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[Virgin Wii]

Twisted Metal: Black was my favorite PS2 game, and it was all because of the single player. It was so polished, the music was awesome, the levels provided so many ways for the battles to play out, and the AI was challenging to take down. It was virtually glitchless.

I just tried a search for Head-On, but all anybody talks about is the online mode. What about single player? Are the levels as good as Black, and is the game polished to perfection? Also, a question about Ridge Racer: does the multiplayer mode have a lobby, or does everyone get kicked back to the title screen after a race? This is will be the deciding factor for which racing game I'll get.

 

[kaching]

TMHO on normal difficulty is an easier game than TMB on normal difficulty. Can't speak for other difficulties. The AIs are less mercilessly fixated on taking you down than in Black and put up the illusion of being interested in attacking each other a little better. The other thing that makes it easier is that the environments have replenishing health pickups that just generally make it easier to survive the length of a match.

The environments get to be about the same size as the largest ones in Black, perhaps just a little smaller at their largest. They do range in size and there's decent variety to the kind of battle scenarios that can occur. Each arena has an environmental attack just like Black and some include environtmental event triggers that open up new areas...nothing quite as amusing as the ferris wheel rolling through town in Black, but close.

 

[Virgin Wii]

TMHO on normal difficulty is an easier game than TMB on normal difficulty. Can't speak for other difficulties. The AIs are less mercilessly fixated on taking you down than in Black and put up the illusion of being interested in attacking each other a little better. The other thing that makes it easier is that the environments have replenishing health pickups that just generally make it easier to survive the length of a match.

The environments get to be about the same size as the largest ones in Black, perhaps just a little smaller at their largest. They do range in size and there's decent variety to the kind of battle scenarios that can occur. Each arena has an environmental attack just like Black and some include environtmental event triggers that open up new areas...nothing quite as amusing as the ferris wheel rolling through town in Black, but close.

Ah, thanks. Sounds pretty good, actually. I might pick this up with the PSP, but I can only get 1 game and I want 3. This has competition with Ridge/Wipeout and Lumines.

 

[Kolgar]

TMHO looks like TM and TM2 while playing a bit more like Black. It's a look I personally prefer.

I also enjoy the gameplay more as it seems just a bit slower and doesn't seem to take as long to do significant damage to enemies.

One caveat: the final boss is one of the cheapest bosses ever.

P.S. If it's between this, RR, Wipeout, and Lumines - go with whatever franchise you love the most. Each of these games is the best or one of the best entries in their respective series, with Lumines being a cool, addictive puzzler.

 

[Virgin Wii]

TMHO looks like TM and TM2 while playing a bit more like Black. It's a look I personally prefer.

I also enjoy the gameplay more as it seems just a bit slower and doesn't seem to take as long to do significant damage to enemies.

One caveat: the final boss is one of the cheapest bosses ever.

I like the Black look, but the gameplay is what I was wondering about. I liked the speed, because it was so smooth, and I could cream any n00b since they could never comprehend how they would ever control their vehicles moving at those speeds. It's just something you have to get used to, but once you do, you realize the game wouldn't have been nearly as good if it were much slower.

Um... how cheap is this final boss? Are you dead in 5 seconds?

P.S. If it's between this, RR, Wipeout, and Lumines - go with whatever franchise you love the most. Each of these games is the best or one of the best entries in their respective series, with Lumines being a cool, addictive puzzler.

Argh, it just got harder.

 

[VALIS]

I'm a huge Twisted Metal fan and I didn't like Black all that much. It was way too fast, which took most of the strategy out and made it just a twitch game. Head On was much better. It's still a little on the fast side, but more between the speed of TM2 and Black. I liked it.

 

[dark10x]

Hmm, it's pretty good...but I still prefer Black. Main reasons? I ended up loving the dual analog in Black AND Head On is only 30 fps (and I loves me some 60). Also, the music, while good enough, isn't as good as Blacks (preference, really, as it is so different). The first stage is kinda neat, though, with the band kicking off the match and playing/singing during the entire round.

If you can look past those faults (and many wouldn't even consider them faults), you'll have a blast. The levels are pretty good and quite varied, the size certainly shoots up as you move forward (though I don't think they are quite as large as the largest in Black), and it's quite fun.

It really is like a mix of Black and TM1/2 and it's worth playing. It is easily as good as those other 3 TM games (actually, by today's standards, it's much better than TM1 and 2).

I'm more of a Ridge Racer fan, though, so RR would be my first choice. RR is absolutely LOADED with content...while Head On is more like Black in that regard (characters to unlock and ending movies to view, among a few other things).

If Wipeout is thrown into the mix, things get even crazier. It took a while before I really warmed up to Pure, but once I did, all was good. The game is VERY challenging, but becomes addictive. This is a game that will most likely require some serious investment before you truly fall in love.

 

[ToyMachine228]

I got Twisted Metal: Head On as the first game with my PSP. After playing for a while and beating the game with about half the characters, I traded it in and got Lumines. It's a decent game, but it's pretty shallow. But if your a Twisted Metal fan, you're probably used to it.

 

[Kolgar]

Um... how cheap is this final boss? Are you dead in 5 seconds?

Let's just say I didn't really have fun fighting this boss. I was pretty let down after that great final boss in the original TM and especially Dark Tooth - one of my favorite bosses ever - in TM2. It's not easy to figure out how to do damage to him, and even when I figured it out, I really couldn't pull it off with any consistency. I tried and I tried, but in the end I said screw it and just put in the damn God code.

Argh, it just got harder.

Indeed. To be honest, I own all of these games and after a couple of play-throughs with TMHO, I moved on. Granted, this is the only game in this foursome you can play over the Internet against other players, so if you groove on that, you can't lose. (For the record, online play IS pretty sweet.)

Ridge Racer is, in my opinion, the best game in the RR series. Running all those classic tracks and hearing those classic tunes really warms my heart. Yet I find myself playing Wipeout more, and getting more of a kick out of it when I do, thanks to the game's weapons. Honestly, some of those races get really chaotic, and while the game gets quite difficult, I've laughed my ass off more than once at a frenetic finish that saw missiles exploding and quakes tossing ships like a salad across the finish line.

Oh, and the downloadable content seals the deal for me. Three free tracks and one new ship class so far, with the promise of more on the way... Nice.

If it's any consolation, you really can't lose with any of these games. As I said, I bought them all, I like them all, and I think they're some of the best titles on the system.

 

[dark10x]

Yeah, the last boss in Head On is an absolute bitch. I ended up using one of the raised areas to attack, hiding behind buildings when necessary.

 

[Virgin Wii]

The game sounds great, so it's definitely staying on my buy list. I'll probably pick up Ridge Racer first, though. I would get Wipeout, but not having a multiplayer lobby really bugs me... I think it'll be worth it to get the game with smoother multiplayer, since they're both AAA.

Thanks guys. I look forward to facing that final boss.

 

[Shawnwhann]

The last boss is very easy when you use a little trick. Stock up on all different types of missiles and keep firing them backwards. Left, Right, Down, Fire on Run and Gun control config. Then do shield command and fire off accumulated specials. It take like 15 mins to beat him, but it works everytime.