Twisted Metal for the busy gamer on the go.
In the new Sony PSP game “Twisted Metal: Head On” gamers can choose between ten wickedly twisted drivers and the souped-up death machines they happen to drive. Every car handles differently depending on the size and weight, and each character inside their automobile has his or her (or its) own personal look and persona during the game.
Take Sweet Tooth for example. He’s a crazed serial-killer clown that gets his jollies by driving around blasting missiles in an ice cream truck of doom. Some people might label him a tad on the evil side. On the other hand, the character Outlaw is simply a down-to-earth, law-abiding police officer in an extremely altered squad car. The other selectable characters can range anywhere from upstanding citizen to babbling psychopath.
No matter what woodwork these characters crawled out of, they all have one thing on their mind: winning the Twisted Metal tournament. Much like every other “Twisted Metal” game ever made, a mysterious man named Calypso has promised to grant a single wish to the winner of the tournament, but not just any silly wish like a really a good cheeseburger.
We’re talking about the power to exact revenge on a wrongdoer of the past, bringing back deceased loved ones, or even a chance to redo a past mistake.
It’s no easy task this Twisted Metal tournament. Gamers start in a relatively small arena against a couple of hopeful winners and as they progress further in the game they’ll end up in vast arenas with more and more opponents all gunning for Calypso’s one wish.
The concept of the game is simple: kill or be killed. Much like an ancient Roman gladiator match, random weapons are spread throughout arenas to use. As gamers drive across a weapon, such as missiles, napalm, or any of the other types of weapons, it will attach itself to the car and become available for immediate use. In turn these weapons can be used to destroy all the enemy cars in a level, thus winning the round.
As gamers progress in rounds, the number of cars will increase steadily until finally the game is won, or players are sent home crying to their mommies.
“Twisted Metal” Head-On” is an insanely fun game, especially when you can take it with you and play it on the go with the Sony PSP, but it does suffer from a few set-backs.
The biggest problem is the floaty controls with the PSP’s analog stick. The PSP analog stick is nothing like the PlayStation’s as it is much looser and lacks the resistance that the controller analog stick has. This makes the car a bit more difficult to control in tight turns or close combat situations. The silver lining is that gamers can use the D-pad instead to control their car if they feel uncomfortable with the analog stick.
The next biggest flaw that comes to mind is the lack of any sort of depth. The game can get a bit repetitive and mindless after a few hours with nothing else to do but shoot at other cars. The addition of some mini-games or such would have been a nice break in the action.
Overall “Twisted Metal: Head On” only furthers the point that this series is the best at vehicular combat. While it can get a bit monotonous after awhile, the action is intense and fun. All that, plus the fact that it’s portable and can be played during those long class breaks makes this game all the better.