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Twisted Metal Demo Impressions

S

Sullichin

Member
I'm really glad that this is straight up old school Twisted Metal. I don't know if i'll bother getting good at this before it comes out, but I'll definitely buy this immediately. I have to be in a certain mood to play this, and I've been in Dark Souls mode for a while, so this ultra-fast gameplay is quite a shift. But yeah it feels exactly like a new Twisted Metal should.

But I dislike the aesthetic/fonts/interface. It just feels cheap, like something from a terrible downloadable game, and looks ugly. The graphics are pretty bad as well, bland colors, really angular geometry, not much detail. BUT the performance is super smooth and it's all about the gameplay anyway, which is classic TM as far as I can tell.
 
H

Himself

Member
For this sort of game, I'll take the simpler graphics and color scheme being sacrificed in the name of speed, smoothness, and general mayhem.

When i first started it and my car Was sitting there I thought, "well the graphics are nothing special"' but as soon as the gameplay kicked in I didn't even think about it. Had too much fun.
 
3

3rdamention

Member
SparkTR said:
The demo is great, man I've really missed car combat games. It looks decent as well but my god even an ounce of AF would make a world of difference in this game.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I dont know what happened to that "Car Combat" Genre that was so popular in the 1990's. You had Twisted Metal, Carmageddon, Road Trip, Vigilante 8, Jet Moto (Kinda) and heck a bunch more. Now we almost have none.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
I would like more of an up or down flick to do the extra boost. Pushing forward is a bit annoying.

alr1ghtstart said:
I thought devs had figured out not to use L2 and R2 as primary buttons. I guess not. Button mapping is sorely needed.
Click to expand...

Go to Best Buy and buy some Real Triggers for like 5 to 10 bucks, problem solved. Where else do you want weapon switching and jumping mapped too? L2 and R2 instead? No thanks.
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
AwRy108 said:
You're correct, this was driving me crazy, too.
Click to expand...

Really? I can't say I've backed up much. I find a quick turn with forward momentum is quicker for getting me from being face first in a wall. I think I've backed up once and that was after I figured out you can double tap break to reverse.
 
P

Phoenician_Viking

Banned
Dibbz said:
First you post saying the demo was rubbish and inaccessible now all of a sudden the game is pretty fun. You done the same in the uncharted thread. Oh no game is so hard it's not fun. Oh look I'm winning I like this game. Pathetic.
Click to expand...

What the hell is wrong with you? Learn to respect others.
 
Reallink

Reallink

Member
AwRy108 said:
You're correct, this was driving me crazy, too.
Click to expand...

I thought I was messed up in the head or something, 16 pages and no one had commented on it. How in the world does something like this slip buy?

PsychoRaven said:
Really? I can't say I've backed up much. I find a quick turn with forward momentum is quicker for getting me from being face first in a wall. I think I've backed up once and that was after I figured out you can double tap break to reverse.
Click to expand...

One play through of the training mission (it makes you reverse) should have made anyone exclaim "Wait, WTF?!"
 
H

Himself

Member
Noisepurge said:
yeah jaffe, we know you're here, share some thoughts! :D
Click to expand...

I'm also looking forward to his thoughts on the reception. Im kind of surprised by the overwhelming positivity. I was one of the skeptics who have been converted and it sounds like there are a bunch more. I figure he'll blog about it eventually. He's probably up to his eyeballs in anxiety overload trying to address the issues that have arisen so far.

I can see it now: "what the fuck do you mean the fucking matchmaking is broken?! What the fuck! We fucking gotta fucking fix that shit!"
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Reallink said:
I thought I was messed up in the head or something, 16 pages and no one had commented on it. How in the world does something like this slip buy?



One play through of the training mission (it makes you reverse) should have made anyone exclaim "Wait, WTF?!"
Click to expand...

Yea. It made me say WTF but like I said I don't reverse so It doesn't bother me to occasionally hit a stick to go backwards or to double tap the brake. That's one thing that surprised me though is that the demo didn't explain you could double tap break to reverse. If anything I'd include that into the training.
 
S

Sullichin

Member
Himself said:
For this sort of game, I'll take the simpler graphics and color scheme being sacrificed in the name of speed, smoothness, and general mayhem.

When i first started it and my car Was sitting there I thought, "well the graphics are nothing special"' but as soon as the gameplay kicked in I didn't even think about it. Had too much fun.
Click to expand...

I agree, like I said I'm really happy with the gameplay, that is enough to warrant a purchase for me. I kind of wish it went for the darker visual vibe like TM:B than this, though. The fonts/colors are kind of garish, just not a fan of the art style in general. Also don't know how I feel about no individual drivers tied to cars. Again, still buying the shit out of this. I'm happy my complaints lie with graphics and not gameplay.
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
Himself said:
For this sort of game, I'll take the simpler graphics and color scheme being sacrificed in the name of speed, smoothness, and general mayhem.

When i first started it and my car Was sitting there I thought, "well the graphics are nothing special"' but as soon as the gameplay kicked in I didn't even think about it. Had too much fun.
Click to expand...

For real. The game runs at what feels like a rock solid framerate no matter how much crap is flying everywhere, or how many buildings people are crashing through. That >>>> graphics

Never doubted the game but man this is more fun than I expected. Once you start learning how to apply all the different weapons and tactics, it really opens up. People just mashing the "fire" button should take a minute to think about what each of the weapons brings to the table. Instead of just mashing, try to use the weapons in a certain order for the most success. AKA, don't just waste all of your Homing Rockets right away because those will come in handy when someone with low health start panicking and turning everywhere. Take a minute to charge the really strong missiles before you 180 spin to face your enemy. USE THE MINES. USE THE ICE. USE THE SHIELD. JUMP TO AVOID RAMS. USE THE WALLS AS COVER. etc. etc.
 
R

revolverjgw

Member
My only real complaints- the framerate. It's a smooth and consistent 30, but I thought this game was going to 60, like Black. Second, the weapon change. I was hoping for something like Warhawk, where each of your weapons is just one single button press away. That would be ideal for a game with such a frenetic pace. There's too many weapons for an 8-way d-pad, but I'm sure something could be done. Not a big deal though.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Mrbob said:
Go to Best Buy and buy some Real Triggers for like 5 to 10 bucks, problem solved. Where else do you want weapon switching and jumping mapped too? L2 and R2 instead? No thanks.
Click to expand...
Those things suck. R2 and L2 should be used for non-essential functions like LB and RB on 360.

Button mapping would solve everything.
 
D

Dr Duncan Steel

Member
Where is all this love for Death Warrant? It's special never really seemed to be all that effective. Which is a damn shame mostly because I'd choose that car mostly basing it off asthetics alone. Won the SP challenge using Meat Wagon mostly because of it's insane special. This is an instant buy for me nonetheless considering how much I've missed out on this series (only played Twisted Metal III lol)
 
P

prwxv3

Member
Dr Duncan Steel said:
Where is all this love for Death Warrant? It's special never really seemed to be all that effective. Which is a damn shame mostly because I'd choose that car mostly basing it off asthetics alone. Won the SP challenge using Meat Wagon mostly because of it's insane special. This is an instant buy for me nonetheless considering how much I've missed out on this series (only played Twisted Metal III lol)
Click to expand...

Use his alt and try to time it correctly.
 
R

red731

Member
So I have downloaded TM DEMO from US PSN and now I am downloading TM BETA from my home EU +PSN which is around 200mb more
than the US version for download.

Hopefuly we will be able to play multiplayer.
 
G

.GqueB.

Banned
Dibbz said:
First you post saying the demo was rubbish and inaccessible now all of a sudden the game is pretty fun. You done the same in the uncharted thread. Oh no game is so hard it's not fun. Oh look I'm winning I like this game. Pathetic.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I wouldve said the same thing if I had only played it a few times and came in to post. It wasn’t until after I did the tutorial that I got to actually have fun with the game. It has a very "jump in a play" type of feel but it definitely isnt.

I have a better handle on the controls but I still feel they are very cumbersome and overwhelming. I also made the mistake of picking the crimson fury car first because it looked so cool. Handles like crap.
 
S

Sullichin

Member
It'd be interesting to see the impressions of people who have never played a TM game before. I'm sure i'd hate it. I got wrecked when I played it but I didn't get mad because I know what's up. You can't just fuck around and expect to be good in this game.


Hazanko said:
Will this game have a server list at launch. Warhawk & Starhawk are the only games that have them!
Click to expand...

yeah pretty sure jaffe said it will.
 
H

Hulud

Member
First two games of Nuke under my belt.

First game: 15k 2d; only one missile strike cuz I'm a noob.

Second: 18k 8d; 2 missile strikes, multiple leader captures but my team had no defense so enemies kept killing me and preventing launch. Other team worked together and played objective while my team goofed off.

Fun as SHIT. This is everything I hoped an online TM would be (never played Black online).

Also Vermin and Meat Wagon are great. Vermin maybe moreso.
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
Dr Duncan Steel said:
Where is all this love for Death Warrant? It's special never really seemed to be all that effective. Which is a damn shame mostly because I'd choose that car mostly basing it off asthetics alone. Won the SP challenge using Meat Wagon mostly because of it's insane special. This is an instant buy for me nonetheless considering how much I've missed out on this series (only played Twisted Metal III lol)
Click to expand...

Death Warrant's Alt Special does a mess of damage. Hold fire until the bar gets into the red, release then QUICKLY hold fire again as the missile launchers comes out of the roof. Charge until full and have fun.
 
A

AwShucks

Member
alr1ghtstart said:
Those things suck. R2 and L2 should be used for non-essential functions like LB and RB on 360.

Button mapping would solve everything.
Click to expand...

Those things most definitely do not suck. I have some clip on L2/R2 "triggers" and hate playing without them now. Completely solved all of my issues with those buttons.

Which is good because I prefer the dual shock overall compared to the 360 controller, but the 360 controller has better standard triggers for sure.
 
P

PushingButtons

Member
I've got a bad habit of never letting go of acceleration. No matter how hard I try my thumb stays glued to that Square button throughout the entire match.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
AwShucks said:
Those things most definitely do not suck. I have some clip on L2/R2 "triggers" and hate playing without them now. Completely solved all of my issues with those buttons.

Which is good because I prefer the dual shock overall compared to the 360 controller, but the 360 controller has better standard triggers for sure.
Click to expand...

Well they're terrible to use when you "claw" grip all of the shoulder buttons, which I've always done.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
AwShucks said:
Those things most definitely do not suck. I have some clip on L2/R2 "triggers" and hate playing without them now. Completely solved all of my issues with those buttons.

Which is good because I prefer the dual shock overall compared to the 360 controller, but the 360 controller has better standard triggers for sure.
Click to expand...

Same way. I hate feeling punished when games don't let me switch because others refuse to buy real triggers
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
played about an hour online. great online performance. very smooth even with 16 players and it was a lot of fun

at first i thought crimson viper was too fast. but i used him (it?) for a whole match later on and there is really a great advantage to being able to turn on a dime and weave in and out of traffic/players to effortlessly.

my favorite moment was there were a group of 4 or 5 guys battling it out in a wide open space and i approached by jumping off a ramp and as i was coming down into the crowd i just unloaded my homing missles (i had 7) into this group and killed 2 of them, then got some bonus points cause i guess another one died shortly after from someone else.

there are also a few secret spots in the level. level is really well designed and classic TM
 
B

BeeDog

Member
Matchmaking refused to work for me so had to settle with the Training mode and the Challenge match. Seems like a solid game, but it was absurdly hard to fight the AI for someone as uninitiated as me, so didn't get much mileage out of the demo. I still want to try the multiplayer though, so it didn't scare me away either!
 
O

Owensboro

Member
My experience playing Twisted Metal:

"Hrmm, I guess I'll go to training First."
"Oh good, it's arcade physics, so I can turn while not moving... wait...how do you reverse? Oh that's insane. At least you can just power slide a direction."
"Is that.....Is that 'Straight Outta Compton'.... holy shit it's uncut.. that is awesome."
"I guess I'll try out the challenge."
"Shit. Shitshitshitshit, where's the health? Damn. [Loading screen tells about health as blue triangles] Oh okay. Good."
[2 retries later]
"Man, this game is actually hard. I guess they actually meant "Challenge". Time to play smart instead of just running in guns blazing like Call of Duty."
[after next death]
"I guess I have to run around and try to separate the enemies so I can get them one on one."
"Is that 'Dragula'? Sweet."
"Hahahaha. I just drove through a movie theater tearing seats out of the floor as I drifted around rocking that Semi truck with Missiles. Holy crap this is fun.
"Is that 'Heavy Metal'? This may be the most fittingly awesome soundtrack ever."
[beats challenge]
"Yeah! Fuck you all! I'm the king of this fucking town!"
Click to expand...

Color me surprised. This game is fun as hell and I've only played the challenge mode. I can't wait to try it out online!

Only thing I haven't liked up to this point has been that it's hard to figure out what you can and can't drive through in a level. It seems like trial and error at first, but maybe as I play more I can distinguish destructible from non destructible. Realistically, it's just another thing to learn on the map like health pickups. It's just going to take time to get used to.
 
M

Moofers

Member
Longtime Twisted Metal fan since the first game in 95. I still hold TM2 as the series pinnacle, TM Black close behind, then TM 1, then 4, then 3. Didn't play Small Brawl and would rank Head-On just above 3.

I love the demo. Its just sooo goddamn rock n roll. Doing a wheelie to get your chainsaw blade hot? Awesome. Having a dude hang out the window to snipe/shotgun? Awesome. Love those touches.

Gotta say, after hearing the Weekend Confirmed show, I was really turned off by Jaffe's statements about how single-player was pretty much an afterthought and not what he wanted to do. I really enjoy the single-player part of the demo though, so I'm back on board again. I really hope the campaign has endings and a coherent storyline though. I can accept that Calypso doesn't grant wishes anymore, but I want it to at least seem like it wasn't entirely shoehorned in at the last second. The short stories and motivations for each character were a big part of the appeal for me in the past.

Jaffe said he'd come on my podcast and talk TM, and I've been trying to hold him to it but so far he "big-timed" us once and we stopped asking. The demo has made me decide to ask him again.
 
J

Jubs

Member
I'm still terrible at this game, but it feels pretty awesome popping a wheelie with Reaper and burning up my chainsaw.
 
D

Donos

Member
daamn the game is brutal to just step in. so much happening.but i instantly love it. reminds me off the good old days.looking forward to trying online games.
Thumbs up jaffe !
 
S

SolidC213

Member
bestami said:
I don't get it. Even if i have 2 more kills, 2 less deaths, 1 more assist, dished out more dmg and received less dmg than the first played i scored 50 points less. Gotta be more stylish i guess :p.
Click to expand...

You snuck some kills out from under people. It gives you less points the less damage you do to a player even if you get the finishing blow.
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Owensboro said:
My experience playing Twisted Metal:



Color me surprised. This game is fun as hell and I've only played the challenge mode. I can't wait to try it out online!

Only thing I haven't liked up to this point has been that it's hard to figure out what you can and can't drive through in a level. It seems like trial and error at first, but maybe as I play more I can distinguish destructible from non destructible. Realistically, it's just another thing to learn on the map like health pickups. It's just going to take time to get used to.
Click to expand...

Easy way to tell is size. If a building is huge you will probably have a door way or two to blow up to get inside. If it's small like a house, etc it will be destroyed.
 
T

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
alr1ghtstart said:
Those things suck. R2 and L2 should be used for non-essential functions like LB and RB on 360.

Button mapping would solve everything.
Click to expand...

I quit the demo upon realizing I couldn't switch to R1/L1. And I do have the trigger mod. What bothers me is not so much the triggers themselves, but having to slide the fingers upward to switch weapons or whatever. It 's much easier/faster to slide them downwards. You can even use the middle fingers if you don't want to stop firing. Which is not an option when L2/R2 are your main triggers.

TM is not my kind of game so not a big deal personally. Still odd to see a Sony exclusive doing it wrong.
 
Fixed1979

Fixed1979

Member
zoner said:
Game is so last gen.

I don't mean that in a bad way necessarily, but it's SO last gen. The music, ui, controls, game modes, etc. Not the graphics, but it's kind of weird to see stuff like SSX doing the modern games thing and then seeing Twisted Metal still be like 'yep, this is still Twisted metal'
Click to expand...

Obviously haven't had a chance to try it but I don't consider SSX's new controls to be an advancement, thankfully they still have an old school control option (sorta).
 
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