Top 50 Video Games: Number 36

#36: Twisted Metal Black
System: Playstation 2
Publisher: Incognito
Released: 2001
Players: 4


Jimbob's vehicle of choice: Mr Grimm wielding a sickle.


The Twisted Metal series of vehicular combat games debuted in 1995 on the Playstation and has seen several sequels. My introduction to the series came a few years ago when Jimbob introduced me to Twisted Metal III. The way the game works is you choose a vehicle at the beginning - they each have different speed, handling and armor as well as a unique weapon. On each stage you must destroy all of the enemy vehicles and possibly a boss. Repeat this until you finish the game or lose all of your lives. Not too complex. Twisted Metal is a competition to the death sponsored by the mysterious Calypso, who promises to grant the winner one wish. Calypso was an absolute tool in TM3; thankfully he got progressively cooler in subsequent games. In TM3 he found a way to fuck you over with your wish. In TM Black he gave it to you, for better or worse.

The game took me awhile to get the hang of, and at first when we played cooperatively my job was not to lose all of our lives while he killed all of the bad guys. Eventually I got better, and we spent many, many hours playing through the game as allies, destroying our enemies with Thumper and Club Kid. TM3 is widely regarded as the Shit Pile of the series, and with good reason - the handling was clumsy and awkward, the levels weren't terribly imaginitive - but Jimbob and I played the hell out of it. When Twisted Metal IV came around, we played it and we enjoyed it. It was full of potential but ultimately disappointing because it was ridiculously easy until the final boss who was ridiculously difficult. And Mr Grimm had gone from a motorcycle riding dead guy who launched skulls at his enemy like he were the headless horseman (cool) to a dorky pirate with a parrot and a cannon (a lot less cool.)


Outlaw, Crazy 8 and Roadkill beating the shit out of each other.


They finally got everything right with Twisted Metal Black. The game looks great, it's fast paced and action packed, it's difficult with being impossible. Some characters from previous games such as Mr Grimm, Spectre and Sweet Tooth are here along with some new faces. The stages are creative, fun, challenging and highly destructable. The game gives a back story and an ending for each character. These are very well done, especially since the stories are usually an afterthought in these sorts of games. The game shows us characters with tales that are dark and disturbing, ranging from cannabalism to serial killers to religous zealotry. Twisted Metal Black has a consistent look and feel through every aspect of the game.

As with every game in the series, multiplayer is where Twisted Metal Black really won me over. Playing through the stages cooperatively (Mr Grimm and Yellowjacket) is fun and challenging. This is also one of the few games I've done any sort of head to head deathmatching in. Jimbob and I are quite evenly matched, and it's a blast to have the game throw us in a random emvironment with a random lineup of cars and duke it out. Battles are a solid mix of strategy, quick thinking and reflexes. All said, the Twisted Metal series has a high standing the annals of Alright Guy-dom. I'm hoping for another entry in the series before the Playstation 2 is phased out.

Oh yeah. And any game where you can launch religous suicide bombers at your opponents is a classic in my book....