Twisted Metal 2

The Good
One of the key truths in any entertainment industry is that violence sells. Look at the WWF, the prime-time cop shows, the big-budget action flicks. While movies like Citizen Kane and games like Grim Fandango may help sell us on the artistry of their nature, the hard truth is people want to see things killed and stuff blown up. Enter Twisted Metal 2.

The game itself is rather simple. You are competing in a worldwide car combat game staged by the great Calypso, who is apparently ruler of the world or something. Pick one of several quirky vehicles, ranging from a flamethrowing Chevette to a spinning F1 to some poor sap strapped between two monster wheels. You then play through a series of environments that represent worldwide locations and run'n'gun, picking up weapons and dishing out punishment, trying to be the last motor running.

Despite its flaws, the game comes through on the single most important issue with any game: it's FUN. The gameplay is very well designed, with each car having it's own "special" move, and a tight, yet totally unrealistic physics model that allows you to turn on a dime and go flying 100 feet in the air, and then coming down with nary a scratch. The weapons are your standard fare: dumbfire and homing missiles, ricochet bombs, mines, and napalm, to name a few. Every car has a life gauge that can be replenished by (rare) health pickups. The whole game plays like a wonderfully deranged blend of Mario Kart and Quake.

The environments are also very nice. The pick of the litter is obviously the Paris level, which features a destructible Eiffel Tower in addition to several priceless works of art in the Louvre, but also of note is the Antarctica level, which collapses piece by piece until one small glacier island is left, and the absolutely HUGE Hong Kong level, which contains a subway (complete with oncoming train), and one of the biggest, most bad-ass bosses in any combat game.

The multiplayer modes are good too. While the PSXs low-resolution limits the field of view, the game doesn't take a noticeable performance hit, and there is a very nifty co-operative mode where two people can play through the game against a bunch of other computer players as a team.

Also of note is the quality sound work in this game. The explosions are loud, the missiles are crisp, and the music is kick-ass. The L.A. level features a terrific hard-rock anthem, the Antarctica level has a sweeping orchestral score, and the Paris level has (what else?) an electric guitar rendition of Frere Jacques.

The Bad
I did say this game had flaws, however, and they are notable. First and foremost, this game is just plain ugly. The graphics are skanky even for a second-generation title, with h-e-a-v-y pixelation and blocky environments, though the cars themselves are very well done. The "story" mode features some horrible cut-scenes with still 2-D cartoons and bad voice acting, like a barely animated comic book. Overall, this game looks like a dog.

And although the game garnered heavy praise for it's interactive environments, that can be a bit misleading, as it's usually only one or two big objects in the level that can be destroyed. They aren't as interactive as you might think. There are also several levels where the designers obviously ran out of gas, such as Moscow, which is merely a giant bowl with signs around the edge in Russian, and Holland, just a giant square field with two destructible windmills.

And although the game is undeniably fun, it is shallow. The FMV endings aren't worth beating the same eight levels over again with every car, and only two or three levels are so good you'll be coming back to them often. Depending on how much you like shallow, twitchy games, this one might not hold your interest for too long.

The Bottom Line
When it comes right down to it, you're not playing this game for pretty graphics or terrific cutscenes, you're playing it for fun, and TM2 delivers in a big way. But the no-frills approach of the graphics, presentation, and some of the levels might make you think twice about giving this more than a weekend's rental.