Lawrence.com

Some of my fondest memories of the PSX are of the Twisted Metal series. The original was the very first game I picked up for the system, and it was a blast. Singletrac created a game with a unique sense of humor, great characters, and a strict "blow up anything that moves" mentality. Twisted Metal 2: World Tour took everything that was great about the game and made it 10 times better. You traveled across the world, blowing up national landmarks and causing general mayhem.

Unfortunately, the fun of the first two did not transfer well to 3 and 4. Control over Twisted Metal development was handed over from Singletrac to 989 Studios, which spelled almost certain death for the series. The third and fourth installments featured loose controls and uninspired environments, and it lacked the overall charm of the original two.

Not long after the PS2 launched, news spread of another installment in the series. Many of the minds that created the original two had formed Incognito Entertainment, and they would be producing the new game: Twisted Metal Black. The cartoonish feel of the originals had been changed to a very dark, morbid story of escaped insane asylum inmates. Despite this drastic change in tone, the gameplay made a great return to form. TM:B featured amazing car combat, and the series was officially back in the right hands.

That was 2001. Now, with the launch of the PSP, Incognito has released yet another Twisted Metal game, and it certainly ranks among the best. In almost every conceivable way, Twisted Metal: Head On feels like the true spiritual successor to Twisted Metal 2. The goofy vignettes and globetrotting missions are back, as well as many of the most beloved characters. Even some of the levels from World Tour have returned in improved form, including Paris and Hollywood. Even moreso than the past games, anything and everything is destructible in these vast levels.

The standard assortment of weapons is back (Fire Missiles, Homing Missiles, Napalm, etc), as well as the character-specific special weapons. It's these special weapons that make it fun to play through the game as each and every character. All of them are appropriate to the character: Twisters' special spins you around in a tornado, while Mr. Slam, well, slams you.

The story mode is fairly straightforward. You pick your character, and play through the 11 stages destroying all of your opponents. Along the way are several boss fights and hidden minigames. These minigames are a totally new addition to the series and are usually activated by finding a secret teleporter in various levels. Various objectives range from shooting napalm at helicopters to racing across Greek rooftops. They're a fun diversion, and are actually practical in the fact that they grant you new weapons.

The control is decent, but not quite as user-friendly as its predecessors. The lack of L2 and R2 buttons makes switching between weapons less convenient, as that task is now handled by the triangle button. Your car can turbo by double-tapping the gas, but you'll find yourself accidentally doing this when you don't want to. This can be very costly sometimes, as it sent me careening over an edge more than once. In addition to this, the analog control feels awkward, and it's much easier to just control with the D-pad.

While maybe not the best available showcase for your new PSP, the graphics are by no means bad. They're not quite as sharp as those seen in TM:B, but it comes close. Particle effects are all over the place and are very impressive for a handheld. Explosions and missile trails both look great. The level textures aren't very detailed, but this is made up for in the deep draw distance.

Upon first playing the game, I was worried that Head On was going to feature some very unfitting licensed music. The first level involves you driving around a stadium while a band onstage plays a song that sounds straight out of Burnout 3's abysmal soundtrack. Much to my enjoyment, I discovered you could end the song by remote-bombing the living hell out of the band members. Luckily, the rest of the levels feature the same style of music that the original two games had (which fit very well). Unfortunately, the music seems very faint and muffled under all of the sound effects.

Multiplayer is great fun, with co-op still being the best mode. It's easy to connect and play with a friend, and I noticed no visible lag. Deathmatch is great too, especially if you're playing with more than one opponent (the game supports up to six).

TM:HO features a lot of replay value, especially for a handheld. There are 14 standard characters (along with some surprise unlockables), and they feature the same cheesy ending movies that TM2 made famous. Despite being extremely campy and featuring terrible voice acting, these vignettes are generally entertaining enough to warrant at least one playthrough with each character.

I would absolutely recommend this game if you enjoyed Twisted Metal 2 at all. If you've only played TM:B, the gameplay here will be familiar enough to pick up and play immediately. It's a great "pick up and play" game, which is ideal for portable gaming.

Graphics: B

Sound: B

First Play: A-

Last Play: B+

Gameplay: B+

Overall: 89% B+