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Game Data -
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment - Developer: SCEA & SingleTrac - Platform: Sony Playstation - Genre: Car combat - Players: 1 - Memory Card: N/A - Released: NA Nov. 08 '96 | EU Feb. 10 '97 | JP Aug. 28 '97
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Twisted Metal 2 - Still widely considered to be the best car combat game ever made, what makes Twisted Metal 2 so special? Find out in this exhaustive deep dive! |
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Premise
The first Twisted Metal tournament reduced the entire city of Los Angeles to ruin. It couldn't have gone better! But now the tournament's enigmatic host, Calypso, faces a dilemma. Where can he hold his next installment of vehicular homicide based sports entertainment? Then it hits him like a head on collision: the venue for Twisted Metal 2 will be the whole world! Paris, Hong Kong... Even Antarctica. This time there will be nowhere to hide.
The rules are as simple as ever. Twelve contestants enter. One contestant lives. The prize? Anything the lucky winner desires... But they had better be careful what they wish for. Are you ready, driver?
Gameplay
The first thing you'll notice about TM2's gameplay is that the physics are completely insane. Your vehicle gets launched high in to the air when it drives over even the slightest incline, and the way momentum works in general is absolutely demented. You can go airborne at 100 MPH, turn 45 degrees while you're flying, then the moment you hit the ground you'll just keep going at 100 MPH.
It seems uncontrollable at first.
But then you realize your vehicle is very, very easy to control when it slows down. And it dawns on you: the physics can be tamed. You just need to learn when to drive slow and when to drive fast.
You'll also learn how to turn your vehicle faster than lightning using the quick turn button(press X + Left or Right when you're moving at low speed, or X + [] + Left or Right from a standstill).
And how you can perform different degrees of powerslides depending on your speed, the sharpness of your turn, and whether or not you brake.
After a while you'll have movement mastered. It takes skill and patience, though. What I'm saying is, TM2 doesn't have shallow gameplay. It's not like you can just hold the accelerator and mindlessly blast things. It's actually pretty deep.
Weapon pickups are generously scattered across every level but they don't give you much ammo so you'll constantly be racing around grabbing more.
These pickups come in two flavors. Guided and unguided.
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Fire Missiles
Your basic missile weapon. Weak homing.
Homing Missles
These are like Fire Missiles but they're much, much better at homing.
Napalm
A ball of fire that gets lobbed like a mortar. Very weak homing, very hard to aim, but also very destructive.
Lightning
Certain levels feature a lightning trap that electrocutes any vehicle unfortunate enough to get near it. Use this to activate it. |
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Power Missiles
They deliver high damage but their total lack of homing makes them hard to aim.
Ricochet Bomb
A huge, powerful bomb that ricochets around the level until it hits a vehicle. Any vehicle. Even yours. Use with caution. (Note: It's also slightly buggy. If you launch it while going too fast it'll instantly explode on you, so slow down before unleashing it, or use a slower vehicle).
Remote Bomb
You can plant this fearsomely powerful bomb anywhere and detonate it at will. It also explodes on contact so it effectively doubles as a landmine. Great for use against immobilized opponents. But watch out. You aren't immune to its explosion. |
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Not only are these weapons fun but they're as close to perfectly balanced as it gets. None of them are overpowered and the stronger ones are made fair by being harder to use.
But that's not all. Each character also has his or her own special weapon. These aren't pickups, though. You automatically receive one special weapon round every minute or so.
These special weapons range from Twister turning in to a literal tornado, to Thumper unleashing a killer flamethrower, to Hammerhead just flat out running other vehicles over, and many more. These aren't quite as balanced as the regular weapons but none of them cross the line in to unfairness
Then on on top of that, you have advanced moves activated by button combos. Among other things, you can activate a shield, fire a weapon behind you, and launch an ice missile that freezes opponents for a few seconds.
Each advanced move drains energy from your advanced move bar. It recharges fairly quickly, though. So you can go pretty crazy with advanced moves but you can't outright spam them.
It should be noted that TM2 is a bit finicky about recognizing button combos. You have to input them rather slowly or else they'll fail to register, which is incredibly counter-unintuitive, but you'll have no trouble pulling off advanced moves once you understand this quirk.
As for game modes, TM2 features a singleplayer tournament that has you going through all the levels facing randomized opponents(your heart will sink whenever Sweet Tooth shows up), a challenge mode where you can freely select any level and choose your opponents, two player deathmatch, and amazingly enough, two player co-op. It doesn't seem like a lot, but trust me, combine that with 12 playable characters and it's enough to keep you occupied forever.
So yeah, did I mention the gameplay's deep?
Artificial Intelligence
The AI players in TM2 are anything but mindless. Each one seems to have an actual personality, from Sweet Tooth constantly spamming his special attack at you from across the level, to Mr. Slam creeping up to capture you in his shovel, to Grasshopper yelling "YEEHAW" and launching herself at you whenever you're anywhere near her.
It's like playing against superb multiplayer bots years before Unreal Tournament and Quake III popularized the concept.
Of course there are moments when they show their flaws, but for the most part, they do a stunningly good job of emulating human opponents. You'll even develop major grudges against some of them. Think you won't? Oh, you will. You will.
They're also amazingly vicious. Good luck beating tournament mode with only 3 lives. You'll need it.
Levels
TM2 is great for numerous reasons and level design is one of the biggest. There are only 8 in total but I think that's because SingleTrac refused to repeat any ideas or add any filler.
You'll find yourself tearing up the streets of Paris(where you can fight inside of - and demolish - the Eiffel Tower), jumping across rooftops in New York, and racing against the clock as the entire level crumbles around you in Antarctica. And that isn't even half of it.
Two of the levels are on the simpler side, but their simplicity serves to make them stand out in a positive way. Moscow is best described as a two-tiered bowl of death, and Holland features an ironically serene field with nowhere to hide but two windmills. Although don't hide for too long or else the AI might blow them up in their quest to blow you up.
But everything else is vastly more complex. Los Angeles is a playgound of destruction filled with ramps, tunnels, a fire pit, some destructible buildings, and a big lightning trap you can use to zap your enemies(or yourself if you're not careful).
Hong Kong offers more than just sprawling streets, it has a working subway system and a whole battle arena tucked away in the middle of the city that's like a level-within-a-level.
Amazonia sees you fighting for dear life on precarious pieces of land floating in a sea of lava.
Another thing to note about these levels is that they're big(with the exception of Moscow and Holland). Really big. And amazingly enough, the draw distance is excellent. You can see for what seems like literal miles, which means you can attack your opponents from surprisingly long distances. And they can attack you right back. What goes around comes around.
They also don't come across as "singleplayer". These levels were clearly designed with multiplayer in mind, like 2fort5 from Team Fortress or Blood Gulch from Halo, to which they stand toe-to-toe. Yes, they're that good.
And although you probably won't find anyone to play TM2 with the year 2026, the AI is more than adequate enough to make you feel like you're playing these brilliant levels, online, with real people.
Sound
The music here is generally 90's hard rock/metal, but it takes some detours in to awesome orchestral arrangements and even a traditional Asian-style piece for the Hong Kong level. These tunes are as varied as the levels themselves and they fit the car combat mayhem like a glove. For lack of a better term, they just hit right.
This is hands down one of the greatest soundtracks to ever grace the Playstation. Is it worth listen to even if you have zero interest in playing TM2? You bet it is.
Sound effects are beefy and full of personality, with no two noises sounding alike. The whole thing is a chaotic cacophony of blazing weapons and squealing tires, and best of all, they neither overpower the music nor are they overpowered by it. The mixing is excellent.
The voice acting is total complete cheese, but it's cheese of the best possible kind. The voice actor for Calypso in particular, Mel McMurrin, deserves a special nod. He has an incredible voice, and instead of trying to put in a "serious" performance, he chose to ham it up as hard as humanly possible and TM2 is all the better for it.
In Conclusion
Is TM2 the best car combat title ever made? I'd say so. Nobody has ever been able to replicate its formula of deep gameplay, fantastic AI, and superb level design. Not even its own creators could make another game on par with it.
If you have any interest in vehicular combat, or even just action games in general, then get yourself a copy of TM2. It's as good as the legends say.
RATING: STILL THE BEST CAR COMBAT GAME FOR 30 YEARS AND COUNTING
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On the week Twisted Metal 2 was released...
Bill Clinton won re-election against Bob Dole in a presidential race that was a gift to comedians everywhere, Conan O'Brien visited London, and Kobe Bryant debuted in the NBA. |
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