What’s better than destroying Los Angeles, destroying opponents with missiles and winning at every location? A wish. Thought I would spice things up a bit. This is where “the world can be my battleground. Paris, Hong Kong… even Antarctica” as said so by Calypso. My name is Becerra and I welcome you to my review of twisted metal 2.

Graphics: 7
1996 was still in the infancy of 3-D games for the PlayStation and the game was decent during its time. The game itself looked nice though it did have some polygon flaws, though that’s normal during the PlayStation era, especially with the lines moving when being still. A nice 3-D environment with 2-D backgrounds that are rather… uninteresting to say…. and the cars are modeled well enough with 2-D windows or 2-D tires on axel’s case. Pedestrians look as if they had been digitally rendered photos in a 2-D shape. I would say that cars often do have a bit of spacing like the vehicle isn’t connected with itself (like the sides not connected to the roof so you see a slither of an opening of the vehicle). When the vehicles are damaged it does give it a more jagged look when at a wrecked state and it does make it harder to maneuver the vehicles at times. Pixelation is a huge problem within the game especially when playing on modern televisions. Compared to other games around 1996, this game wasn’t that huge on graphics

Sound: 7
The music itself is all original to the game. No vocals, just plain rock music to enjoy each stage. Each weapon have a unique sound from homing missiles to power and ricochets. Nothing sounds muffled and the CD quality does make a difference. Though I must say the music isn’t all that memorable, maybe the first stage but that’s about it. Others are just a pass and it’s there to fill the ambient sound of cars shooting one another. Nothing too big here

Addictive: 7
I mean you’re a car shooting other cars. What more can I say? Kidding but the game is rather a simple concept and it a pretty good one at it. It was the 90s when everyone wants radical and explosions with action. With twisted metal 2 you get all that and with two players you can have a bit of fun pitting yourself against a friend. I spent hours on this game and it really doesn’t get old as quickly. Especially when you have different vehicles to choose upon

Story: 7
After the events of the previous twisted metal, the leader, Calypso, wanted to find a way to host the next twisted metal after seeing the city of Los Angeles in shambles and ponders what to do. He sees a globe and an idea struck. Why not make the world his battleground? With twelve vehicles ready to take battle (fourteen with two hidden vehicles) they put each other to vehicular combat until there’s one left standing. This lucky winner will get the ultimate prize granted by Calypso himself, one wish. Will the wish be a dream come true or their own demise? Who knows, play the game and find out. With twelve vehicles (fourteen again… two hidden) each having a motive for that one wish, each have a backstory that can be read during the select screen and it’s up to you if you want to see how their wishes become.

Depth: 6
For a simple concept they made each vehicle stand out. With their own unique special moves and stats (armor, speed, handling and special) you can find a favorite among one of them, and it does have a bit of replay if you want to see every vehicle’s wish. The stages themselves are good at its time but one big complaint is how some stages feel so claustrophobic while others are too open with flats (especially the holland stage where it’s just flat). It’s a mix bag and I think they should’ve done better with the stages. Balance it out so it wouldn’t feel too constricted on some stages while others don’t feel like they’re too wide open just driving on a flat surface. There are a 8 levels to fight in single player where three extra levels are found hidden in two player with some inputs on the level select. Two player is the typical death match and co-op if you want to work together to win the tournament. Pretty bare bones back then and pretty bare bones today.
Gameplay wise it’s simple. You start off with a predetermined set of weapons and your special weapon. Each vehicle has a different recharge rate when it comes to their special weapons and on the HUD it shows a map, health bar, energy meter for energy attacks (freeze, rear attacks, mines) or an energy shield to keep you invulnerable for a set amount of time. It does deplete the meter but don’t worry it does recharge. For weapons, each weapon deals a certain amount of damage to each vehicle (depending on the armor of said vehicle) and can easily restock weapons found around the stage, though once picked up they won’t reappear for a while. Health pickups are available around each stage and helps replenish damage you have taken during your combat by 1/3 (or it looks like 1/3) and one full health pick up that replenish all of your health. As for weapons and health pick ups each stage does include a hidden area, sometimes with a powerful weapon like lightning or a full bar pickup. This can be very advantageous to the user who picks these up.

Difficulty: 9
You think this game would be easy? I mean there is difficulty settings if I do recall but I always leave it at the default. The first stage may be a challenge but it cranks it up with each new stage you go through. You do have a life system that can help out for the long run but once you lose your last life it’s over… or so you think. The game offers a password system where you can pick up where you left off from your previous run or restart to your favorite levels. This game isn’t a pushover and it does take some skill to beat it…. or you can be cheap and put in cheat modes for invincibility and unlimited ammo.

Some people say this was one of the best games out of the series during the PlayStation era, and I would disagree to some degree. Twisted metal felt more so as a test game and twisted metal 2 helped refine the formula and made it better. With its many flaws though… it still has its fun but it doesn’t hold up as well today graphics and subsequent games during the PlayStation’s run. Tho being the 90s who wouldn’t want a game where cars blow each other up and have a burning clown as the mascot? Who doesn’t extreme and yell “90s” all over. Overall on average this game does get a 7.1 but I’ll be lenient with a 7.5. It’s fun but it didn’t age well, not even five years after its release


Average: 7.1
My Rating: 7.5

becerra95 : I remember this game. I played this game at my cousins houses. I think Might have even done a review of this game years ago. Been a while and had a lot going on so cannot really remember. Anyway, I kind of liked this game. It was fun to fire missiles at enemies. When this game came out it was something new and different. One thing though is the hit boxes on this game were kind of strange at times.