Twisted Metal: Black
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| Twisted Metal: Black | |
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| Developer(s) | Incog Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Release date(s) |  June 18, 2001
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| Genre(s) | Car combat |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
Twisted Metal: Black (often referred to as TM:B) is the PlayStation 2 incarnation of the Twisted Metal series of car combat video games, created by Incog Inc. and distributed by Sony Computer Entertainment. An online enabled multiplayer-only variant, Twisted Metal: Black Online, was released later as a free send away for early adopters of the PS2's Network Adaptor accessory.
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[edit] Overview
After the lackluster versions of Twisted Metal produced by Sony's 989 Studios division, Sony sought to return the franchise to its roots for the PS2 incarnation. To do so, they handed off the franchise to newly formed developer Incognito Entertainment, which was founded by several previous employees of SingleTrac (the developer responsible for creating the Twisted Metal franchise), including several of the key developers behind the first two Twisted Metal games. In contrast to the relatively light-hearted nature of the original two incarnations, however, TM:B is a very dark game, with every one of the playable characters being clinically insane (and most confined to an asylum.) The gameplay, on the other hand, is based on the original SingleTrac engine, and as such is easy to pick up and play, but can become very deep, especially when one takes into account the energy attacks available to all players (see below).
As with all of the Twisted Metal games, the overarching storyline is the same - the characters, all having some deep wish that they want to be granted, are confronted by Calypso, a man who can grant their heart's desire, on one condition - they must battle each other to the death and win the Twisted Metal Tournament. In TM:B, the characters are portrayed as having nothing to lose, so they all eagerly take up Calypso's deal, and are soon outfitted with a vehicle suited to their personal tastes, and a command to fight to the death.
It should be pointed out that Calypso is indeed malevolent, and seeks to encourage that trait. Characters who have malevolent wishes have them filled beyond what they had wished for, while those seeking more noble ends find that Calypso always has the last laugh.
[edit] Weapons
As TM:B is centered around car combat, the game contains a massive number of weapons that can augment the player's onboard machine guns and give them the edge they need.
[edit] Basic Weapons
The basic weapons are an assortment of projectiles that the player can find scattered all over the battlefield. Each has limited ammo (excepting the onboard machine guns) as well as strengths and drawbacks.
- Machine Gun - the base weapon for every car, the Machine Gun is what you fall back on when your other ammo runs empty. Though the ammo is infinite, be aware that continuous fire will overheat the gun, kicking in the safeties and disabling it until the gun barrel can cool.
- Machine Gun Upgrade - By finding explosive rounds, the damage potential of the Machine Gun can be increased. That said, improved ammo is limited in quantity. A maximum of 60 rounds can be carried at one time.
- Homing Missiles - With an exceptionally accurate avionics package installed, Homing Missiles are near impossible to avoid. However, the seeking ability comes at a price - a small warhead has to be used, resulting in low damage.
- Fire Missiles - Carrying a larger warhead, Fire Missiles pack a bigger punch, but lose quite a bit of homing capability.
- Power Missiles - These missiles have high damage yields, but no homing whatsoever. Best used when an opponent is incapacitated.
- Gas Can - Two weapons in one, the Gas Can's function depends on if it is fired forwards or dropped behind. If lobbed forwards, the Can flies overhead, with a targeting indicator showing what lies under it. By pressing the fire button again, the Can will plummet to earth hard, exploding on anyone unlucky enough to be under it. If dropped behind, the can becomes a remote bomb, which can be detonated by pressing the fire button or shooting it. A Gas Can that is set this way will power up if left undisturbed, eventually developing into an explosive of devastating power.
- Ricochet - A small spinning disc, the Ricochet will bounce off of any wall it hits. if those bounces are timed right, the player can gain a bonus to damage inflicted.
- Environment - Some (but not all) of the stages can be turned against the opposition. Using the Environment weapon will cause a level-specific environmental attack to occur.
- Special Weapon - Every combatant in Twisted Metal has a unique weapon that gives them an edge over the others. Each of the character bios contains info on their specific weapon.
[edit] Skill-Based Weapons
There is a set of three weapons that rely on skill to damage the opponent. Though harder to use than the above weapons, the damage they can do is potentially much greater as well. Only one type may be carried at a time - to change, the player must empty their skill-based weapon ammo.
- Reticle - When selected, a targeting rectangle will appear. Holding down the fire button will activate the lock on and timer, as long as someone is in the rectangle. As the fire button is held and the lock maintained, the rectangle will shift color from green to red, indicating how many missiles will be launched. A successful launch of the maximum number of missiles will do additional damage, but maintaining the lock for too long will result in a backfire, using a unit of ammo.
- Satellite - When fired, the Satellite launches a group of missiles up, locked on a targeting recticle in front of the player's vehicle. As the missiles rise up, they gain extra power, and the rectangle will change from green to red. The missiles can then be fired on what is in the rectangle by hitting the fire button or waiting for the missiles to reach maximum height.
- Zoomy - Zoomy fires a barrage of ten missiles at an opponent. If all ten connect, the damage is increased.
[edit] Playable characters
Twisted Metal: Black has a diverse cast made up from both new and returning characters, some of which have changed drastically from their previous appearances.
[edit] Default characters
The following characters are enabled by default when you initially start the game:
[edit] Billy Ray Stillwell
A "good ol' boy", Billy Ray was living a pleasant, if simple life, farming the family land, living with his high school sweetheart and wife, Annie. With the money he saved up by selling corn and towing trucks, he was going to buy her a ring. Little does he know that his wife was cheating on him with a local cropduster, nor does he realize that they're planning to kill him to collect on his life insurance policy. Two weeks from harvest, as Billy Ray is checking on the crops, the cropduster's plane makes an unsceheduled visit that afternoon. Billy hollers at the plane to stop, but to no avail. The plane dumps a chemical that kills the crops and was supposed to killed him.
Unfortunately, it doesn't. All it does is deform him, warping his face into a grim mockery of a human. Billy's first thought is to go to Annie to ask her what he should do about his predicament, but when he gets there, he catches his wife kissing the pilot who had just tried to kill him. Enraged, Billy grabs the closest thing he can find (a garden hoe), and the pilot runs away, leaving Annie to fend for herself. Billy strikes Annie's body for well over an hour, to the point where she is barely recognizable. Needless to say, Billy is found insane, and put in the Blackfield Asylum.
Then one day, Billy has a visitor, and that's when everything changed...
- Vehicle: Junkyard Dog (tow truck)
- Special Attack: Spiked Ball - Thrown from the tow arm of the Junkyard Dog, this special operates in a similar fashion to the Gas Can's lob attack (see above), but does more damage.
- Ending: If Billy wins the tournament, he goes to Calypso, and as promised, Calypso delivers his wish. Billy and Calypso go back to the farm, where the pilot is found manacled with his mouth taped shut, and his plane is facing him head-on, just a few yards away. All Billy has to do now to get his prize is to step aboard. Using the propellor of the plane, Billy kills the pilot, and after feeling how good it was to kill him, he finally sees his true calling, so he gives up farming and moves into the city, where he can "get into some trouble".
[edit] Preacher
Jebediah is a delusional evangelist rejected by the church. Two years ago, "Preacher" was approached by a young couple, whose child was in dire need of an exorcism. But the beast was too powerful. Even as Preacher began to minister to the child, the demon brought its foul influence upon him, entering his mind. All the Preacher's soul could do was cry out as the demon tore the church apart, killing everyone in it. But the creature abandoned him just as the authorities arrived. He was put in the Blackfield Asylum, mainly to protect himself from himself.
But one day, the Preacher was given a chance for salvation...
- Vehicle: Brimstone (White El Camino)
- Special Attack: Suicide Bomber - The Preacher has convinced his followers that death is the only option for those who don't believe. His special attack flings followers strapped with high explosives at opponents, where they cling onto a vehicle and demand the target to repent before detonating.
- Ending: After winning the tournament, the Preacher visits Calypso, and asks him to prove his innocence and clear his name. But Calypso is hesitant, saying that he did not promise to clear the Preacher's name, but to show him the truth. The truth is that the demon wasn't real. The voice inside him was a figment of his imagination. And the exorcism was really a baptism. He was, as they say, insane. The years after, the Preacher performs many rituals in an attempt to gain God's forgiveness, including crucifying himself to a wall. But nothing works. Realizing that a man cannot hide from himself, the Preacher commits suicide by throwing himself off a building and into morning traffic.
[edit] Agent Stone
Stone was once a sniper for the local SWAT team, and prided himself on being able to make "one shot, one kill". Two years ago, there were reports of terrorist activity going on in one of the northside apartments. When Stone got there, he learned that an infamous doomsday cult had set up shop inside. Agent Stone let his rage get the better of him, and thus could not focus. When he stops, he finds the cultist dead, but also finds a mother and daughter dead along with him. Stone is horrified to find that he let his emotions cloud his judgement. Seeing only one way out, he puts his gun's barrel into his mouth and pulls the trigger, but the rifle is jammed. Stone spiralled into depression and wound up in the Blackfield Asylum.
But one day, he had a visitor...
- Vehicle: Outlaw (S.W.A.T. SUV)
- Special Attack: Gun Platform - Stone's special attack has two aspects. The first is a hail of gunfire fired all around Outlaw, while the second is a rectangle which can lock onto an opponent and fire a barrage of missiles. This barrage also has a skill-based damage bonus similar to the Zoomy skill weapon (see above).
- Ending: Calypso asks Stone if he really wants a second chance. Stone demands his prize, and just like that, he's back. Stone knows what to do. He contains his anger, and makes sure every single bullet finds their right target. Stone is relieved to see the family shaken but alive, but it turns out that the terrorist, somehow and possibly supernaturally, is still alive. The moment the terrorist gets up, he shoots Stone in the head, killing him. Stone's last words: "I was so close...to making it right...!"
[edit] Mr. (Daniel) Grimm
Grimm was a Vietnam War veteran in 1971. During a battle, his friend Benny was shot down. As Grimm tried to revive him, they're both captured by the enemy. They were then put in a 25-foot deep hole and left to rot. One day, a Vietnamese advisor arrives, telling Grimm that the only way he can survive is to eat Benny. With that, he throws down a knife, and walks away laughing. But Grimm doesn't want to give the advisor what he wants, and continues his ordeal in the hole. Benny dies two days later. Seeing no other choice, Grimm devours Benny's body and makes a helmet out of his skull. Grimm is freed by a platoon of GIs two weeks later, but Grimm kills four soldiers when they try to take the helmet off. Grimm was shipped back to the States and put in the Blackfield Asylum.
But then, his life changed...
- Vehicle: Grimm Raptor (Armored Motorcycle)
- Special Attack: Explosive Scythe - Grimm sends a scythe flying in front of him, which will explode on contact. One of the most damaging attacks in the game.
- Ending: Grimm goes to see Calypso. Being a man of his word, Calypso gives Grimm a "reunion". Grimm is taken to a room where the Vietnamese advisor is gagged and tied to a chair. An axe is also in the room. As much as Grimm hates to admit it, he's tired of asylum food, and has developed a special craving for human flesh.
[edit] John Doe
John was a member of a small-time gang that took part in random beatings and robberies. Hoping to make a name for themselves, they decide to plant a bomb in the Midtown Center for Disease Control. If the bomb goes off, thousands of viruses and diseases would be spread all across the world, bringing the human race to an end. John doesn't remember what happened next, or why he's locked up in the asylum.
Then the truth waltzes in through his door...
- Vehicle: Roadkill (Green Scrap-Car)
- Special Attack: Fire Missiles - Operates somewhat like the Reticle skill weapon (see above), except there is no lock-on rectangle, the missiles home in, and has higher damage.
- Ending: John Doe goes to see Calypso. Calypso throws him a wallet, which reveals that John Doe was an FBI agent undercover for the last year trying to bust the doomsday cult in Midtown. As the cultists escaped the building, John rushed back into the room to get the bomb as far away as possible. But with little time, he took the easy way out and chucked the bomb out of a window. The explosion knocked John into the wall, resulting in his amnesia. John was a hero... and a cop standing in front of #2 on the Top 10 Most Wanted List (Calypso). Calypso thanks him for being such a great contestant and shoots him dead. While dying, John Doe remembers one last thing... he has a family.
[edit] Frank "No Face" McCutcheon
Frank "The Tank" McCutcheon was a strictly small-time boxer. One day, he went against Phil "The Drill" Marley, a hotshot fighter from out of state. Frank is badly beaten before the end of the first round. His jaw is shattered, and his nose is broken. In other words, he was almost, if not, pulverized. Frank hears of Doctor Hatch, a surgeon who could fix him up good as new. Unable to afford the better doctors in town, he goes to Hatch, who happens to be a boxing fan. Unfortunately, Hatch made the mistake of betting $20,000 on McCutcheon during the match he lost, and removes McCutcheon's eyes and tongue as an act of vengeance. Frank busts up the hospital trying to find Hatch, killing six innocent people in the process. Frank is found crazy, and put in the Blackfield Asylum.
But one day, he had a visitor...
- Vehicle: Crazy 8 (a Volkswagen Beetle-esque car)
- Special Attack: Electric Shock - Fires an electrical charge at an opponent that lasts until the weapon runs out or the opponent gets far enough away. The power can be boosted by pushing the D-pad in the direction of the target three times rapidly.
- Ending: True to his word, Calypso delivers the goods. Doctor Hatch is found tied to a large punching bag. As an extra bonus, Frank is giving a boxing glove with surgical tools tied to it. It fits perfectly. As Frank drives through the night, he brags about how the incident was the first time he ever knocked someone out with one punch.
[edit] Bloody Mary
Mary was a lovesick bridesmaid at one of her friend's wedding. When she misses a bouquet thrown at her by the bride, she has flashbacks of a boy who pushed her in the mud as a child and called her ugly when she confessed her feelings to him. Off her medication, she grabs the closest thing she can find (the knife meant to cut the wedding cake) and kills the bride with it. She drags the corpse into one of the dressing rooms, bolts the door, and wears the bride's bloodied dress. She is soon captured and thrown into the Blackfield Asylum.
But then one day in the asylum, she had a visitor...
- Vehicle: Spectre (Blue Corvette)
- Special Attack: Ghost Missile - A highly-accurate homing missile that is nearly impossible to avoid, and can pass through solid objects.
- Ending: Mary demands her prize from Calypso, and Calypso delivers. A bald man with a scar on his head (possibly the boy from her childhood) walks into the room. Calypso says that a few modifications were necessary, but Mary doesn't mind, deciding that all men need a little adjusting here and there. As the groom holds the bride up, he whispers into her ear a phrase that, to this day, Mary still can't believe: "I... will... never... love you." Realizing that this isn't her true love, Mary beats the groom to death with a golf club. Believing that her Prince Charming is still out there, Mary drives off into the night.
[edit] Dollface
Dollface formerly worked for Mr. Creal, a person who makes particularly disturbing masks for a living. Being her first real job after college, she had no interest in blundering. But after spilling coffee on very important paperwork, Mr. Creal becomes upset to the point where he nails a doll mask to her face, and to make sure the mask never comes off, he locks it with an odd key. She was eventually sent to the Blackfield Asylum for unknown reasons.
But then, one day, she had a visitor...
- Vehicle: Dark Side (Black semi truck with a police car chained to the grill)
- Special Attack: Ram - Dollface's massive semi can momentarily achieve breakneck speed, crushing anything in its way. If the opponent is rammed into a wall, it is even more damaging.
- Ending: Dollface goes to see Calypso, and tells him she wants her prize. As there is always a price for victory, the key is attached to a mechanism that would kill Mr. Creal in a golden Iron Maiden if Dollface takes the key. Dollface takes the key and kills Creal, but she doesn't want it anymore. She decides she likes her new face much better than the old one; it doesn't cry, become scared, or age, even if she's old and gray inside. She drives off into the night to show people like Mr. Creal that they can't do bad things to people like her.
[edit] Raven
Raven and her friend Kelly were on the pier after school reading Tarot cards, and get a particularly bad reading when they try to figure out if a boy Kelly likes would notice her. All of a sudden, two boys from their school (who believe Raven and Kelly are witches) grab the girls and, wondering if a witch can swim, drop Kelly into the water and drive off. As Kelly goes under, she tells Raven to make the boys pay as a last request. Raven is put in the Blackfield Asylum by her parents.
But then Calypso arrives at the Blackfield Asylum, offering her a place in his competition.
Left with a perfect opportunity to fulfill Kelly's request, she finds it a relief to finally meet someone who understands her ambition...
- Vehicle: Shadow (Lavender Hearse)
- Special Attack: Soul Shadow - Shadow has two specials. The first is a spectral shadow that travels along the ground and explodes on command. The second activates a gun turret that emerges from Shadow's roof and fires on any nearby enemies.
- Ending: Calypso tells Raven that it is time to claim her prize and for Kelly to get her revenge. He tosses two voodoo dolls her way, and Raven realizes what he's getting at. After all, "an eye for an eye, blood for blood" is the code of the witch. It takes two days for the cops to find the bodies, and what they find is two corpses in a car with bloodied holes in their eyesockets. Raven keeps the voodoo dolls in case if she ever sees her parents again.
[edit] Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth is a mass murderer whose sheer number of victims is breathtaking. When they finally captured him, thousands attended his execution by electric chair. Just as the execution was taking place, the Preacher walked into the observation room and asked God to burden Sweet Tooth with the fires of Hell. As his head burst into flames, he escaped and killed three guards in less than a minute. He has been a patient in the Blackfield Asylum for three months now.
Then one day, he showed up...
- Vehicle:Sweet Tooth ((Tasty Treats Ice Cream Truck))
- Special Attack: Missile Mech - Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck transforms into a giant, wheeled clown robot and fires a barrage of twenty missiles, which home in on any vehicle in front of Sweet Tooth at the time. If ten or more missiles hit, you are awarded a damage bonus.
- Ending: Sweet Tooth goes and sees Calypso, and asks him to make good on his promise. Calypso offers him a vial that contains the blood of the man that cursed him. If he drinks it, his curse will be over, but if he ever returns to his killing ways, the effect would wear off, and the curse would come back to haunt him. After 10 seconds, he crushes the vial, and kills Calypso as well as he did anyone.
[edit] Unlockable characters
The following characters are not available from the outset, but must be located in a level.
[edit] Charlie Kane and Son
Charlie and his son had always been very close. A quiet boy who'd always been good in school, he was the good son in the Kane family. But then one day, a fare Charlie picked up in his cab shot him in the head, right in front of his son. Charlie Kane was dead, but his son found a way to make him alive again. He implanted a remote control device in his father's body, which allowed him to control the corpse. Calypso has promised Charlie's son that he will make everything all better if he can win the tournament...
- Vehicle: Yellowjacket (Yellow taxi cab)
- Special Attack: Explosive Spikes - When Yellowjacket's Special is equipped, eight explosive-tipped spikes protrude from all sides of the vehicle. When fired off, they will fly out in all directions, exploding on impact. If Yellow Jacket rams an opponent with the spikes out, they will do more damage than if they were launched. To achieve the maximum possible damage with this special, a "turbo ram" is necessary.
- Ending: Calypso destroys the controller for his father, killing him yet again and tells the son that he must accept his father's death. He says that things will get much better for him in time. He then takes the son underneath his wing, claiming that the tournament needed a replacement. His brother, Sweet Tooth, was the primary choice, but since Charlie killed him, he would have to replace him.
[edit] Axel
After his wife was brutally murdered, Axel locked himself into a wheeled torture device as penance for his inability to protect her. He has entered Calypso's tournament to find his wife's killer and take his revenge.
- Vehicle: Big Wheel (An Axel)
- Special Attack: Shock Wave - A ring of concussive energy surrounds Axel, damaging any nearby enemies. Axel also has an alternate special in which the two wheels of his machine close together around his body and accelerate to ramming speed, damaging anything they hit.
- Ending: Axel demands the person who killed his wife, which turns out to be Sweet Tooth. Axel kills Sweet Tooth, who reveals that his wife was begging Axel to come save her. After killing him, he still feels guilty, and stays in the machine forever.
[edit] Black
Black was created to win the tournament and kill Calypso. In his entire life he was only taught what he only needed to know to win the tournament and kill Calypso. But it is said, not for certain, that he killed his creators and ran away, but with nothing else on his mind but to then kill Calypso. He signed up to the tournament.
- Vehicle: Manslaughter (Dump truck)
- Special Attack: Rock Launcher - Manslaughter launches a cluster of hot rocks that damage anything they hit. This special can also be rear-fired, which will cause the rocks to be dropped directly behind Manslaughter, where they will damage anyone who runs into them.
- Ending: He drives into Calypso's throne room and finds nothing but a bomb waiting for him, and a note reading "Screw you! Love, Calypso." He survives the blast and continues his search.
[edit] Cage
Cage is a killer with a passion for his work. But he has a problem: he feels genuine remorse for his victims. He has entered Calypso's tournament to find a way to purge these feelings and become the ultimate killer.
- Vehicle: Warthog (Station wagon with tank treads)
- Special Attack: Flamethrower - A deadly stream of fire that burns anything it hits.
- Ending: Calypso fufills Cage's wish and surgically removes the part of his brain that makes him feel sad when he takes a human life, and as an extra added gift, replaces his hands with horrible claws made especially for killing.
[edit] Minion
Not much is known about this mysterious competitor. He was the winner of last year's tournament, but it is said that he isn't playing to win this time. He just wants to meet this year's winner...
- Vehicle: Minu Bull (Oil Tank Truck)
- Special Attack: Flamer - At long range, Minion fires a series of damaging fireballs at any opponents within range. At closer range, he will fire a steady stream of fire also with the same fireballs that will tear into even the toughest opponents.
As revealed by his last coded message in the game, Minion is a man named Marcus A. Kane (find information on him in Twisted Metal 2: World Tour) that states that he knows that this world is fake, that it is all in Sweet Tooth's mind. Sweet Tooth sees his world as a hell hole. But questioning comes to mind in some of the endings when Sweet Tooth is actually killed.
[edit] Trivia
- Due to some gruesome and graphic storyline of the characters, Twisted Metal: Black is the first Twisted Metal game to receive a Mature (M) rating by the ESRB.
- The location of the storyline appears to center around a large urban area that is only referred to as "Midtown".
- Warthog was called "White Knight" during production.
- WarHawk, the game's final boss, was originally planned to be a playable character [1]. WarHawk was also quite possibly a reference to SingleTrac's game of the same name.
- Minion is the only playable character who does not have any story cutscenes.
- Two of the game's playable characters--Agent Stone and Black--share names with characters in previous Twisted Metal games, although it is quite apparent that Outlaw is not the same character as Crimson Fury.
- The song in the game intro and the final credits is "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones.
- The PAL version of this game suffered due to the removal of all the movies from the game. It was rumoured at the time that this was in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
- In an early interview with the game's lead director, David Jaffe, Mr. Grimm's first name is revealed to be "Daniel".[citation needed]
- Thumper was originally going to be in the game. However, he was cut early in production, so this is the first game not to feature Thumper.
- S4 Studios, a flash cartoon site, was hired by Sony to promote Twisted Metal: Black. As a result, they created several "webisodes" based on a few characters of the game. The site can be found here: http://www.s4studios.com/twistedmetalwebisodes.htm
- in TM:B Calypso greatly resembles professional wrelster Glen Jacobs, better known as Kane.
