Finally, metal being twisted

Sony has dropped a new trailer for their upcoming Twisted Metal show coming to Peacock on July 27th. It’s, uh, certainly a direction they’ve decided to go with it, but at the very least, it’s an improvement on their last trailer, if only in the fact that it includes cars.

The trailer establishes that the world has been apocalypse’d somehow, and the major cities have erected walls to protect themsel??ves from everything else. John Doe ??is a courier who braves the outlaw-infested wasteland between cities to deliver things. He’s hired by a lady, who I’m guessing is Calypso, to deliver a package with the promise of his biggest wish coming true.

//youtu.be/5QNZ44zKzjo

So, that’s, like, in the same neighborhood as a typical Twisted Metal plot. I’m pretty well-versed in the series, having played it since it was taking the PlayStation by storm and kicking the vehicular combat sub-genre into its short-lived high gear. However, this trailer doesn’t look much like Twisted Metal at all.

I'm not seeing Axel anywhere

Oh, sure, I can identify some elements. Thomas Haden Church is obviously playing Outlaw, and you can see Shadow’s purple hearse getting blown up. There’s Sweet Tooth looking like his Twisted Metal Black iteration. And�that’s about it. Someone flips down the visor on a racing helmet, so that’s probably Twister. I?? mean, at least there are cars shooting guns at each other in various places. That’s pretty key to t??he games.

However, the Twisted Metal games (at least the ones that count) have always been so grimdark that it’s goofy, whereas this show just looks goofy. Look, it could be good. It’s just not looking that way to me. On the other hand, I’d love for it to succeed so we could maybe get a new Twisted Metal game. On the other other hand, if this is the tone that a new game would aim f??or, then maybe not.

If this looks like your bag, Twisted Metal is coming to Peacock on July 27th.

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Insane Clown Poopy

We now have our first in-episode footage of Peacock's upcoming live-action adaptation, Twisted Metal. As debuted during this afternoon's Summer Game Fest, the clip featured our ragtag protagonist (Anthony Mackie) squaring off against serial killer clown and poster villain Sweet Tooth (Samo??a Joe).

And honestly... it was pretty fucking rough.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mn4RBWv03A

For some reason, the decision was made to showcase a clip from the show that doesn't actually feature any cars whatsoever. It does, however, feature some daylight-bad punches, sub-MCU comedy, and Sisqo's 1999 hit, The Thong Song. I'm a big Twisted Metal fan, and I absolutely do not mind when other media plays with, rearranges, or even reinvents popular worlds a?nd characters in new and exciting way??s.

But this clip was... not good. It wasn't funny, it looked kinda cheap, the displaced Sweet Tooth voice is distracting, and the sense of humor seemed tonally lost both within its own universe and on the?? silent, slow-clappin??g Summer Game Fest audience.

Being generous, we'll put this down to a bad choice of clip and see how it all goes down on July 27, when Twisted Metal premieres exclusively on Peacock...

...Imagine the producers: "One rule for the Twisted Metal show reveal. No Cars."

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Goofy poster released to celebrate launch date

Peacock has announced a premiere date for its long-time-coming TV adaptation of PlayStation's apocalyptic, vehicular franchise Twisted Metal �The series is now sc??heduled to premiere on th??e Peacock streaming service on July 27.

A new teaser dropped on April 28, showing Anthony Mackie's character gearing up for a drive into the battlefield. While we don't see too much other than cars and destruction, the teaser does end with a brief tease of the Twisted Metal mainstay Sweet Tooth.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYb_HFHJJHs

Twisted Metal, as previously reported, will star Mackie (Marvel's Falcon) as a slick, smart-mouthed courier who, down on his luck, accepts a shady offer to carry a mysterious package across the dystopian wastelands that surround the city �packed with marauding gangs and hazardous terrain, and haunted by the disturbing, ice-cream-truc??k-driving serial killer known as Sweet Tooth.

Joining Mackie on this death-laden voyage will be Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3), and Neve Campbell (Scream) in currently undisclosed roles. Will Arnett will provide the voice of Sweet Tooth, while the notorious murderer's physical presence will be that of legendary pro-wrestling star Samoa Joe. Cobra Kai's Michael Jonathan Smith served as writer and showrunner for the series, which wrapped filming last summer and is now in post-production.

Twisted Metal is one of a number of PlayStation film and TV adaptations currently in development. Via its PlayStation Productions arm, Sony has also commissioned projects based on popular franchises such as Uncharted, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo, and Ghost of Tsushima.

Twisted Metal will premiere on Peacock July 27.

This post has been updated to add the teaser trailer, following its premiere.

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Carmageddon

The live-action adaptation of PlayStation classic Twisted Metal has wrapped its shooting schedule and will now enter post-production, ahead of its yet-to-be-dated premiere on streaming service Peacock. The final day of shooting was announced on Twitter by showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith.

Set against the backdrop of a lonely and highly hazardous future, Twisted Metal will follow the misadventures of amnesiac courier John Doe (Anthony Mackie), who must run 'n' gun their way through a lawless wasteland in order to deliver much-needed supplies to an outpost, while perpetually engaged by parties of homicidal marauders. Like its source material, Twisted Metal promises o?utrageous comic-book characterization and hi-octane vehicular carnage.

//twitter.com/beardymcwhisker/status/156362736610625??5360?s=20&t=sQuHh4Oqn995BA9sbFX??Itg

Alongside Marvel superstar Mackie (Falcon and the Winter Solider), Twisted Metal will also feature a posse of recognizable and very talented faces including Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Neve Campbell (Scream), Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3), and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine). The iconic role of the mass-murdering, ice-cream-loving clown Swee??t Tooth falls to Nuufolau Joel Seona, better kno??wn to wrestling fans as the bone-breaking Samoa Joe.

As noted previously by VGC, it is believed that the new PlayStation Productions series will precede a brand new Twisted Metal video game, yet to receive its official reveal from Sony Interactive Entertainment. Twisted Metal is the second PlayStation Productions project, following its highly anticipated adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, will which air on HBO in early 2023. It will be followed by an adaptation of Guerilla Games' dystopian sci-fi series, Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Twisted Metal will premiere on Peacock in 2023.

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The rumored revival is apparently in new hands

The Twisted Metal reboot reportedly in development at Lucid Games now seems to be going to another studio. VGC reports that Sony has given the keys of the Twisted Metal reboot to a different developer.

VGC, which also reported on the vehicular combat series' revival last year, says Sony is moving development to one of its first-party studios in Europe. Though their sources didn't provide a reason, one suggested that a poor response to Destruction AllStars could have been a factor.

Neither Sony nor Lucid commented on the matter to VGC, and no new studio has been named. Keeping in mind that the Twisted Metal reboot has only been reported on for the time being, that isn't too mu?ch of a? surprise.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kP3G5vO49A

Considering there's a Twisted Metal TV series on the way and the reboot would reporte??dly be coinciding with it, that's a bit of pressure on whoever's at the wheel now. Sony did just make a number of acqu??????????????????????????isitions over the last year, though it's unclear whether any of them would be possibly taking over.

As for Lucid, I was actually interested in a potential new project from the team. Destruction AllStars had its faults, but Lucid seems like the right team for the job in terms of car combat. Hopefully the team is moving on to a new pro??ject.

I'm still curious about what a modern Twisted Metal looks like, since vehicular combat games haven't really been around much these days. Considering what Rocket League did for cars and soccer, though, maybe a Twisted Metal reboot could do alright. We??'ll see what happens as more news emerges about the project.

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Captain America's been torn apart, now...

The latest word from Tinseltown is that actor Anthony Mackie �perhaps best known for his star turns as Marvel's Falcon and Captain America �has signed on for the long-rumored television adaptation of PlayStation franchise Twisted Metal.

According to the Hollywood insiders over at Deadline, Mackie will both star and executive produce the series for Sony Pictures Television, which will see the vehicular chaos of the video game series replicated in live-action. Early details sugge?st that Mackie will take up the role of John Doe, an amnesiac "smart-ass milk??man" who is offered a chance for redemption when he agrees to transport a mysterious package across a hazardous, post-apocalyptic wasteland. The journey will be fraught with rampaging marauders, environmental perils, and one homicidal clown in an ice-cream truck.

Twisted Metal as a TV series/movie has been touted for many, many years, but has struggled to get off of the ground. Sony's new project currently has a rough plot outline, several executive producers, and a writer in the form of Michael Jonathan Smith, who penned the popular Karate Kid spin-off series, Cobra Kai. According to Deadline, both Sony and PlayStation Productions are extremely positive that Twisted Metal will finally go into production, and are expected to start shopping the series to buyers soon, which would suggest cameras wil??l eventually roll in 2022.

Back in the digital realm, rumors persist of a brand new Twisted Metal game in the works at Sony. G??iven the publisher's ambition for this television project. It ?would seem a sure-fire deal that Sony would want to capitalize on the brand.

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Why couldn't this have been Twisted Metal III?

2012 was a pretty bad year. Your crazy co-worker was ??right, and the world was laid waste to by Mayans or something. Corporations were quick to rise from the ashes to monetize our misery. Big Daddy, for exa?mple, rebuilt the United States into a massive tourist attraction. Relive the days before the catastrophe in luxury and see the sights!

?But the gig economy won’t be kept down. Automercenaries compete to the death to show vacationers around the exploited remains of the countr?y. Have you considered putting your life on the line to shuttle the bored middle-class around the newly veneered monuments of this dystopian hellscape?

That’s my embellished take on the plot of Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012, though it’s rather accurat??e. It’s a vehicular combat game that actually involves giving tours.

Rogue Trip was developed by Singletrac after their contract with Sony expired and they were left without any Twisted Metals to work on. Instead, they took it upon themselves to further embarrass 989 Studios�Twisted Metal III the same year as Vigilante 8. It has pedigree, with many of the developers from Twisted Metal and i??ts sequel working on it. No?, not David Jaffe.

All the same, you can easily see Twisted Metal in Rogue Trip, they just added an extra twist to it. If you went from Twisted Metal 2 to Rogue Trip, you’d probably feel right at home. The weapons all seem familiar,?? the controls are practically the same, and you know those directional pad combos that activate t?hings like shields? Yeah, those are still here. And they still suck.

The edge has been taken off. Sort of. Remember how the first two Twisted Metal games had an unsettling quality to them? Rogue Trip is a lot goofier. One of the char?acters is a chef that drives a hot dog. Another is a cross between Batman and Mickey Mouse. A swarm of angry poodles is one woman's special attack. It’s not all flowers and good times, but it’s a heck of a lot brighter than Singletrac’s previous games.

The other big change is in the economy. The tourists are there as a sort of a take on capture the flag. You need to grab them, take them to the various sights around the arena, and rack up so??me cash. If another driver gets hold of them before you do, you either destroy them or use a weapon to eje?ct the tourist and grab them before someone else.

Make no mistake, however, the name of the game is still to be the last one standing. It’s not a complete reinvention of th?e genre. The money can just be used to repair your vehicle and upgrade your weapons. If you want to just go ham on your opponents and throw whatever you can grab, I’m not sure that’s the soundest strategy, but have at it.

You travel from Washington D.C. to Las Vegas. Grotesque versions of them, anyhow. Big Daddy generally features heavily in the scenery. It’s his? America, after all. This game suddenly feels quite topical.

The levels are, thankfully, more of Twisted Metal 2 quality than Twisted Metal III’s dismal offerings. They provide the same sort of opportunities for destructi??on, though I? don’t remember seeing anything as awe-inspiring as blowing up the Eiffel Tower. Still, the very fact that you need to show a tourist around ensures that there are interesting things to fill your eyeballs up with.

One deficiency it has against the Twisted Metal games is arguably its cast of characters. Twisted Metal seemed to have something for everyone -- bizarre, creepy, heroic, villainous, cool, stupid -- Rogue Trip is mostly just bizarre and stupid.? A flamboyant wrestler, a sexy nun, a grotesque Elvis. You’ll probably pick the guy who drives the weiner-mobile, because when all you have is weird to pick from, you might? as well go for the weiner.

Rogue Trip doesn’t really do anything new for the genre, which is probably why it got buried by Vigilante 8. The tourists don’t really add all that much. You don’t want to completely discard that little divet of gameplay, but I never really used the weapon upgr??ade system. I usually just kept my cash for repairing my vehicle.

The soundtrack is going to divide people because it heavily features ska. The Mighty Might Bosstones are pretty prominent, to give you an idea of what you’re looking at. I personally don’t mind ska, bu??t I know some people look at it as sewage flung from a trumpet, so I feel I should at least offer a warning. You could always crank down the music and listen to, I? don’t know, Rob Zombie.

In a perfect world, Twisted Metal III would have been shunned completely and a pedestal would be erected for Rogue Trip. It’s not perfect, but in the absence of an actual good Twisted Metal title in 1998, it deserved the attention. That’s just the power of the brand, I guess. This was the height of the vehicular combat genre, and while Rogue Trip w?asn’t the apex, it ??definitely belongs at the cool kids�table.

It’s really worth playing if you enjoy the �0s era of vehicular combat games. I say that as if there’s a modern era. Hold on, I’m going to try and think of the most recent game released in this particular sub-genre. Uh, Carmageddon Max Damage. Does that count? How about Gas Guzzlers: Extreme? Help me out here.

For other retro?? titles you may have missed, click right he??re!

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This kusoge will take you to the nexus where Rob Zombie intersects with grandma

Twisted Metal was an institution on the PlayStation. Much like the landmark titles Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Resident Evil, it exploded its genre, resulting in a bevy of pretenders. For Twisted Metal, it was vehicular combat; average, everyday cars with guns taped to them battling it out for supremacy. Games like Interstate ‘76 and Carmageddon would s?tep up to try and take the throne over the ne?xt decade.

It was followed up a year later with Twisted Metal 2, a game that had a significant impact on my childhood. It was creepy, edgy?, and the right amount of goofy. Discomforti?ng cutscenes, creepy characters, lots of fire; it fit with the mid to late ‘90s theme of pushing the limits of taste. It was also really, stupidly fun.

But then developer Singletrac got bought up and the rights to Twisted Metal stayed with Sony. They passed development onto 989 Studios, a division of theirs that normally just acted as a publisher. Their first result was Twisted Metal III, and we're going to need the? jaws of life to get through this wreckage.

It’s off to a bad start before you even get to pick your car. The cool and unnerving comic-book style cutscenes have been replaced by gross PS1-era 3D animation. It’s also hard to ignore that Rob Zombie is blaring away as the combatants are demonstrated. Then there’s grandma in a monster truck. Look, I know that some of Twisted Metal 2’s combatants were a little out there. Axel was just a dude between two tires. But Rob Zombie, love him or hate him, elicits a certain atmosphere, and grandma can’t breathe?? in it.

At the very least, Twisted Metal III isn’t a big departure. ?You still pick your favorite family sedan and duke it out in a variety of arenas in a deadly battle royale. Areas continue the world tour sort of mindset with levels taking place in Washington D.C., the North Pole, and London. The foundation is there; they just decided to build the house out of whipped cream.

Mechanically, the game went through an engine change and it kind of feels wrong. Critics at the time were pretty perturbed by this, and while I can’t say I was too offended, it’s different enough to feel like a knock-off. Where I do agree firmly with those critics is that the levels are garbage. There are a few decent ones, but most of them are just big open arenas with little to explore. Twisted Metal 2 had these elaborate maps where you could dest?roy things to c??hange the landscape. Here, you might as well be in a bowl for many of them.

Some are decent, like the North Pole, but for some reason, they plunk??ed down Santa’s Workshop in the center of it. It’s a great example of how confused this game is. Here we have a world where people kill each other to have their greatest wish granted, but also Santa Claus exists to give presents to all the good girls and boys.

I can’t think about it without a huge juxtaposition spiraling in my head. I’m reminded of Twisted Metal 2’s opening cutscene where a guy is bleeding out on the street screaming, “Calypso, what have you done!?” and then here we are at Santa’s Workshop. Playing the two games back to back could give you whiplash. To be fair??, I don’t know what else you’d use as scenery for the North Pole, but they did an Antarctica stage in the previous? title and they didn’t even have to throw in the Mountains of Madness. Though, really, that would have made a lot more sense.

The tonal change is practically offensive. The first two games were darkly goofy, but here we have a game that sounds like it was put together by people just trying to fill in the blanks. Take the character of Bruce Cochrane, for example, who was in the first three Twisted Metal games driving Thumper. His wish?? in the first game was to clean up the violence in his neighborhood. In the second, he wanted to rule the world. In the third, he wants to “forever hang with his homies.” That’s cute, I guess, but what was preventing that to begin with? Why did he need to kill people to get that granted? Did his parents have a curfew set for h??im? Can his homies only stand to be around him for short periods?

The wishes, in general, are pretty stupid if that wasn't enough of an example. There was a wide variety of them in the first two games, with some challengers using it to get back at tournament mastermind, Calypso. Often they were monkey’s paw scenarios where Calypso would twist the winner’s wish into something horrific. Here, they’re all one-note, and t??hey’re all bad. I don’t want to spoil any of the endings, but I will say that they have all the creativity of a math equation.

Personally, I was disappointed by how they handled Calypso entirely. In Twisted Metal 2 he would just show up for the cutscenes, and he was just a really creepy dude. He was played by Mel?? McMurrin, as he was in this title, who did a great job hamming it up. His voice is full of delight at the thought of people getting mutilated. Here, not only is he considerably less threatening, but they over-used him to introduce each of the levels. It puts a different tone on his character when he’s warning you about the dangers you’re facing. It makes him sound less sinister and more chummy like he’s punctuating his sentences by winking and elbowing you in the ribs.

It’s like someone dumped all these wonderful toys straight into the lap of 989 Studios and they turned them into a diorama. Rob Zombie aside, the tone is a lot lighter, but somehow it manages to be less fun. Twisted Metal hit a sweet spot when it came to edginess, and rather than attempt to find it themselves, the n?ew developers just rolled over and went back to sleep.

What’s truly humiliating is that Vigilante 8 released early in the year, presenting one of the first significant competitors to the vehicular combat throne. It gave us a slightly different take on the formula, but it did so with pizzazz and creativity, something that is completely absent from Twisted Metal III. To illustrate this point, I played a lot of Vigilante 8 in my youth. I never played Twisted Metal III until I was an adult.

We’d eventually get our stupidly edgy Twisted Metal returned to us with Twisted Metal: Black. This was after 989 was taken off the franchise and the reigns were handed over to Incognito Entertainment, a company formed from the remnants of SingleTrac. At that point, however, vehicular combat games were on the way out. We’d get a few more exciting entries in the franchise, but it’s been quiet since 2012. It’s unf??ortunate because I think the genre could benefit from recent advances in technology, but no one seems interested.

As for Twisted Metal III, it’s the absolute nadir. Twisted Metal 4 was maybe slightly an improvement, but it still deserves to just be forgotten. It’s like seeing a beloved horro???r franchise get turned into a straight-to-video series where none of the actors return and it goes for a PG rating. It’s like getting a package full of candy but then finding out that the candy is really just chalk. You can eat chalk in small amounts, so let’s just swallow our disappointment and pretend it never happened.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

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Don't cut yourself on all that edgy

Buckle up for safely, because it appears that Sweet Tooth and his maniacal pals are revving their engines once again. But this time, David Jaffe's violent world of Twisted Metal has been given the green-light in a whole other fashion, joining t??he growing line of video game IPs getting a TV adaptation.

As reported by Variety, the Twisted Metal TV series will be an "action comedy" set in a post-apocalyptic universe, where a down-and-out loser is offered a better life provided they can transpo?rt a mysterious package across the wastelands - teeming with bands of marauders and other eccentric characters. All very Mad Max. While the cast list is still on? the ground, the woefully edgy serial killer clown Sweet Tooth is confirmed to be putting in an appearance, driving his horrifying ice cream truck through what remains of humanity.

Produced by Sony Pictures Television and "PlayStation Productions" - which is a thing - Twisted Metal will be written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the duo who penned horror comedy Zombieland and the violent comic-book actioner Deadpool. Sounds like a good fit. Michael Jonathan Smith, producer of Karate Kid spin-off series Cobra Kai, is on board as executive producer.

Originally launched in 1995, the Twisted Metal series follows a group of outcasts as they battle to the death in vehicular bloodsport, the prize being the winner's greatest wish, granted by doomsday executive Calypso. While some series entries - such as 1996's Twisted Metal: World Tour and 2001's Twisted Metal: Black are particularly notable, the series has had more than its fair share of duds, such as 1999's awful Twisted Metal 4. With ??the series in hiatus, the new show could see the way paved for a fresh sequel. I certainly hope so.

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Or in any order?

You could’ve warned me all you wanted, but finding myself sitting here, playing Twisted Metal III, was an inevitability after I decided I wanted to re-experience the series. As I fought a monster-truck-driving grandma outside Santa’s workshop, I began to understand why the game was a critical disappointment. I could’ve avoided this pain by just skipping to Twisted Metal Black, but I can&rsquo??;t h?elp myself; there’s an order to these things.

For almost as long as I’ve been collecting games, I’ve been obsessed with playing game series in the order of their release. I remember one of my earliest collecting goals was to enable myself to play through every Zelda game in order of release. I burned through a massive portion of the series before getting stuck on the logistics of getting enough people with Game Boy Advances together to play through all of Four Swords Adventures. The love of seeing a series evolve, wa??tching the ebb and flow as the formula is shaken up and reformed; it’s ?something that has never gone away.

Zelda II almost broke me early on in that particular endeavor, but the fact I completed it revealed something important about my gaming habits: I do??n’t accept half measures. I won’t quit on a game I don’t enjoy if there’s another game after it. I have to earn that next game, everything needs to be expe?rienced, and I mustn’t break order.

Don’t try saving me, I’m already too far gone. I knew ahead of time that I probably wouldn’t enjoy the Metal Gear series, but once I got started, I was doomed to watch every second of its blo??ated, overwritten cutscenes. It was a rollercoaster ride of enjoyable, ambitious gameplay suddenly shunted aside so it could vomit exposition onto your shoes for a solid 90 minutes. It was several dozen hours of seeing the high points get sanded down by its own enthusiastic love? for itself.

Remakes and remasters can be a problem. It’s a horrible grey area. I’ve recently, and very slowly, been making my way through the Dragon Quest games. I’m currently on the fourth game, and I’ve stubbornly decided on the NES as my version of choice des??pite the fact that it was remade?? on the DS with a number of additions and quality-of-life adjustments.

There’s perhaps nothing wrong with wanting to watch a franchise gradually evolve over time, watching those blocky, pixellated characters become more detailed until they explode into a new dimension, but it does add another dilemma: Dragon Quest V and VI didn’t come westward until they were remade on the DS. So now what? If I want to play the original Super Famicom versions, do I br?ush up on my Japanese? Do I abandon my values and download a fan translation? Do I suck it up and just play the DS versions as their own sub-series? This is the sort of thing that keeps me up at night.

I don’t do this for story reasons since the games don’t need an interconnected plot for me to want to approach them in their natural order, with the aforementioned Dragon Quest and Zelda games being a good example. No, this is an obsession with evolution. I need to appreciate a series’ awkward first steps, else I may never understand the true value of later refinements. I have to experience the missteps, the victories, the shake-u??ps, and, yeah, the stagnation. I need the whole package.

Okay, “need” may be too strong of a word. I don’t do this with every series I’ve encountered. Of the Final Fantasy series, I’ve finished I, VII, IX, and XV, but not in that order. There’s no accounting for that. I have no idea why I can play Army Men in any order I want, but I can’t play my copy of Shining Force II without having experienced the original first. There’s a mental wall that prevents me from breaking chronology, even when I&??rsquo;m not making any active effort to acquire the franchise’s other games.

Maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit. Maybe this obsession isn’t quite so ?weird. Do you force yourself to play g??ames chronologically?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be chronological by release, that’s just my sticky habit. Perhaps you only adhere to story chronology. For example, maybe you started the Yakuza series with Yakuza 0. Maybe the Metal Gear series absolutely has to begin with Metal Gear Solid 3 for you to enjoy it.

Maybe you’re obsesse??d with playing them in reverse order. Do you ever skip games that have a poor reputation? What I’m asking is: am I alone here? My therapist won’t return my calls, and I ne??ed to know I’m not insane.

The post Do you play games in chronological order? appeared first on Destructoid.

Smash is dead!

Back in September, Sony had quietly put up notices on the PlayStation store that a select few games would have their servers shut down. These games included Warhawk, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Twisted Metal. Originally set to be discontinued on October 2??5, 2018, the date came and went, but the games? remained online.

Now, Sony has sent out an official message stating that these three games along with Sound Shapes will have their servers remain online until January 31, 2019. I had heard a rumor from a com??munity member about this change, but there wasn't any official declaration that the games were being given a few more months of life un?til recently.

In my research about the change, the one point I saw repeated a few times was that Sony had promised to give 90 days notice for any shutdowns as per the box for Warhawk. The off??icial note read, "??SCEA reserves the right to retire the online portion of this game with 90 days notice. Online play requires Broadband Internet connection." Since the notice had only been posted 30 days in advance, fans were furious.

Whether Sony was legally required to do this or not doesn't matter, as the games will be up and running for the next few months. If you still have to collect some trophies or just want to relive Sony's attempt at tackling Smash, make sure to do it now!

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My sweet tooth decayed

It's time to pour one out for a few of Sony's high profile PS3 games. The online services for Warhawk, Twisted Metal and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale will be coming to an end next month. On October 25, 2018, the three aforementioned games will cease their online features and become regular offline games. Warhawk is the only one that will truly be affected as the game is an online-only experience (though i?t does featu??re a LAN option).

The notice was spotted on the US PlayStation Store, where a message i?nforms users that online features will no longer be playable from the date listed above. You can still grab each game digitally, but at least Sony is making users aware of the impending removal of features.

For Warhawk, ?specifically, the servers will be shut off on 12:00 am PST, so you'll need to make plans accordingly ??if you intend to participate in its final month.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Twisted Metal, And Warhawk Going Offline [Siliconera]

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Simpsons did it

_{Header image by AlexRaspad on DeviantArt.}

The 600th episode of The Simpsons aired last night, and if you blinked, you might have missed an easter egg or two referencing 90's car brawler Twisted Metal. Those familiar with the series may remember that each of the uniq??ue vehicles has an EXTREEEME driver with their own biography and motivation listed in the manual. Two of these seem to have been snuck in during the show's first segment, Dry Hard.

The segment begins as a Hunger Games parody before transitioning into Mad Max: Fury Road. Just after the shift (at about 6:40), Springfieldites tear across the wasteland in strange vehicles to attack Burns' private reservoir, and two of these look to have been inspired by Twisted Metal's Axel and Shadow.

Axel's name is a pun based on the idea that he is a living axle, caught between two giant wheels. In the US, he was the cover model for Twisted Metal 2. On The Simpsons, he was represente?d by Mike Tyson parody Drederick Tatum, though the wheels aren't quite as large on T?atum's rig.

Shadow is a hearse rigged up with machine guns and spiky bits on the front, driven by Mortimer the undertaker in earlier games, and by goth girl Raven in more recent entries. It's a little harder to see, but you can make out a hearse ??being driven by Dolph behind Groundskeeper Willie as the Doof Warrior.

If you missed the episode, you can check it out on Fox.com. In my opinion this wasn't o??ne of the best Halloween episodes, but it was nice to see a relatively obscure game franchise get a mention.

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Twisted Metal 1, 2, Black, and TM 2012

It looks like Twisted Metal 1 and Black weren't the only ones joining the fun, as the PSN is getting an all-out ??fou?r game birthday pack for $39.99. Should you decide to go with the piecemeal approach, the new 2012 Twisted Metal game is on sale for $29.99, 1 and 2 are going for $4.99, and?? Black is $7.99 -- it'll be running for one week from today.

For all you mathletes out there, that's? around $8 saved through the bun??dle.

If you're looking for recommendations, Twisted Metal 2 and the new iteration probably hold up the most, as both have tons of variety, and solid mechanics to boot. Although the first game will always be dear to my heart, it's aged a lot worse than 2, so your mileage is going to vary there.

As for Black, it's still a pretty awesome game, but the? single player campaign is a bit weak -- bu??t really, you can't go wrong overall.

Twisted Metal [Sony Blog]

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The original rooftops is still the best Twisted Metal stage

It appears as if the original PlayStation classic Twisted Metal and the adored semi-reboot Twisted Metal Black are heading to the PSN tomorrow.

Right now, it appears as if (sadly) the latter is not going to be released in tandem with Twisted Metal Black: Online, a re-release of the same? game with online play. The original will be offered as part of the PSOne Classic l??ine.

I've always been a huge fan of Twisted Metal, so I'm glad it's getting some love. I really hope these re-releases will help the series remain relevant, due to the disaster that was the last Twisted Metal launch.

Twisted Metal Headed To PSN [Siliconera]

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It's 'Multiplayer Monday' today on Mash Tactics. King Foom is doubling up the action with two recent releases. First up is the vehicular combat resurrection Twisted Metal, followed by the cosplay bloodsport of Gotham City Imposters on Xb??ox 360. As usual, viewers are welcome to ??join in the mayhem, so tune in, join up, and kick some ass live on air.

Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel. Watch King Foom play a variety? of games, each day with its own theme. With a heavy focus on community and viewer interaction, you can be as much a part of the show as anything else.

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Crank and Crank: High Voltage were fun but extremely dumb movies. Gamer starring Gerard "Leonidas" Butler and Michael "Dexter" Hall was pretty much garbage with small glimmers of joy here and there. And for some reason, I'm really pumped for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. All were directed by the filmmaking duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who at the very least have demonstrated a genuine understanding of ??high-octane videogame action if not necessarily how to apply that to a cohesive movie.

Brian Taylor will be flying solo for an adaptation of Twisted Metal, the kind of the explosive, adrenaline-pumping vi??olence porn that should be right up his alley. There's a lo?t that can go wrong here, but if he can somehow sign Jason up Statham for the project, I might catch a matinee showing.

Twisted Metal film to be Cranked out [Flixist]

The post Twist?ed? Metal movie being made by Crank co-director appeared first on Destructoid.

One of this week's biggest, and most anticipated releases is Twisted Metal. Jim Sterling's a die-hard fan of the series, and he gave his thoughts on the newest iteration in his review right here. On the other hand, I've never been that crazy about the vehicular man. I remember thinking it was cool when I was a kid, but I was n??ever super-stoked about it. What did I make of it? Watch the video!

Also, I didn't get any time with the multiplayer, because Anthony Carboni of New Challenger stole the damn online pass. But that's okay, because he reviewed the game, too. Check that out right here.

The post The DTOID Show: Max’s Twisted Metal Review appeared first on Destructoid.

It's going to be an amorous 'New Release Tuesday' on Mash Tactics. King Foom will be showing his love for destruction in Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3. Foom's venture into the demo for this one proved less than fruitful, but here's your chance to get a real good look at it. Foom will also be getting extremely close to his fellow man in UFC Undisputed 3 on Xbox 360. As both games of the d?ay have online multiplayer, the viewers are invited to jump in and join the festival of love live!

Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel. Watch King Foom play a variety of games, each day with its own t??heme. With a heavy focus on community and viewer interaction, you  can be as much a part of the show as anything else.

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Twisted Metal 2 is one of the greatest videogames to ever grace the original PlayStation, and that's an undeniable scientific fact. Though my personal relationship with the series has been a spotty affair, my love for TM2's inim??itable blend of sadistic humor and car-on-car violence has carved a bloo??dy hole in my heart, one that's remained gaping for years. 

A new Twisted Metal for th?e PlayStation 3 has been a long time coming, and arrives not a moment too soon. However, while it remains at heart a classic example of vehicular battery, its misinformed attempts at modernization cause a little concern.

The latest chapter in the series, from Eat Slee??p Play, indicates that some franchises really ought to stick to what they know. 

Twisted Metal (PlayStation 3)
Developer: Eat Sleep Play
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released: February 14, 2012 
MSRP: $59.99

Although almost every Twisted Metal game exist?s within its own narrative bubble, this freshest iteration is as close to a full reboot as the seri??es can get. The large cast of colorful characters, each with their own sick goals and personalized vehicles, has been tossed entirely out of the window in favor of one unified storyline. There are only four main characters -- Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm, Dollface and Preacher (who doesn't have his own story levels) -- all of whom are totally reimagined as darker and, dare I say it, slightly more grounded characters. At least, as grounded as a demonic serial killer clown can get. Their tales intertwine as they each sequentially enter the Twisted Metal tournament, hoping to win their ultimate wish from the nefarious Calypso -- and suffer an ironic fate in the process. 

There is still a large variety of cars, although they are now operated by generic "gang" members inspired by the four named drivers. Familiar rides such as Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck and heavily armored Warthog are joined by such unique vehicles as the Meatwagon (a bloodstained ambulance that fires explosive patients strapped to remote-controlled gurneys) and the Junkyard Dog (?a pickup truck that flings entire taxis at opponents). While many cars are unlocked during the course of campaign play, some of the more elusive rides will take momentous feats to obtain, such as completing all the story challenges on Twisted difficulty ... and getting a gold medal in every one! Each car can also be given a custom paint job, for that all-important personal touch. 

At its root, the familiar combat of Twisted Metal remains almost entirely intact. Whether you've been a longtime follower of the series or haven??'t touched it in years, the steel butchery on offer is instantly recognizable. A variety of wide-open arenas are designed wonderfully for exaggerated destruction derby gameplay, as players fire rockets, lay mines, and rattle off machine gun fire in a bid to take down the opposition. Although the premise of cars shooting ?rockets at other cars is as shallow as ever, there's still plenty of rough-and-ready amusement to be had. 

Each course is littered with weapon pickups, be they homing missiles, remo??te-controlled bomb carts, or deadly shotguns. Although each vehicle gets a permanent sidearm (such as a simple machine gun or a drive-by magnum), the expendable main weapons do far more damage. Cars also have unique special weapons that slowly recharge with time and vary in effectiveness. The Outlaw, for example, sports an SUV gun turret that locks onto a single enemy within a 360-degree radius, while the Roadboat features a magnet that can be used to trap an opponent and smash it into a wall (this trick in particular is an online troll's dream). One of the biggest new additions is the series' first flying vehicle, a helicopter known as Talon. Impressively, the helicopter does not break the game, as most weapons still lock onto it adequately and it remains fragile enough to be taken down in a few hits. 

Car balance overall is quite remarkable. Smaller cars are great at avoi?ding incoming fire, but they're naturally frail, while larger machines such as Darkside and Juggernaut can deal heavy damage while struggling to keep track of sleeker, more maneuverable foes. My personal favorite class is the "middle ground" type that i??ncludes such beasts as the Outlaw and Meatwagon, sporting less-than-average speed but decent armor ratings and firepower. Whatever way one prefers to dish out an automotive assault, there's a car that does the trick.

Unfortunately for Twisted Metal, the game spends far too much of its time trying not to do the one thing it's truly great at. This is evident in the single-player campaign, which is annoying at best and excruciatingly nightmarish at wor??st. Aside from the fact that playing against the CPU isn't much fun in the first place, the range of forced, gimmicky game modes that one must suffer in order to progress ruins the entire experience.

By far the greatest offenders are the racing stages, which simply do not work. None of the courses are designed well enough for races, nor are the cartoonish car physics that see vehicles spinning wildly at the slightest clip. In a multiplayer scenario, this could be amusing, but in a solo race against aggressive A.I. that trains all enemy vehicles on the human player, it's nothing short of an ordeal. During races, enemy drivers are concerned only with making sure you don't win, even at their own expense. They'll fire weapons at nobody but you -- even firing behind themselves -- and they have no issue with runnin??g you off the road and into a wall, merrily sacrificing their position in the race to screw over a human player. Add to that the fact that?? it's almost impossible to catch up to the front-runner should one run afoul of the many chasms and obstacles, and one has a recipe for distilled, controller-destroying fury. 

Much of the racing revolves around trial and error; players are expected to fail dozens of times in order to learn every inch of the racetrack??. Even armi??ng oneself with such knowledge might not be good enough, however, and I'm certain that only the lucky will beat the penultimate race on the first, second, or third try. I'm yet to do it, thanks to the random clipping and pitfalls that effectively kill the race before it's officially over. It's far too much patience than one should be expected to have.

All this is before I mention the lengthy boss fights, which often require pure luck in order to complete. Such battles are not what one plays Twisted Metal for, and they ruin the experience. I'm all for variety ??and new ideas, but only if they're done well. In this game??, they're forced, contrived, and slapdash.

It saddens me that the campaign is so miserable, as its live-action story cutscenes and stylish, twist-in-the-tale storytelling are both fantastic. The grisly narrative arcs of Twisted Metal's grotesque anti-heroes are delightful, especially for someone who has always enjoyed the series' dark humor. Not only that, but every woeful tale feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt, which only adds to the entertainment value. Unfortunately, the narrative isn't quite good enough to justify the hassle it takes to uncover. Still, I'll say one thing for the campaign: those who think games are too easy these days can look forward to all t??heir masochistic drea??ms coming true thanks to this little fiasco. 

Fortunately, Twisted Metal's draw is not found in the campaign and its range of forced, unenjoyable game modes. My desire to kick the game's Blu-ray into a river dissipated with extended time spent online. I didn't play as much as I would've liked to, thanks to a dis?concerting numbe??r of network errors, but I had a blast with the games I got into. 

There is a range of game modes that keep the focus o??n simple, unfettered, 16-player car combat, and these modes can provide enough entertainment to make up for other failures. Deathmatches and team deathmatches are joined by elimination rounds and "Hunted" games that play out like a brutal, murderous game of tag. 

Nuke is a new objective-based mode that has teams capturing an enemy leader and dragging them across the streets to a missile launcher. After "sacrificing" the leader to the launcher, a nuclear missile is sent to destroy an enemy statue. Enemy teams can recapture the leader and stop the sacrifice, so teamwork is essential in order to secure victory. It's a unique lit??tle spin on familiar competitive ideas, and should add a little longevity to the proceedings. 

For those who don't like going online, there's great news -- LAN and split-screen multiplayer is also supported, so there's no excuse to not ditch the ?rubbish single-player and play the far superior competitive modes.

While it's not the most graphically stunning PS3 game, Twisted Metal's destructible environments, squishy pedestrians and over-the-top, catapulting ??explosions at least make it one of the more visually exciting. An excellent soundtrack featuring tracks from Iggy Pop, White Zombie, Judas Priest, and Wolfmother complements the action wonderfully. When it comes to presentation and sheer, unabashed style, Eat Sleep Play has got it going on. 

I did no??tice, however, that a few glitches reared their ugly heads occasionally. The sound can cut out suddenly for several seconds at a time, and I had one problem with a campaign elimination match that wouldn't spawn the final car I needed to defeat. I had to restart the mission about three or four times before all the enemies finally appeared on the map. So far, I've encountered nothing that truly breaks the game, b?ut there are a few technical hiccups on display. 

When it sticks to what it's good at, Twisted Metal provides plenty of homicidal -- if rather disposable -- entertainment. A number of modes and forced campaign levels that simply don't work, however, set the experience back, and I think that the game could have been truly superb had less effort gone into the failed aspects and more been poured into the type of Twisted Metal that fans know and love.

For all its shortcomings and lack of depth, however, there really is no other car combat game that has the goods quite like Twisted Metal. It's a solid entry in a series that's difficult to hate, and hardcore destruction fans wou??ld do well to ??pick it up. 

The post Review: Twisted Metal appeared first on Destructoid.

Blue Goggles Films had one of their newest videos featured on the Machinima channel recently, and it's absolutely brilliant. David Jaffe himself enjoyed the video, exclaiming "DAMN NICE!" on Twitter. It features Sweet Tooth of Twisted Metal fame, celebrating Valentine's Day in ??the only sick, demented way he knows how with a capture??d victim.

Twisted Metal: Be Mine is incredibly disturbing, but yet, it has moments of being sw?eet and even a little cute. You guys out there planning an evening that special someone will never forget could learn a thing or two from Sweet Tooth. He sure knows how to leave a lasting impression.

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I love the idea of promoting a new game release with a contest; it's a pretty foolproof concept. I definitely like the idea of being allow?ed to shoot ??Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck with a machine gun. Sounds perfect, right? 

My one hangup with this plan is that you're not physically sh?ooting the gun. They've devise?d a system in which you aim the guns via satellite from the comfort of your couch. Still cool; you're still shooting something, but my excitement for the experience dwindled ever so slightly. 

Head on over to the Shoot My Truck site and sign up with either your Facebook or Twitter account and wait for t?he big day.  

The post David Jaffe wants you to shoot his truck appeared first on Destructoid.

[Update: Jaffe has responded to today's news, confirming that layoffs were had, but addressing talk of casual development by saying, "I have zero plans to make games like FARMVILLE and ANGRY BIRDS. I never said what I was doing post TM ...  I will be opening a game studio here in San Diego because I really miss int?ernal game development. Happy? to share more details later."]

Eat Sleep Play is the latest studio to be hit by the, "develop big game, kill off a bunch of jobs" phenomenon. The Twisted Metal developer has lost eight employees to continue with a staff of 26, and? it would appear that even the infamous David Jaffe is leaving.&n?bsp;

The studio will be sticking to iPad and iPhone games in the future, with co-founder Scott Campbell calling the move? "pretty exciting" and looking forward to "reaching a lot more people." Even so, it looks like a s?tep down for a team that's got a major PS3 exclusive on the horizon. 

As for Jaffe? There's talk of him going into the casual games market, but he has said on Twitter that such rumors are "highly exaggerated" and they won't be casual games?? ?"as you know them." He has, so far, said nothing else beyond that. 

?Whatever happens, there's somethi?ng fundamentally wrong with this industry where things like this happen so regularly.

The post Twisted Metal dev??? hit with layoffs, David Jaffe leaving appeared first on Destructoid.

Twisted Metal is ?suffering a few localization problems, resulting in the car-on-car violence being delayed in Europe. The game is now due out in March for PAL gamers, although a solid release date is yet to be confirmed.&nbs??p;

In North America, the game is still slated for February 14 and there shouldn't be any problems makin??????????????????????????g t?he date. 

As well as the delay, the European version of Twisted Metal ?has been slightly censored by SCEE. David Jaffe says that most of the edits are in cutscenes and won't affect the actual gameplay. The biggest in-game change is that the scre??aming person tied to a gurney on the Meat Wagon is now a lifeless corpse. 

Well, that's a shame.

[Via NeoGAF]

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Upon the news that a new Twisted Metal game was coming out, many gamers couldn't wait to sink their sweet teeth int??o it. Well, if you live in or near San Francisco, you will have the opportunity to check out this game next Thursday, February 2, weeks before i??ts release!

As seen in the above video, David Jaffe himself cordially invites you to come take part in a Twisted Metal multiplayer tournament. Held at the Mezzanine from 6:00-9:00 PM, this event is open to the public (21+) and involves a multiplayer tournament where you can win a sweet-looking, laser-etched Twisted Metal PS3. Not only that, exclusive swag that can only be?? collected at this event will be given away throughout the night for those in attendance.

You can sign up for the tournament at the event or RSVP at the Facebook group here. Hope to see many of you all there!

The post Davi??d Jaffe invites YOU to a Twisted Metal Tournament! appeared first on Destructoid.

_{[Editor's Note: Ladies and gents, welcome Chris Carter to the front page and the Destructoid news staff. Regular readers will surely recognize his face and name from our community. As always, that's where our best people come from. Don't hold back on the hazing!]}

In case you haven't heard, a multiplayer demo of Twisted Metal is coming to a PlayStation 3 near you. Now, thanks to the PlayStation Blogcast, we know the date: January 31st, 2012. As a fan of the series since the first iteration, I can't wait to see what Jaffe and his team have in store for us. I thought Twisted Metal Black was an incredibly fresh take on the franchise and I see a lot of s?imilarities in t??he upcoming title -- especially with the game's dark undertones and the return of twisted storyline videos.

I know some of you may not be joining in because of the online pass situation, but to me, the free inclusion of Twisted Metal Black is enough to m?ake up for it. Regardless of the quality of the demo, my wife and I will be blowing stuff up come February 14th. Considering Jaffe has stated that this iteration is mostly a multiplayer game, is anyone else excited at the prospect of mingling with fellow carmageddon caballeros?

The post Sweet? Tooth is gonna take you for a ride on Januar??y 31 appeared first on Destructoid.

Despite David Jaffe stating he didn't want one, Twisted Metal is getting itself a lovely, shiny, pretty little online pass. Because?? inconvenien?cing all your customers is what gaming is all about. 

It's absolutely not suprising, because Sony told Destructoid that it planned to put online pass in pretty much every single game it publishes. Nevertheless, I fully intend to post a story for every online pass I see, because i??t will never become banal or boring to me.

The sec??ond it becomes a mundane story, unfit for posting, is the second it becomes acceptable, and I don't think online passes will ever be an acceptable response to the used game market. It's just more controlling, possessive behavior from the corporate equivalent of a jealous husband. 

So yeah, Twisted Metal is getting an online pass, and that's rubbish.

The post Yep, Twisted Metal is getting an online pass appeared first on Destructoid.

Those who purchase a first-edition copy of Twisted Metal will receive a voucher that can be redeemed for a free digital copy of the original Twisted Metal: Black.

News of this thoughtful freebie comes by way of co-director David Jaffe, who gives us a nice reminder about Green Stamps. Yes, this video is worth a watch. The inclusion of Black seems like the right one, based on where Eat Sleep Play is headed with the new Twisted Metal.

The post First-print copies of ??Tw??isted Metal include TM: Black appeared first on Destructoid.

Unless you count the continued popularity of Mario Kart, we’re a long way from the ’90s heyday of car combat games. Modern multiplayer combat primarily concerns games in which people shoot each other, but David Jaffe, Scott Campbell, and their team at Eat Sleep Play are aiming to amend that phrase to end with the words “with cars.” They’re working on a new Twisted Metal title, the first original one to hit consoles since Twisted Metal: Black launched on the PlayStation 2 a decade ago.

Twisted Metal differs from shooters in more ways than the “shooting people while driving” part. In some r?espects, it’s more accessible than those games; in others, it’s even more impenetrable.

Twisted Metal (PlayStation 3)
Developer: Eat Sleep Play
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release: February 14, 2012

In the hour or so that I spent with Twisted Metal, I kept noticing one aspect of the combat: it can take a pretty long time to kill someone. That’s not an accident, according to the Sony producer who demoed the game for me. He explained that the design decision was a result of Jaffe’s dislike of the pace in most multiplayer shooters -- the series co-creator isn’t a fan of the en??dless spawn-die-spawn cycle. In those games, it doesn’t take many bullets to kill you, and firefights rarely last long.

Twisted Metal, on the ?other hand, offers a much higher degree of “survivability,” said t??he producer. You’re going to have to work for a kill, but the designers believe that increased survivability only makes the game more thrilling. Here, combat is “all about the chase,” which, I guess, makes sense for a game featuring vehicular mayhem. In addition, the folks at Eat Sleep Play are hoping that longer lives will help to reduce the amount of frustration that new players have to endure while learning the ropes.

That decision makes a lot of sense, since it will likely take more than a few hours to understand Twisted Metal’s chaos. Multiplayer is the focus of this game, and it’s clear that Eat Sleep Play is devoting a great deal of development time to important facets such as balancing vehicles’ abilities and tweaking weapon damage, but the modes and options are so numerous and varied that I found myself overwhelmed during the demo. Jaffe has likened Twisted Metal to a fighting game, and the comparison seems apt -- I don’t have any understand?ing of the minutiae of fighting games, and it’s impossible for me to have fun with them unless I’m playi??ng someone who’s just as clueless. The depth here is staggering; with such a steep learning curve, it’s important for the game to teach newbies well, and ensure that they can have fun, too.

You can outfit vehicles with an arsenal of your choosing. Each car has two special attacks, in addition to its standard firepower. A high degree of destructibility means that level geometry is always in flux. Some of the cars are better used as support vehicles, like the Juggernaut, a slow tractor-trailer that can open its rear doors for up to two teammates to hang out and man turrets. Many weapons employ a risk/reward mechanic: charging attacks makes them more effective, but in many cases, also more difficult to succeed with. One of the playable vehicles is a damn helicopter, and Sweet Tooth can transform into a freakin’ mech. The variety of opportunities will likely give rise to high-level strategic play, and will hopefully lend Twisted Metal a long shelf life.

I played in three different levels: one set in the suburbs, another in a theme park, and a snowy take on New York. Although there’s plenty of work to be done before the game’s Valentine’s Day launch, the environments impressed me with their size, destructibility, and variability. The level set in a fictionalized New York is full of secret shortcuts, and its verticality -- you can go up into buildings, or head down into the subway -- provides for great hide-and-seek gameplay. The theme park balances a large open area, complete with a Ferris whee?l that can be detached from its moorings, and winding narrow paths on its outskirts. The suburban landscape is sparsely populated and offers near-total destruction. All of them seem to offer play spaces that are “fair” to both sides without having mirrored halves.

I played with the classic control scheme, where the face buttons cover vehicle control and the triggers fire weapons. Eat Sleep Play is also including controls based on modern racing games, with acceleration and braking on the triggers. As I said earlier, Twisted Metal isn’t exactly a pick-up-and-play experience, ?but once I figured out the controls, I did manage to race around the maps and score some kills. The frame rate never dropped during the fast-paced action, and I didn’t see any silly AI bot behavior.

While online play is the star of the show, the game also offers local split-screen action for up to four players, just like old times. However you play, you’ll need to invest a good amount of time to learn the ins and outs of Twisted Metal, even if you’re not new to the series. Thankfully, it looks like it will be wo??rth it.

The post Twisted Metal: A different kind of multi??player? game appeared first on Destructoid.

Twisted Metal director David Jaffe would rather not have an online pass in Twisted Metal, d??eclaring that any lost sales due to used games would be acceptable if it generated new fans. He did, however, admit that it's ultimately up to Sony. 

"Only because we have such a mountain to climb in terms of gaining people's good faith, especially in Europe, and really letting people know that this is a title that's worth getting excited about," he said. "I'm okay with the fact that we might lose sales on this first game if, because of?? it, we generate a lot of fans that otherwise wouldn'??t have played the game.

"The online is so much the bread and butter of this game, so I'm okay ??with it because it means we're setting ourselves up for a possible return to the franchise one day. It's not my call and I'd totally understand if Sony as a company said 'Look, this is a mandate that permeates all of our titles. We're not making selective? choices.'"

Unfortunately, Sony seems intent on cramming online passes into every title going forward, so one can reasonably expect to see it in Twisted Metal. Still, at least Jaffe isn't pleading poverty like Naughty Dog did. Online pa??sses are slightly easier to swallow when they're not accompanied by cowardly, awful excuses.

Jaffe hopes to avoid Twisted Metal online pass [Eurogamer]

The post Jaffe doesn’t want online pass in Twisted Metal appeared first on Destructoid.