Twisted Metal 2: World Tour

Developer - Sony
Publisher - Sony
Players - 1-2
Extras - None

The bit on the box

"They trashed L.A. Now they're speeding to a town near you! More cars, more weapons, more mayhem! Turbo charged speed collides with high-octane violence on the tarmac battlegrounds of tomorrow."

Graphics

It is immediately apparent that graphics have taken second place to playability in Twisted Metal 2. Although much better than it's predecessor, and just as quick (if not quicker), I found myself disappointed by the overall look of the game. There is a fair bit of pixelation when things get close up, and quite a large amount of texture popup on some stages. Also the car physics just don't feel like they should, with even the heavier vehicles acting as if they are sliding around on ice (this would be fine on the Antarctic level, but on a dry road or in a field it just makes it seem silly). At least the levels are much bigger this time around though (with more secret bits, hooray!).

Sounds

The sound effects are a huge improvement over the original Twisted Metal. The automobiles no longer all sound like Model Ts and the various weapons appear to contain more punch than they did. The enemy taunts (when they use a special weapon) are still there, allowing you to know who you're up against, how far away they are and in which direction they may be coming from (this is great if you have stereo sound). This feature is better implemented in Twisted Metal 2 than it's predecessor and can cause a feeling of dread when you hear your least favourite opponent coming towards you. The music is similar to the first game, and this is a good thing as the game has always used pumping hard rock tracks, but this time they have been modified a little to suit which country the battle takes place in. A nice touch.

Gameplay

Apart from the aforementioned icy road effect, this game blows away the original Twisted Metal in all facets of gameplay. The premise is the same, go into a tournament type area and battle a certain number of enemies (pre selected by the computer AI) and KILL KILL KILL! Kill them all to be the last car standing and you will progress to the next level, which will contain harder environments and more opponents to overcome. The biggest selling point of this game though, is the split screen two player option that allows two people to either go head to head in a deathmatch mode, or team up and battle together against the computer controlled vehicles (while maybe occasionally sending a missile up your friend's bum just for fun). If there was something I could say against the gameplay, it's the enemy AI has been changed so that now they hardly ever run away from you (In the original game I highly enjoyed trying to catch Mr Grimm on his motorcycle to ram him, the quick little bugger).

I feel a verdict coming on

Graphics aside, Twisted Metal 2 is immense fun and with perseverence very rewarding (much better endings than the original game, done in cartoon style), and the value of the game doubles if you have two controllers and a friend to play against (or with, ooer). As far as characters are concerned, some old favourites make an appearance and there a few new faces who have entered the tournament to seek their wildest dream. Calypso himself now has much more personality, and looks far better in cartoon form (he looked so silly in the first game). With luck, Sony will make a third Twisted Metal title, and this time beef up the graphics to match the addictive gameplay. In the meantime, I'm off to seek out Mr Grimm!!

Review by D.R.T.Barrett