-Kilrahi-
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Of all the TM games, this is the one I'm most torn on. My reaction to it is so nuanced.
I'm trying to figure out the best place to jump in, and it's hard. Where do I even begin?
It should be pointed out, that for many fans who prefer the single player experience of TM, who never play against friends, never play online - this one is often pointed out as the BEST TM game. Incognito was asked, midway through Harbor City, to make a game for the PSP. They quickly put TMHC on hold intending to come back to it, and in less than a year pushed out a first gen PSP game with a story mode, online play, local wireless ad hoc, coop mode, lots of unlockables. Many, many casual fans absolutely adore it. That's saying something.
It's a technical marvel when you think about it, and I'm one of those people who think they did MOSTLY good work on the story. While it pays homage to TM2, clearly Incognito wanted to go forward with a universe that fit with Black and would then fit with the following TMHC as well. In the era of Marvel today we're all excited about the multiverse, but Incognito's goal was a multiverse of sorts before it was en vogue. Finally, Incognito actually listened to TMA and added MOST (though oddly not all) of the features we always knew they needed. Online team modes, balanced relics, the ability to turn off healths . . . to this day it is the best feature rich version of an online TM. TMX was oddly sparse comparatively.
So where's the controversy? Well, there are a number of issues. One that just has to be pointed out, if they hadn't been asked to make a PSP game they almost certainly would have finished Harbor City. Which do you prefer? A PSP game or a PS2 game? To me the answer is obvious. That's a bit unfair though - they could have done both. Blame Warhawk, David Jaffe, and Heartland for that failure, but that's a tale for another time.
There are other issues though. While the PSP game runs remarkably well, under the hood there are some issues that come about because of its rushed nature. The relics, a glorious addition that was an imbalanced and chaotic mess in Black but fixed here - had a glitch rendering them eventually all but unplayable. Time and testing would have caught it, but 11 months wasn't enough time. Further, the controls often messed up on you because they didn't have cancel features built in, and crashing was often a problem.
Then there's some odd story decisions that ring stupid to me. Marcus Kane and Needles Kane being the SAME person felt like a violation of the only really consistent narrative we had going between all of the games. it disappoints me to this day, and fans who point it out as a cool thing make me want to throw a shoe at them.
Finally, for most of the hardcore multiplayer fans, this is where the game has come to be judged harshly by history. With the view of mobile games supposed to be short quick bursts of time, and the belief that Black's vets were too powerful, Incognito rolled out a great equalizer in this game with undodgable homing missiles, nearly the same for a new idea called "swarms," which were essentially Black's reticle on crack, and special weapons now much, much harder to miss with.
The result was significantly dumbed down gameplay that felt like Twisted Metal: Nursery School. What's worse, when ESP was asked to port it to the PS2 they essentially used it as their template to TMX and you can see it's amped up homing ideas running under the surface of its beefed up cousin.
So how are we to judge Incognito's last TM swan song? I can't help but always wonder where they WOULD have taken the series. It almost assuredly would not have been like TMX. A hybrid between Black and HO? Weapons CAN miss but it's a lot harder than Black? We'll never know, sadly. That's what hurts the worst. It feels like a middle child that could potentially lead to the best version of a series yet . . . but that final game never was allowed to be. Incognito crumbled and with it that glorious future.
These days I have very little desire to play TMHO. It brings almost nothing to the table. I played the single player and I enjoyed it for what it was. The AI was stupidly easy, but it was decent fun. I don't need to keep experiencing it though. I rank it below Black, below TM2, below TMSB in this regard . . . but higher than the others. That's something.
What about the multiplayer? While I might boot it up again someday as a nostalgia hit, it brings nothing to the table for me and this is the NUMBER 1 reason I love Twisted Metal. IF I wanted to experience the best of its version of gameplay, I wouldn't pick up TMHO, I'd pick up TMX. It has just enough nuance to be more interesting. Otherwise, it's going to be Black, TM1, or TM2 that actually have significant counter play.
Still . . . I often . . . and I mean often . . . think back on the hype of TMHO. The hype leading up to it was awesome. A portable TM game as deep as Black (which it wasn't - but it could have been, and we hoped it was) seemed like nothing short of the greatest idea on Earth. Also, I often think fondly of my time in cars, or travelling, or late at night in my bedroom playing people against online or my brothers. I spent a good 8 months with the game before my PSP was stolen. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun, and I enjoyed it for the imperfect experience that it was. I'll always remember those good times, even if I don't have the same desire to play it year after year like I do with Black.
I'll always miss you Incog. You were TM developer perfected, even when you slightly missed the mark. TMHO was . . . flawed . . . but it is a part of the universe, and it was the only really active flame keeping the series relevant from 2004 - 2007. *Raises Glass*
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