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What was it like leading up to TM3/4? (Read 12901 times)
Ripzsaur
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What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
08/20/17 at 00:17:17
 
I was young when these games came out and I had no concept of the hype leading up to a new TM game at the time. Hell, TM4 came out when I was 3. Back before the community developed a general disdain for the games, what did people think based on the screenshots and trailers for TM3 and 4 in the time leading up to each release?
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #1 - 08/20/17 at 06:41:40
 
I was super excited and remember seeing a screenshot of Sweet Tooth in the Washington level and thinking the graphics had greatly improved. Prior to this I had read a rumor I believe in Gamepro that they were going to add the ability to leave your car in the new game. I hadn't even played the original game yet but Twisted Metal 2 had left such an impression on me that I couldn't wait for the next game to come out. And then it did. I remember playing cooperatively with a friend and then using Gameshark to watch all of the endings in the game. We were both huge fans of the stylized dark endings in the second game and sat in bewilderment as this new game handed us shit ending after shit ending. I had friends who tried to convince themselves it was still a fun game, and while it did have it's moments, I knew better. I think a lot of us can relate to that moment of disappointment.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #2 - 08/20/17 at 08:02:26
 
the TM commercials at the time got me hyped for the games, but the trailer for TM3 was pretty bad in comparison to the World Tour trailer. There really wasn't much going for that game, although I found it interesting White Zombie was used a lot in the soundtrack as I remember my impression of the TM2 Trailer & thinking that the music (alternate DarkTooth theme) sounded like White Zombie. TM3 wasn't as fun a multiplayer game as the controls were awful, so the game was pretty forgettable & thus there wasn't so much disdain for the game, just disappointment.
TM4 on the other hand presented itself as a big upgrade from its predecessor. I don't recall any trailer but I remember the demo for the game where you are Orbital in the Neon City map. I remember thinking it was better than TM3 although TM4 felt like too much of a departure as well. The controls still didn't feel right, the maps were no longer based off real world locations, SweetTooth's whole character changed, the story mode felt too long with all the bosses, and the soundtrack was all licensed music except the main menu theme which was a letdown. At the time there were some things i enjoyed... it was a decent multiplayer game if you had a friend to play with. As a kid I also thought Rob Zombie as a playable character was pretty cool. Even still, it was obvious to me that the series was going downhill. It was hard to take 989 Studios seriously in a creative sense with unimaginative characters like "Pizza Boy". The marketing for the games was good though, otherwise they wouldn't have sold well enough to be Greatest Hits.
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Marltoro
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #3 - 08/20/17 at 09:06:04
 
The main menu theme in TM4 was licensed too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dx2S_7BVwU
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #4 - 08/20/17 at 11:33:28
 
I got into the series a bit late. I wasn't convinced to buy a PlayStation until November 1997.  Sometime during that time I found the joy that was the Greatest Hits packages ($20 for games that people had adored - WOW, great time to be alive).

One particular developer, Singetrac, really impressed me with their Jet Moto series.  I read up on them to see what else they'd done, and found out they'd also done another game, Twisted Metal 2. Now, I'd noticed the cover of Twisted Metal 2, and while it had caught my interest, it almost looked like one of those covers that only a crappy game could have, since so much weirdness was going on at once.

However, intrigued by Jet Moto 2, I read the reviews of Twisted Metal 2. Once I realized the premise, and saw that reviewer after reviewer loved it precisely for its multiplayer (since my bro and I were always looking for new multiplayer games) I picked it up in March of 1998.

At $20, it was one of the best deals of my life.  To this day it's easily one of the best deals of my life.  My brother and I played the crap out of that game for days on end.  Then, I realized it was probably a good idea to buy the original.  Although it wasn't AS good as TM2, it was still a great game and totally worth the cost.

By this time, TM3 was already out.  However, SOMETHING about it bugged me.  I'll never be able to put my fingers on it and can only assume that the great God Axel was protecting me.  For any other game series, if I loved the first two I'd buy the third without hesitation, even at $50.

I couldn't buy this one though.  So I rented it for $5.  My bro and I came home, tested it out for five minutes, and ripped it out of the PlayStation never to try it again.  Afterwards I read up on it and found out about the developer change.  It felt like a dark day.

When TM4 was coming out, I had high hopes. I read a bunch of the previews, and the developers were clearly working hard to clean the crap that was TM3. I even allowed myself to get a little bit excited. When it finally came out though, I checked reviews first and saw that, while clearly an improvement on TM3, it still was a poor, poor imitation of TM2. So I borrowed it from a friend and mucked around with it one afternoon.  That was as much time as I ever put into it.

Time has a way of giving you perspective.  Compared to TMX, there's a lot that TM4 does better.  Most obviously, it works all the time and does what it promises it will do.  That's something that in 1999 we wouldn't have given credit for (it was EXPECTED that a game work since you couldn't patch it). In 2012 though a full release TM could barely run for a lot of us - and now I feel like it's only fair to give TM4 those points.  A game that won't run in its primary mode is just bullshit and deserves a fail.  TM4's tone problems are not exaggerated - the game's tone sucks, but having experienced a buggy unplayable mess I might choose tone problems if the choice came up again.  TM3 generally does suck, but it still runs as promised so there's points there too.  It's tone is even worse than four in my opinion because it TRIES to be TM2's tone but instead comes off as a failed wet fart. TM4 tries to be its own thing . . . and it is . . . it just blows. Finally, TM3's gameplay is just . . . hard to swallow.  The cars move like bad bowel movements, and the constant flipping drives a player batty. If there's depth in there you never find it because you hit the power button long before the game gives you a chance to see it.

After TM4 it honestly felt like TM was dead. I'd pretty much given up on it and so had my brother.  Then one day I came across a magazine article mentioning an eerie sounding title known as Twisted Metal: Black, and it promised the old team was back in the saddle.

Then my bro found the trailer below.  A year after the trailer Twisted Metal would not only regain the grandeur of TM2, but surpass it.  That is, until 2004, when the series would stumble, fall, and never really regain its footing again.

That's okay though. I wish the series had just quit rather than faced a slow death, but its offspring, Twisted Metal: Black still remains, and its server has been reborn for those who want to experience a true Twisted experience. Late at night, when things are quiet, I can still hear its voice calling to me from within . . .



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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #5 - 08/20/17 at 12:00:57
 
Marltoro wrote on 08/20/17 at 09:06:04:
The main menu theme in TM4 was licensed too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dx2S_7BVwU


ah right, it is just a One Minute Silence song part being looped. must be thinking of TM3s menu music, that one was made for the game.

it's weird that no music was made for TM4...
what about the songs from the opening cutscene, were they made for the game?

I think one of my gripes with TMX was how it borrowed that soundtrack style of TM3, mixing licensed popular music with songs made for the game, and even worse, TMX randomizes the entire soundtrack instead of making the music tracks specific to maps.
One of the charms of TM1&2, Black, Small Brawl, & Head On was that all the music was made for the game (albeit Small Brawl had remixes of TM1/2 songs). TM3/4 & TMX2012 made the mistake of deviating from that, especially TM4.
In part I think that licensed music was trending around that time in gaming, and it was a practice 989 studios was fond of doing, but clearly an original TM soundtrack is what fans prefer.
Speaking of 989 Studios, they also ruined the ESPN Xtreme game series with 3Xtreme, so it wasn't just Twisted Metal they butchered. 989 was better with traditional sport games like MLB so creativity wasn't really there thing.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #6 - 08/20/17 at 13:36:12
 
MoshTMA wrote on 08/20/17 at 12:00:57:
ah right, it is just a One Minute Silence song part being looped. must be thinking of TM3s menu music, that one was made for the game.

it's weird that no music was made for TM4...
what about the songs from the opening cutscene, were they made for the game?

I think one of my gripes with TMX was how it borrowed that soundtrack style of TM3, mixing licensed popular music with songs made for the game, and even worse, TMX randomizes the entire soundtrack instead of making the music tracks specific to maps.
One of the charms of TM1&2, Black, Small Brawl, & Head On was that all the music was made for the game (albeit Small Brawl had remixes of TM1/2 songs). TM3/4 & TMX2012 made the mistake of deviating from that, especially TM4.
In part I think that licensed music was trending around that time in gaming, and it was a practice 989 studios was fond of doing, but clearly an original TM soundtrack is what fans prefer.
Speaking of 989 Studios, they also ruined the ESPN Xtreme game series with 3Xtreme, so it wasn't just Twisted Metal they butchered. 989 was better with traditional sport games like MLB so creativity wasn't really there thing.



That's an excellent point about the music. One thing about Twisted 1, 2, and Black, is that each game took you, the player, to a unique world that was wholly different than the real world. For the first two games, it was a dangerous, zany, crazy, and humorous world. For Black, it was dark, sinister, and unforgiving. In either case, the world building was so important and the music was such a critical part of the immersion and making those places come to life.

The only game of those three that utilizes popular licensed music is Black. Now, Black works, and part of that may just be that the Rolling Stones "Paint it Black" is one of the greatest rock songs of all time and fits everywhere (video games, Vietnam movies, and on and on), but I think it goes deeper than that.

In TMB, you only hear the Rolling Stone's classic song twice.  The first time is just the beginning of the song, a mere nineteen notes. The final time is at the closing credits.  The rest of the game, while you play you hear eerie seemingly half finished pieces carefully tailored to each situation.

Now, for anyone who has played Black it should be well known by now that the game presents itself as a movie, or several movies, of each of the characters you play. It even has a movie house for watching their films, and all of the animated sequence have a reoccurring type of film grain.

This continues until you beat Warhawk.  Then comes the second time you hear "Paint it Black," but this time in its entirety. At this point the credits roll, and you are no longer the character in the movie, you are, once again, just the observer.  You have just finished the film, and the pop music fits perfectly here as you are back in the real world and there is no need to feel like you are still "in character."

TMX tries to do this but fails.  Or maybe the problem is it succeeds too well.  Whereas TMB clearly tried to mimic and be a spiritual successor to movies like "Seven," and "Silence of the Lambs," TMX was going for that B movie horror feel and its soundtrack seals the deal.  You may be a B movie horror fan, but they are only laughable popcorn films and easily forgettable.

Just like TMX.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #7 - 08/20/17 at 22:36:26
 
I'll agree that Twisted Metal 4 was at least slightly better than Twisted III, but the only game 989 truly made that I consider a classic PSX title is Syphon Filter. What a game!
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #8 - 08/21/17 at 00:07:55
 
I really enjoyed TM3 and 4 back then. If this was the old TMA I would have been banned for saying that.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #9 - 08/22/17 at 03:38:19
 
Twisted Metal consists of many of my first memories. The first game I ever played was Twisted Metal 1 with a broken disc that wouldn't load single player. My mom would just set me up on Warehouse District with Sweet Tooth and I'd run into walls over and over in multiplayer. When I got a little older, probably around 3, I learned how to operate everything on my own and I discovered a way to make single player work... Then quickly quit because of killing pedestrians.

Sometime that year my cousin got Twisted Metal 4. The only reason I remember that is because I went to my grandfathers house the same day. My cousin had bought TM4 and was going to go play it. I wanted to join but for some reason I couldn't. I, being dumb and young, asked if I could borrow TM4 even though it was brand fuckin' new. I asked a couple of times and after getting tired of toddler me being annoying, he let me borrow TM3 instead, telling me it was TM4. That was the first time I played TM3. For years I loved that game though, and thought it was the fourth installment. When I was 5, I got the real Twisted Metal 4 for my birthday, but I got rid of it cause the people screaming when they died scared me. I thought it was the best thing ever up until that point. I remember sitting amongst my family staring and analyzing the cover of that game. I was mystified and I thought it looked fucking awesome. The cover art got me so excited in the dark back room of a skating rink where we were having the party. This was in 2003 when TM:BO was beginning, so here 14 years later, it's funny looking back while playing on the TMBO revival server here and there. There was a local game rental shop where I met Small Brawl when I was about 6 or 7. I walked in one day and it was playing on the TV inside. I rented it and it quickly took over as my favorite. I rented it every week for about 3 months until the place shut down. I got a copy of the game years later.

Around the same time I met TM2, playing it on another family member of mine's PS1. He didn't really know what it was but we played a ton of multiplayer. He always used Axel and looking back I know that's bullshit. At 8, I tried TM4 again and stuck with it after buying it from Toys 'R' Us in 2006. Two years later Head On and ETE separately but I still hadn’t been able to play the one I wanted to the most. TMB. I used to have a computer on dial-up in a hot attic and I’d go up there to look up cheat codes. Well, using the power of the internet, I found Twisted Metal Black and spent literal years reading about it in wonder. My parents wouldn’t let me play it because, well.. I don’t really need to explain that one. See, unknown to my parents, I found TMA when I was like 8, so I got to see some of the old site. There, I learned even more about TMB and finally in 2010 I convinced my parents to let me get it. They said I could if I skipped all the videos. I didn’t skip the videos.

That sets the stage for what I thought and currently think about TM3 and TM4. When I got rid of TM1 when I was young, it took me years to find it again. I played TM3 and 4 the absolute most for years. I thought TM3 was cool because it had classic characters from TM1 but at the time even 3 year old me knew Firestarter and Flower Power was stupid. 3 year old me liked Club Kid’s design and special and I think I still do. Club Kid is just such a fucking dumb name and it doesn’t fit in TM. I didn’t notice it until a few years ago but TM3 really controls like complete and utter ass. The cars flip a whole bunch and have no fast way of resetting. TM 1 and 2 had no issues with this because the cars never landed upside down. TM4 fixed this a lot but it was still there. The only level design I really liked in TM3 was London. I thought the Minion fight was really cool too.  It still controlled like shit and had bad weapons. And it worked and delivered on what was promised, but some game design decisions really tanked it. Beyond the style choices and hardcore community, just in general game development. This was definitely the worst entry in the series in my opinion, yet I still play it more than Head On. Probably because of nostalgia.

Twisted Metal 4 in my opinion isn’t really bad. Even now, I think TM4 is a fun casual game. It’s too crazy to be a Twisted Metal game and it’s crazy in the wrong ways. Microblast is an incredibly stupid concept but it’s comical. It just pisses me off that it’s in a TM game. Things like Microblast come off like a cheesy movie concept. With a roster with wonderful additions such as: A Leperchaun in a Micro Machine, an exterminator (although as I kid I liked the vehicle design,) an RC Car and an alien moon buggy. However, from a gameplay mechanic, it’s fun. My biggest thing about TM4 is I think it is the most casual of all the Twisted Metals. I could invite a family member over who does not play video games and they can grasp it much much better than say, TMB. I have tried on many occasions to play TMB with people and 90% of the time we can’t get past Suburbs before they lose all of the team lives. Small Brawl is extremely accessible too and I think it has that going for it. But in TM4, without taking into account the Sweet Tooth boss fight, is generally not a hard game. The create-a-car was a novel yet cool concept that I enjoyed as a child. And I liked how certain combinations let you recreate Crimson Fury. This game is functionally fine and better than TM3. It was really creative just not a good Twisted Metal game. Sweet Tooth's Bedroom was a really stupid idea for TM, but creative. It was cool driving around on the Hot Wheels tracks and exploring the level. Carnival was an awesome, detailed and curious level and so was Minion's Maze because it was something very very different. Some levels were boring like Road Rage, but most had an interesting element to them like the Flying Subway in Neon City or the Crane in Construction Site.

tl;dr: TM3 sucks objectively and subjectively, TM4 was really creative but not a good TM game, TMB fucking rules.

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« Last Edit: 08/22/17 at 05:27:58 by Ripzsaur »  

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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #10 - 08/22/17 at 14:45:36
 
I'd say for what it's worth TM4 beats the original but is far away from competing with Twisted Metal 2, with Twisted III being on the very bottom of the series. Twisted Metal: Black is hard to compare as it wasn't anything like the other games I felt, but was great on it's on. I found Head-On to be just alright and the recent game is just a tragedy really.

Edit: I guess I forgot Small Braw which was pretty forgettable in itself. I'd put it over TM4 but honestly not by much.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #11 - 08/22/17 at 18:11:49
 
I just don't understand why Sony was so obsessed with making the series more appealing to kids. Even back in TM1 they wanted to change the cars to vegetables or something equally stupid. I was only 7 or 8 when I was playing TM2 with my dad and we both loved it. No need to make it more "kid friendly." It was appealing to all ages.
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« Last Edit: 08/22/17 at 23:59:05 by Marltoro »  

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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #12 - 08/22/17 at 23:13:35
 
TM3 and 4 did one thing right though. The health regeneration time was on a fixed timer. I'm not a fan of the RNG health in TM1, 2 and Black. Sometimes the health takes forever to come back leaving you to die in Holland. But that's only a big problem in no death runs.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #13 - 08/23/17 at 07:15:33
 
I honesty like TM4 ( even if its a 989 TM game) However the only do hate about TM4 is the characters for example Drag Queen, Pizza Boy, Microblast, The Jonesess  etc...

And also TM4 had too many Mr Slam clones, Auger, Crusher, Trash man.

But the gameplay is fun and soundtrack is great too.

I put TM4 as one of my favorite Twisted Metal games alongside 2,Black,and PS3. 

I've never played TM3 so I can't really speak about it. But I do know it's the black sheep of the series for many reasons.
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Re: What was it like leading up to TM3/4?
Reply #14 - 08/23/17 at 16:19:45
 
Luis wrote on 08/22/17 at 23:13:35:
TM3 and 4 did one thing right though. The health regeneration time was on a fixed timer. I'm not a fan of the RNG health in TM1, 2 and Black. Sometimes the health takes forever to come back leaving you to die in Holland. But that's only a big problem in no death runs.


TM1 had no health pickups, it had health stations that you could only use once. Don't think they are even in the multi-player battlegrounds either.

Not sure how you can say TM3/4 did better with healths when the AI was constantly taking the healths away from the player in those games. Even the boss vehicles collected them. It's a retarded way to program a game. TM:Head-On similarly had the same issue, at least when it came to fighting TowerTooth.


Also @Malefactor, nice insight on "Paint it Black"
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