying places to set traps. Each stage also has a secret weapon that you can use on your enemies until someone comes and knocks you off the weapon's controls. For instance, in the first level you use a large magnet, which sucks your opponents high up into the sky, preparing them for a big drop. The levels aren't quite as epic as those in Twisted Metal II: World Tour, but they get the job done well. The only one that's kind of dull is the first - a construction yard with a lot of topographically flat spaces.

The control and physics are also better than in TMIII, but they remain a little too touchy and unforgiving. It's still a little too easy to flip over, or miss a ramp, or go skidding off and get momentarily stuck on a ledge, but it doesn't happen nearly as often as in the previous game. Though prettier than those in TMIII, the graphics in TM4 aren't nearly as sharp as the graphics in its current main competitor - Activision's Vigilante 8: Second Offense - and while the game music fits well enough, it doesn't really draw you in. Each level has its own extended, looped version of songs by bands like Cypress Hill, Cirrus, and Skold; the best among them being remixes of the Rob Zombie tracks that appeared in Twisted Metal III.Several new weapons in the series will become quick favorites, such as the M.I.R.V., the freeze remote (a remote bomb that freezes everyone in the area), and the proximity mines (which work well when you leave them in teleport areas or drop them as you're being chased). Other welcome additions to the line are the new tournament contestants, which include the exterminator truck-driving Goggle Eyes and Rob Zombie, whose Dragula possesses a special weapon that grabs any vehicle in the area and holds it for a moment, while he shoots at it until it explodes. The new create-a-car option offers you three choices for size, style, and paint; four choices of special weapons; spoilers; and more than a dozen taunts. While this is a decent start and better than nothing, doubling the numbers would have really given you the ability to customize a ride just the way you like it. As it stands, you'll likely just use one of the vehicles already provided for you.

Another change is that instead of just having a mid-boss and an end boss, Twisted Metal 4 features bosses at the end of every level who are made up of one or two "super" versions of missing contestants (such as Axel and Thumper). It may sound like a good idea, but it ultimately ends up taking away from the feeling of dread you used to feel when a boss emerged in the past. (Remember when the words "Prepare for Minion" appeared in Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal II: World Tour?) At least that's the case for all the sub-bosses. When Sweet Tooth finally comes out in the end, you'll run like hell.

The two-player multiplayer modes - co-op and deathmatch - still let you configure the split screen by horizontal or vertical cut as well as variations on a four-way split where the other two boxes are filled with radar, speedometer, and weapons info. (The four-way split modes are the best, since you view the world through a smaller version of the full screen.) The problem is that the frame rate in the multiplayer modes isn't nearly as fast as in the single-player levels. If you play as one of the larger, slower vehicles, you'll end up using the turbo quite a bit out of frustration. (Luckily, the framerate's not noticeably lower in four-player thanit is in two-player.) Even with this working against it, the multiplayer mode offers tons of replay value, whether in a deathmatch or a co-op tournament with a friend. And adding to the single-player side is the option to use a CPU ally to help you in the fight. While all these options were also present in Twisted Metal III, they're better realized here because TM4 is a game you'd actually want to play.

In the end, Twisted Metal 4 is as huge a leap ahead of Twisted Metal III as the second was to the original. While the series hasn't quite reclaimed its former glory, it at least seems to be on the right track.

Twisted Metal 2 features destructive car combat, playable either as a complete tournament or a single match The action takes place in eight different locations around the world, on differing surfaces, many featuring destructible buildings and landmarks.

Combat takes place between a wide array of vehicles ranging from a man strapped between two wheels to an ice cream truck. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, using an eclectic arrangement of weaponry include bombs and missiles, and resulting in its own end sequence, complete with an ironic line in humour.

The Good

One of the key truths in any entertainment industry is that violence sells. Look at the WWF, the prime-time cop shows, the big-budget action flicks. While movies like Citizen Kane and games like Grim Fandango may help sell us on the artistry of their nature, the hard truth is people want to see things killed and stuff blown up. Enter Twisted Metal 2.

The game itself is rather simple. You are competing in a worldwide car combat game staged by the great Calypso, who is apparently ruler of the world or something. Pick one of several quirky vehicles, ranging from a flamethrowing Chevette to a spinning F1 to some poor sap strapped between two monster wheels. You then play through a series of environments that represent worldwide locations and run'n'gun, picking up weapons and dishing out punishment, trying to be the last motor running.

Despite its flaws, the game comes through on the single most important issue with any game: it's FUN. The gameplay is very well designed, with each car having it's own "special" move, and a tight, yet totally unrealistic physics model that allows you to turn on a dime and go flying 100 feet in the air, and then coming down with nary a scratch. The weapons are your standard fare: dumbfire and homing missiles, ricochet bombs, mines, and napalm, to name a few. Every car has a life gauge that can be replenished by (rare) health pickups. The whole game plays like a wonderfully deranged blend of Mario Kart and Quake.

The environments are also very nice. The pick of the litter is obviously the Paris level, which features a destructible Eiffel Tower in addition to several priceless works of art in the Louvre, but also of note is the Antarctica level, which collapses piece by piece until one small glacier island is left, and the absolutely HUGE Hong Kong level, which contains a subway (complete with oncoming train), and one of the biggest, most bad-ass bosses in any combat game.

The multiplayer modes are good too. While the PSXs low-resolution limits the field of view, the game doesn't take a noticeable performance hit, and there is a very nifty co-operative mode where two people can play through the game against a bunch of other computer players as a team.

Also of note is the quality sound work in this game. The explosions are loud, the missiles are crisp, and the music is kick-ass. The L.A. level features a terrific hard-rock anthem, the Antarctica level has a sweeping orchestral score, and the Paris level has (what else?) an electric guitar rendition of Frere Jacques.

The Bad

I did say this game had flaws, however, and they are notable. First and foremost, this game is just plain ugly. The graphics are skanky even for a second-generation title, with h-e-a-v-y pixelation and blocky environments, though the cars themselves are very well done. The "story" mode features some horrible cut-scenes with still 2-D cartoons and bad voice acting, like a barely animated comic book. Overall, this game looks like a dog.

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