Product description
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DESTRUCTIVE 3D ENGINE. Experience an all-new next generation 3D
engine with TruPhysics . Feel your vehicle get waxed! MORE
TWISTED METAL. Get twisted with 14 high-powered vehicles, an
arsenal of all new weapons and unbeatable bosses! Try Vibration
Mode with the Dual Shock analog controller for a heightened sense
of mass destruction! DEADLY BATTLEGROUNDS. Ten new and explosive
battlegrounds to torch, each with its own gameplay style and
strategy, featuring two and four-player modes with special
multi-player arenas and head-to-head mayhem! WICKED TUNES. Take a
ride on the wild side with adrenaline-pumpin' music for your soul
by Rob Zombie. Shred it up!
.com
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Combining the road rage-inspired dark fantasies of Mad Max (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000006N61/${0} ) with a twist of campy black
humor, Twisted Metal III is a worthy addition to the emerging car
combat genre. Though the game is sure to be a hit with newcomers
of the series, fans of the previous Twisted Metal games will find
that TM III doesn't quite fire on all cylinders.
The story runs somewhere between Mortal Kombat and your wildest
dreams of demolition derbies. But the paper-thin plot doesn't
matter: you have a rad car and aren't afraid to use it. Whether
you choose to control the monster truck driven by the little old
lady, Mr. Grimm's motorcycle o' death, or what is quite possibly
the coolest ice-cream truck ever, you'll speed and skid around
the asphalt-covered levels, grabbing power-ups and blowing up
your nents with a wide array of vehicle-ed weaponry.
In a game like this, several things are key: physics, control,
and level design. Twisted Metal III departs from the previous
games in the franchise. The levels are smaller and the physics
and controls conspire to make the vehicles handle oddly. The
bottom line: car-smashing fun that doesn't quite live up to the
glories of the prequels. --John Cocking
Pros:
* Cool vehicles
* The London level
* Knocking your foes off the rooftops in Tokyo
Cons:* Driving in reverse using the analog controls
* There are some small, small levels
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Review
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If you've made it to this point in your life without playing a
Twisted Metal game, that's all right, we'll explain it to you.
The trilogy is probably best described as a vehicular version of
Midway's Mortal Kombat or else a James Cameron's Terminator take
on a demolition derby. In it, a horde of over-the-top characters
compete against each other in cars and trucks armed with
missiles, freeze rays, and other assorted weapons of destruction.
This time out, there are a few new cars and weapons, and you have
an option to have a computer-controlled ally aide you in the
tournament, though he always seems to be the first one blown up
in the fight. The biggest change to the series though is that its
developer has changed from SingleTrac (who've started a new, but
like-minded, auto-combat series under the moniker Rogue Trip for
GT Interactive) to 989 Studios, a Sony-owned development studio.
This affects the game on nearly every level.
Graphically, the game appears much differently from the previous
titles in the line, though it's not necessarily improved. There
are various shading and lighting effects at work, but the end
result is somehow grainy and washed out. The title's soundtrack,
which is comprised of songs by Rob Zombie and Pitch Shifter, is
very fitting, but the supporting sound effects are very weak. For
example, the machine sounds like a cap pistol and driving
through water inexplicably sounds pretty similar to that.
The game's much-touted new physics engine turns out pretty
strange in function. The cars will now dip and roll upon
collision, which sounds fantastic in theory, but in practice is
fairly questionable since vehicles will often flip over after
hitting a small curb or even a snowman. The collision detection
is also highly suspect, as instances where you'll find yourself
stuck on a ledge or halfway into a wall are frequent. It's very
nice to have analog control this time, but the physics engine
really works against it.
The main downfall of Twisted Metal III though is its lackluster
level design. Most of the stages are, if not modeled after,
extremely reminiscent of levels from the first two games, and
those that aren't are even more uninspired. The Washington level,
for instance, is a long rectangular courtyard with a ramped area
on one end and teleportation sphere (which sends vehicles to the
ramped area) on the other. Snore.
In the two player modes, the default horizontal split-screen runs
into the same problem found in SingleTrac's Rogue Trip. Since the
levels are no longer as flat as in the previous TM games, having
half you horizon cut away makes it hard to see in hilly or
ramp-heavy levels. Fortunately, the designers had the fore
to include a wide variety of split-screen perspectives, such as a
vertical cut and variations on a four-way split where the other
two boxes are filled with radar, speedometer, and weapons info
(these are the best since you view the world through a smaller
version of the full screen). In the three- and four-player modes,
the perspective is similarly cornered. Both appear to cut into
the frame rate and increase the visible seams between surfaces,
but not majorly. Multiple views aside though, the game is as much
fun in multiplayer mode as it is in single player. As there,
you'll be struck with the feelings of "Why am I here?" and "Why
am I playing this" after a level or two.
There are a few good ideas at work within Twisted Metal III (such
as the multiple perspectives), but they're not nearly enough to
counter the fact that improvements to the gameplay are pretty
slight and the level design is a big step backwards, making the
game a real lemon overall. If this is the direction the series is
taking, it should probably stop right here. Take a look at
Activision's Vigilante 8 or GT Interactive's Rogue Trip instead.
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
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