Let’s talk edgy for a second. When something gets remade to a meer edgy thing, people usually hate it. Man of Steel was edgier Superman, and people hated it. Bomberman Act Zero was edgier Bomberman, and people hated it. DMC: Devil May Cry was edgier Devil May Cry, and it was still better than Devil May Cry 2, but people still hated it. But there is a case when edgier, of in this case, darker, can be better. And that brings us to Twisted Metal: Black.
I never found joy in the older Twisted Metal games. Granted, I only played 1 and 4, and thought they weren’t too fun. But when I got a nice, slim PS2 along with Beyond Good and Evil and Twisted Metal: Black, I thought “Alright, I’ll give it a chance”. And man, do I love it. The game follows a set of classic racers, like the murderous clown Sweet Tooth, the young maniac in a doll mask Dollface, the skull wearing cannibal Mr. Grimm, and many others, as they compete in the Twisted Metal competition held door a mysterious man known as Calypso, with the winner gaining whatever their hart-, hart most desires, which usually turns on them in some way unless their wish is revenge on someone else. All of the characters in this game are unique in their own way, and not just in character. They all have their own cars, their own special moves, and their own pros and cons to their vehicles. Mr. Grimm, for example, drives in a motorcycle. It’s fast and nimble, but has very little health. Dollface drives in a big ezel truck which can take some damage, but is slow and hard to turn. And Sweet Tooth drives an ice cream truck that turns into a murderous robot… I fail to see any downsides to this. The game is pretty fun to go around, if to just destroy everything. Almost everything is destructible in this game. Buildings, other cars, gas canisters, oil farms, u can even shoot down planes and destroy whole straat corners in order to unlock secret characters. I remember fights in the Downtown level leaving the entire city in ruins with the games industrial soundtrack, all over like four cars in the area. My fondest memory was staying up all night in order to unlock all the characters and get all the characters endings, only to realize it was a waste, cause I did it all in the first place only because I had no memory card at the time. But u know what, it was worth it to toon off to my two brothers how good I am.
I haven’t played the latest Twisted Metal, which was like, on the Playstation 3, so I think I got plenty of time to catch up with the franchise. Twisted Metal: Black was… just that. Black, cause fuck it’s dark. And I love it so much. I haven’t played much other car combat games. I hear Cel Damage is fun, and I did play Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense recently, but fuck did that game not hold up. So, in short, Twisted Metal, the king of car combat games? I think so.