Twisted Metal: Black (PS2)
It's not often when I come across a game whose background story makes my
stomach twitch. Yet when I do I treasure every second of it. So it was when
I picked up Twisted Metal: Black for the PS2. The first Twisted Metal's main
focus was car to car combat that spawned several rip-offs including the Star
Wars Demolition Racer. What first caught my attention was the game's theme
song, "Paint It Black" performed by the Rolling Stones. This sets the grim
tone of the game from the start.
You play one of ten different psychopaths
recently "released" from their insane asylum. Each one has been offered
their Hearts desire, whether it is revenge, redemption, or even true Love.
Some of the characters look like creatures you only see in nightmares,
others look more or less normal with one tiny detail to show they are a bit
unstable. Though some of these details cannot be hidden, such as the bloody
wedding dress on one of the female characters.
Game play is very simple:
blast all your opponents into oblivion. With all the various weapons at your
disposal this would seem an easy task right? Nope. First off the playing
fields are either so small that a single wrong turn can send you falling off
a cliff in a blaze of glory, or so gigantic that you end up lost until some
random enemy decides to ambush you.
While I'm on the subject of levels, each
area is loaded (excuse the pun) with eye candy. You can destroy just about
anything, and I mean anything. Houses, buildings, trees, civilian cars, even
people walking on the sidewalk, all can be shot at or run over. The best I
found was a giant Ferris wheel I accidentally destroyed. Once free from its
base, the wheel rolled out of the park, through a suburb, crushing whatever
was in its path until it came to the edge of the ocean and landed in the
water ala "1941". Now that was great to watch!
In all, I give TM:B an 8 out
of 10. I will say that this game does deserve the mature rating granted by
the ESRB. Some of the imagery in the game could be too strong for the
younger crowd, parents, buy with caution.
8 out of 10 - AC
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