The madness of car combat returns in the fourth Twisted Metal. Now I know many of you hated Twisted Metal 3. (And I wasn't a huge fan of TM3 ether) But TM4 really comes through with a great game. Although TM4 doesn't surpass Twisted Metal 2 as the best in the series. It's the second best, and only has a few major problems. In TM4 Sweet Tooth has taken over the Twisted Metal contest (along with a bunch of little clown freaks) and Cylpso is now a playable characters trying to win the contest back.
If you hoping to see all your favorite characters return in TM4 your not going to see many. As first the only classic characters are Grimm (now a captain in a pirate ship hotrod) and Warthog (Now a General in a tank) but you can earn the boss characters like Thumper, Axel, Auger, Minion, Mr. Slamm, and or course Sweet Tooth. The FMV is still cheap looking as in TM3 but has upgraded a little. But the endings are definably better then TM3. My only real big complaint on the endings is that the boss characters don't have one.
Also added is a create your own character in the Twisted Metal. You can choose from 9 different cars and customize weapons. This is a nice feature but there could have been a little more options in customizing a car and character. The arenas are huge and most have several levels and secret area to discover.
The control is improved ten folds compared to TM3. The control can be still a little tricky at times but nothing to difficult. There are some glitches in the game. Sometimes you'll find your self trapped on a wall or your opponent trapped. Overall I like TM4 but I wish 989 would look at TM2 and look at ways to make the next Twisted Metal play like it did.
PUBLISHER:
989 STUDIOS
GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND & MUSIC: 8 CONTROL: 8
SECRETS: 10 ORIGINALITY: 7 FUN & REPLAY: 10
OVERALL: 8.5