PixlBit

Twisted Metal is back and it looks better than ever.

In my opinion, Sony's biggest surprise of E3 was the reveal of Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3. I've enjoyed the series in the past, and a new entry in the series is quite welcome as it has been dormant for far too long.

I can't say I know much about what will be included in the game, but I can say that from what I played, there have been some definite improvements to control and the fluidity of gameplay.

The demo I was able to try out was a team multiplayer battle. There were six of us in the match, with three per team. Basically, players had no other purpose than to eliminate opposing team members. It seemed that the typical weapons were at each players disposal. The infinite ammo machine gun, a supply of missiles and other special weapons picked up from boxes placed around the map, and the simple ability to just ram the crap out of anyone in your way with the use of turbo.

Joining this repertoire was another set of abilities that were tied to the D-Pad on the PlayStation 3 controller. Given the situation players could put proper use to them. One direction would throw up a temporary shield so that you may get to safety and grab a health pack. Another would freeze an enemy near death, allowing you to deal the final blow. There was one other attack if I recall correctly, but I'm not quite sure what it did.

The level we played in was highly destructible, allowing for a full speed turbo smash through just about anything. The buildings crumbled in pieces which was also a nice touch. Not to mention, that everything looked really nice. I've heard from a few people that they thought the game didn't look so good from videos, but in person it looked great and ran at a smooth 60 frames.

In general, moving around in the game felt really good. I never felt as if I was moving too fast, and catching up with enemies always felt possible. Quick turns with the E-Brake made it really easy to reverse direction and chase an enemy even if they made an unforeseen movement.

Overall, Twisted Metal demoed very well and left a big impression on me. I'm extremely excited for its release, and I hope that Eat Sleep Play really blows away fans with content. Given the control of the game and the beautiful presentation, content is the only place I can even see this game faltering when it sees release next year.