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Want to Play a Game? Saw Videogame to Release Next Year

Shiva Stella — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:18:08 -0600

Great news for horror fans this afternoon, as Brash Entertainment has announced that it's developing a title based on the popular Saw films and should release said gory gaming bundle of fun in 2009, alongside Saw V's film launch.

Brash has also confirmed that it's utilizing the Unreal Engine 3 technology for the title and is "working closely" with franchise creators, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as Lions Gate and Twisted Pictures. Apparently the game is being designed with the intention of filling in those annoying plot gaps that moviegoers might have noticed.

If you're up for giving the title's official site a glance, you can view it here.

New Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Visuals, Details

Shiva Stella — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:44:15 -0600

Sony has unveiled new screenshots and package details of Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Edition for the PlayStation 2. The game is a essentially a port of the PSP title Twisted Metal: Head On, only with several key improvements. The Extra Twisted Edition includes:

The Core Game Itself- Yep, the hit PSP game - Twisted Metal:Head On - is now on PS2. And now its running at 60 frames/second, has improved textures and art, and even has a new level created specifically for this version (Transylvania Castle).
The Lost Levels - Four brand new levels straight out of the dark, demented world of Twisted Metal: Black. These levels are designed with two player deathmatch in mind and I think they are some of the best Twisted levels we have ever made. My favorites are Suburban Terror and Stadium Slaughter.
The Twisted Metal Symphony- folks who purchase the game will get a free code to let them download a free copy of The Twisted Metal Symphony. TMS is a compilation soundtrack of the greatest musical tracks from TM1, TM2, TM:BLACK, and TM:HEAD ON. Yes, old school TM fans, Rooftops from TM1 WILL be on there!
A Continuous Suicide Of Reason: The Art Of Twisted Metal- a pack in art booklet filled with concept art dating back to the very first Twisted Metal game.
The Dark Past- A 30 minute documentary tracing the history of Twisted Metal, the struggles the team went through in making the games, the success, the failures, the fans,etc. Heck, we even touch on what went wrong with TM3 and Tm4 and what the original team REALLY feels about those games. Its a nice little doc that- I feel- is much more honest than the usual making of puff pieces you see [in] a lot of games these days.
Sweet Tour- This is where you get to take control of Sweet Tooth himself and run him around some levels built for Twisted Metal: Black 2. As you run around, you find icons you can collect. Each icon opens up concept art and behind the scenes information about the making of the series.
The Lost Ending Movies- Back in 1995, I wrote and directed some live action end movies for the very first Twisted Metal. Because they were deemed too sexist and too violent, they never saw the light of day. But its 2008 now and what was once offensive is now just- to most folks- cheesy and charming. So these flicks are on the disc for folks to finally judge for themselves if they are cinematic masterpieces or the final proof of my total lack of talent. Im sure youll let me know which.

You can view the screenshots here or at the link below.

GH Review: Twisted Metal: Head-On (PSP)

Tim Grube — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:56:00 -0600

This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Weve all heard of Twisted Metal. Dating back to the PSone days, many gamers had a chance to get their first experience of the Twisted Metal series thanks to developer SingleTrac. The developer started the Twisted Metal series and developed it until Twisted Metal 2, when 989 Studios took over. After 989 Studios had a little fun with the series, Sony signed on Incognito to handle it. Unfortunately, all the TM titles have been released on the PSone and PlayStation 2 up until now. We now have Twisted Metal: Head On which is a PSP exclusive title and is online enabled.

Twisted Metal has always been a favorite in my book. You have the cool vehicles, each with its own unique weapon, and the levels are usually very large. The same characters are back this time around, including Axel, Crimson Fury, Grasshopper, Hammerhead, Mr. Grimm, Mr. Slam, Outlaw 2, Roadkill, Shadow, Spectre, Sweet Tooth, Thumper, Twister, and Warthog. The vehicles are surprisingly very detailed with the game being on a handheld. The engine sounds are right on and all have their distinctive sound.

A major thing I was impressed with was the magnitude of the levels. When you first start out on some of the levels such as the Dodger stadium, you will think that the level is very small. But little did you know that there are hidden areas that go up into the stadium making it even larger. Egypt goes underground and into the pyramids. Tokyo is another dazzling area to battle it out in, which will have you going up onto the rooftops and such. Each area you join, there are several spots that you can receive your fire power to blow your enemy up. It takes less than a minute for the rotation of a weapon to appear again if someone else took it in a certain spot. Although, I dont suggest you wait around all day for that one weapon in that particular section because there are probably five other locations that have the same weapon. Im glad the developer did this because it keeps the game going rather than allowing a stalemate.

Graphics are very pretty. Im glad many of the PSP launch titles are showing what the system is capable of because I was a bit skeptical at first. Wipeout is still the best-looking PSP title thus far, but I think Twisted Metal falls in right behind it. The explosions of the special weapons are incredible and the other basic weapons show off some killer particle effects.

The weapon arsenal is pretty much the same if youve played previous Twisted Metal titles. You have the basic weapons, including the Machine Gun, Homing Missile, Fire Missile, Power Missile, Ricochet Disc, and Napalm. The skill weapons consist of the Napalm, Remote bomb, and Swarm Missiles. An environment weapon which is a lightning bolt is a unique attack based on your current environment. So for example, if youre in Egypt and you use the lightning bolt attack, this will cause a tornado. The Roman Ruins level will cause a fireball attack. Special weapon, which is in a shape of an S, is another unique attack but exclusive to what car you are using.

Bonus minigames are also included in each environment. If you find a blue teleporter this will take you away from the game and stick you in a bonus game that will allow you to earn extra lives, bonus vehicles, power-ups, and unlock brand new levels. I found many of these to be quite cool. The one you will probably see first is the taxi-can bonus level. You must destroy all the taxi-cabs in the field destruction-derby style with no weapons. It was pretty fun and entertaining.

To top off the title, wireless and online play comes equipped at purchase. You can battle it out with your friends in Ad-Hoc mode but your friend must sit next to you with her PSP to play wirelessly. The other mode is infrastructure. This allows you to jump online through a wireless access point and you can play with five other people in a deathmatch competition. The game also includes Co-Op with one other person for online. I thought this was an enjoyable experience and I saw myself playing for quite sometime online. No lags whatsoever, though I did get dropped from the game once or twice, but not often for me to get really upset.

So far it seems as if many of the PSP titles released at launch have the same problem. The problem is framerate. Now, it isnt all the time you will notice this, but when all the vehicles are in one area and explosions occur, the game tends to slow down for a few seconds. It isnt quite noticeable at first, but after the third or fourth time it becomes quite annoying.

While playing in the office, I noticed the multiplayer servers were down for quite a bit on Twisted Metal. So, what do you resort too? Single-player! Yes, I loaded up single-player and I found myself at the end of the game in less than 24 hours. More specifically, less than the normal work hours. If you are familiar with Twisted Metal titles by now, you will have noticed that this is a trait to all of them, but the PSP is meant to be portable. Many are going to be using it in the car, plane trips, or in their boring history class. Those places do not have access to wireless internet, unless youre very lucky. So you will want the single-player to be decently long.

The game is pretty darn short on the single-player portion. I beat it in one day with numerous breaks in between. The difficulty can be switched to four settings and I still found myself playing the same amount of time on each level. The graphics are simply incredible, with a few little hiccups in framerate and the sound effects are outstanding. Online is where its at though. I played five other people for a few hours and I had one heck of a good time. No lag or disconnects whatsoever. This is a must-have for a PSP owner.

Massive enviroments and online play! Short single-player

Very crisp, but a few slowdowns here and there. Still beautful though.

Not a big soundtrack, so you tend to hear the same songs a few times.

Found myself playing more online than single-player. Lots of extras.

Single player wont last long but online will keep the replay up just a bit.

GH Preview: Twisted Metal: Head-On (PSP)

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:52:05 -0600

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

If you handed me a hand-held, wide-screened, wireless-enabled gaming system and told me to make a game that you can play against all your friends wirelessly, I would probably end up with something very much like Twisted Metal: Head-On. If they told me I couldnt do that, Id probably make a portable "You Dont Know Jack!" Game by the way.

I had a chance to get my hands on Head-On this week, including a rather enjoyable multiplayer session against another journalist and two representatives from Sony. I won. Booyah.

You probably remember the Twisted Metal series; its two iterations made a mild splash on the PlayStation and the PS2s Twisted Metal Black was just great, though not very well-received. The games story can be as simple or complex as you like it, depending on how far you read in the manuals, but the basic idea here is that youre driving a car with guns and missiles and so is everyone else. Destruction, mayhem, etc.

For your solo entertainment, the game offers three single-player modes: Story mode, Challenge mode, and Endurance. Story mode is basic, with a set of character-driven (pun may be intended) missions. Challenge mode and Endurance are less of a commitment; in Challenge you pick a map and have to match or beat some goal scores or times, and in Endurance you just have to last as long as you can against an onslaught of enemies.

Multiplayer mode, however, is where things get really interesting. In addition to allowing you to go "head-on" against up to seven of your friends via the short-range (ad-hoc) wireless modes, you can also hop on Infrastructure mode via a wireless router or a free hotspot and battle for online play. Connecting via ad-hoc mode was simple: someone started a room, it showed up on my screen, I hit X, and there I was. In a four-player match, the framerate was flawless and the game played smoothly. In multiplayer games, all players spawn onto a rather large map with weapon and vehicle upgrades scattered freely about. A rudimentary radar system shows you directionally where other players are, and when someone is close enough to you, an arrow appears on your screen showing the players name and which direction you need to turn to find him.

Because the PSP uses 802.11 technology for wireless gaming, you dont need line-of-sight to connect to other units, or even to be in the same room, so gameplay isnt really constrained as it often is with multiplayer gaming. The four of us were lounging around on couches, pounding away at each others vehicles, and laughing manically as we destroyed each other. I liked how it took quite a few hits to destroy a vehicle, so gameplay lasts longer and you dont need to worry about getting taken out with one direct hit.

Im excited about the notion of playing this game online, because the game is pretty simple and you can just sort of pick up and go; unlike games like Splinter Cell or Halo 2, you can only get so good at a game like this, so you dont have to worry about going online and getting spanked by people with no jobs or lives and who do nothing but play the game online (which is why Im terrified of Splinter Cells online play, people just get too bloody good at it). Twisted Metal has a great play model thats accessible to anyone who can understand that homing missiles home and clusterbombs cluster.

The graphics look great in Head-On; the PSPs beautiful screen makes the game look almost perfect. Its not exactly Burnout 3 on the Xbox, but it isnt supposed to be. Games like this, where you need to be aware of as much of your surroundings as possible, are perfect for the PSPs 16:9 widescreen. The audio packs a punch too, even from those deceptively small speakers.

Before I had a chance to play this game, I probably wouldnt have even considered buying it. Having experienced it first-hand now, Im hooked. Twisted Metal: Head-On makes perfect use of all of the PSPs landmark features. Its the perfect multiplayer game (especially for those who arent interested in sports titles), and its going right on my list of games to buy.