Roark_8's Full Review: Twisted Metal: Black for PlayStation 2
When video games came under assault after the Columbine shooting, I was first in line to defend them. They had warped and shaped my mind for the span of my lifetime and I turned out okay. I read a point once that I agreed with: pong didn’t lead me to play tennis, just sit on my @ss more so don’t blame these games for some kid who has an axe to grind. Twisted Metal:Black, however, has made me waiver a bit. Not so much as to call for book burnings, but I’m starting to worry about some serious mature themes slipping into a non-regulated form of media. Don’t give me that ratings system mumbo jumbo either, if all parents were good enough to pay attention to the ratings on the games they pick up for their kids, then in general we’d have a lot less problems. Twisted Metal:Black is the fifth in the series of vehicular combat games for the Playstation consoles. Evidently, most of the design team from the first 2 releases of the game are back and therefore its quality is much better than the disappointing 3rd and 4th releases. The story goes as this: A man named Calypso has put together a tournament of combat, promising redemption to the victor. He obtains his combatants from a local mental institution, each, of course, with their own story. This is where I get uncomfortable with the game. If it were just a car combat game, fine. Kids aren’t going to steal a semi and start shooting rockets out of it, the purpose of gaming is fantasy, and teaching kids the difference between this fantasy and reality is an important thing, Blah blah blah. See the stories of these mental inmates and their reason’s for being there can border on the extreme. I played and beat the game with a character called Mr. Grimm. Mr. Grimm rides a motorcycle and wears a skull as a mask, your typical scary stuff. But as you progress through the different levels, Mr. Grimm’s story is told. Stop now if you don’t want a spoiler, I need to explain his story to make my point. It seems that Mr. Grimm was a normal kid who was sent off to Vietnam for the war. *Yawn* Guy goes to ‘nam, goes crazy from war. We’ve seen it before. But, aha! There is a twist. Mr. Grimm’s buddy was shot, (Quite graphically I may add), and while he is trying to tend to his friend’s wounds, Mr. Grimm and his buddy are caught and thrown in a hole as prisoners. After a few days without food, a face appears at the top of the hole and says something like, survival of the fittest, and throws down a knife. If you don’t see where this is going, let me explain because the game sure does. Mr. Grimm is forced to EAT HIS FRIEND TO SURVIVE! He then puts on his friend’s skull as a helmet and proceeds to go crazy. What is this? I was dumbfounded. This is where I draw the line. I think before we go any further in gaming, we need to make sure that our rating system is working to keep this out of kids hands. Call me conservative, or whatever, but we have to limit things somewhere.
That rant aside, for the adults of the group, this actually is a really fun game. The visuals are stunning, the gameplay is well balanced, music is superb, and the 2 player is a blast.
Controls:
The controls take a while to get used to. It is the first game that I have played that used both nipples (analog sticks) of the PS2 controller. Steering is done with the left stick and the acceleration and braking is done with the right one. You can gas and brake with the O and X buttons but it is far easier with the sticks. This is because when you press the sticks down and get that click, it gives you an added use. If you press the left stick down, you get the “tight turn” feature, while pressing the right one down gives you turbo. With your thumbs on the nipples, your top fingers are free to use the shoulder buttons; R2 for machine gun, L2 for Special weapon, and L1 and R1 for cycling through weapons. As I said, using the stick takes a bit to get used to, but once you do the controls are pretty intuitive.
Sound:
The game opens with The Stones opening riff to “Paint it Black.” Very neat effect and if you beat the game you get to hear the whole song as the credits play. During gameplay, the sound is really well done. Homing missiles are heard as they approach, each character has their own sounds, etc. There is also a very cool effect that if you are wondering around picking up weapons with no enemies in sight, the music will die down and just the sound of your engine will be heard. But as soon as an enemy jumps over a wall and surprises you, the music pumps back in to get the juices going.
Graphics:
Again, superior. The levels are astonishingly huge and interactive. Most buildings can be destroyed and there are many surprises with this. If you blow up the footing of the Ferris wheel, it will fall of the hinges and roll through town causing havoc. Some levels change throughout the gameplay. For example, one level starts off on a boat and enlarges as the boat docks and the cars are able to go ashore. Each level is also filled with many secrets to unlock as well. The movies, although as said before are quite disturbing, are all well done cinematically and visually impressive.
Gameplay:
All of that other stuff aside, this game is just flat out fun to play. The characters range in vehicle from a taxi to a dump truck to a hearse as well as difficulty to master. The learning curve is about a couple of hours before you really know what you are doing. However, to be effective with the semi, for example, it takes a lot of development time. The characters are pretty well balanced with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. I do have a couple of complaints, though. There is little variability in the actual gameplay. Every level, each very unique and tough to figure out, is the same thing. It doesn’t matter if you are fighting in a junkyard or jumping over the tops of skyscrapers, the premise of “find opponent and blow them up” is still there. Also, the end boss is excruciatingly hard. He’s in a chopper for God’s sake! So all ground weapons are useless. This seemed unfair to me. Why suddenly change the rules of the game and give this guy the ability to fly? The mulitplayer is always a hit with people, which, I think, accounts for some of the popularity of the game genre.
Conclusion:
So, I suppose, if you are over 18 or some arbitrary number, I would give Twisted Metal:Black nothing but high marks. It’s addictive, fun to play with your pals, and there is plenty to discover. If you’re under that arbitrary number and you are reading this, I’m sure my warning about its mature content have only peaked your interest, so be sure to go ask your mom or dad to buy it for you.
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