It’s a little known fact but Twisted Metal 2 is one of the games that pushed me over the edge to get the original Playstation console. That, and Final Fantasy VII. The first issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly I ever bought had the character Sweet Tooth’s face plastered on the cover, and after reading the previews I just had to have it. When I did get my hands on the game it became my go-to co-op title for the system. I would invite friends over and we would play through the main campaign over and over again. Revisiting an old favorite is rarely a good idea, but I threw caution to the wind on this one. So does it hold up? Barely, and by just the skin of its teeth.
The city of angels was destroyed in the first Twisted Metal tournament, and so the madman creator of said battle royale, Calypso, has decided to broaden his horizons and go worldwide. The victor once again will be granted a wish no matter how extravagant with each having their own motivations and backstories. We have several returning faces this time around, but some of the previous roster have been left behind and replaced with new personas. The stories are all ridiculous, and though I used to find them ‘cool’ they reek of mid 90s edginess. They are too cheesy to care about anymore.
Gameplay hasn’t evolved that much from the original game. You face a set number of opponents in an arena (they’re bigger and more inventive this time around) and your only goal is to drain the life bar of everyone else so that you’re the last car standing (err… driving). The draw of Twisted Metal 2 is in how different every driver is. They have different stats which include armor and speed, and their special moves vary in power and effect. They’re pretty inventive to be honest with, for example, Thumper’s flamethrower, Shadow’s exploding ghosts that can travel through walls, and Twister’s tornado. For all intents and purposes this special weapon is the primary difference in each character. Things like armor and speed do have a major effect, but the real skill is in mastering how and when to use each character’s trademark special move for the best results.
Littered throughout each arena are a host of other weapons and items too. Gathering these up is a huge part of winning in Twisted Metal 2 because your only tool with unlimited use is the weak dual machine guns equipped on every vehicle. You have basic items such as turbo boost, health, and missiles that fire in a straight line. More rarely you’ll encounter homing missiles, napalms, bombs, remote mines and more. Unfortunately this means you’ll spend a good portion of every match zooming around building your inventory of tools and avoiding your foes. This lends itself to replaying the game as you memorize locations, but it can be repetitive. Some arenas feature destructible environments but this is pretty limited. In the ice stage you even have sections of the level that break away from the rest. The design is pretty limited and most arenas aren’t very big, but I feel like the developers did a good job of making use of what space they had.
In a game based around driving you would expect the controls to feel like, well, driving. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Twisted Metal 2 feels both like you’re moving through molasses and over ice at the same time. I realize this was released before the dual shock and you’re limited to a directional pad, but it’s almost unacceptable how bad things are. A nudge on either direction can often send you spinning until you’re facing the opposite direction. Aiming your weapon while manuevering around hazards is almost impossible due to the imprecise steering. This is something I remember complaining about back at the time of release so it’s not just an issue with the game being dated. Moreover the developers gave all cars a list of special moves and it just doesn’t make much sense. You can make your vehicle jump, or shoot an ice beam, but it feels largely unnecessary. This would be forgivable if it could be ignored, but unfortunately your opponents will constantly freeze you leaving your character open to attacks. Street Fighter-like button inputs just don’t make sense in a vehicular combat game.
You know, I’m just not a fan of that early Playstation fully 3D look. Twisted Metal 2 has loads of walls textured like scenery that look like absolute garbage when you get up close. It also features a lot of that classic polygonal environment warping that is so hard to look at nowadays. This is also one of those games that tried so hard to look edgy and mature by limiting the color palette to dull browns and greys, and it just doesn’t hold up. Twisted Metal 2 is an ugly game and is barely an upgrade graphically from what we had with the original. It doesn’t help that just about everything you move close up to is heavily pixelated. The texture work is just plain awful. There’s even slowdown, and none of the stages features all twelve racers at once which is obviously due to hardware constraints. The only thing that does look nice are the vehicles, even if the art style is pretty wonky on a few of them. Axel, anyone? The soundtrack is all grungy rock, and while it fits, it’s just not my thing.
I almost feel bad for ragging on Twisted Metal 2 like I have. I put so many hours into this one as a teen, and had a great time. I had to take off the rose tinted glasses and get down to the nitty gritty. Vehicular combat is an outdated genre, and TM2 is a product of it’s time. It’s still playable but it’s an ugly experience in which you’re trapped battling against weird controls and handling. I suppose this was more forgivable back when most games on the console had these same issues. Today we’re less forgiving, and I’ve got to be honest. Twisted Metal 2 won’t burn your eyes or give you a headache, but it’s not very good.
