Once upon a time, a man named Calypso regularly held a tournament. It was a grisly contest of vehicular carnage in which entire cities were razed as the competitors destroyed everyone and everything around them in their mad quest for victory. But for many years now, the screams have gone silent. It has been over a decade since Calypso’s tournament made its last full-fledged appearance on consoles. At long last, Twisted Metal is back, and this latest entry recaptures the large-scale destructive fun of the series’ best games. As long as you’re open to this particular brand of old-fashioned, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants insanity, you’re sure to enjoy the beautiful chaos of Twisted Metal.
Just as the guns are central to the quality of any shooter, the vehicles are central to the quality of any vehicular combat game, and Twisted Metal’s assortment of deadly machines on wheels is fantastic. Speed and maneuverability are available in sports cars like Kamikaze and the wildly fast Crimson Fury. If you’re more concerned with durability, you might opt for the police SUV Outlaw, or the big rig known as Darkside. Classic Twisted Metal vehicles like Mr. Grimm’s motorcycle (called Reaper here) and the ice cream truck Sweet Tooth are joined by a few new ones. The most notable new entry is Talon, a helicopter whose fragility is offset by its airborne freedom and its devastating ability to lift enemies into the air and then drop them to the ground.
