Twisted Metal III PlayStation

After destroying suburbia and then the world, one would think Calypso's Twisted Metal driving/combat tournament would have ended. As brainchild of the charred face lunatic, the tournament is a collection of assorted psychopaths and oddball characters engaged in a fierce competition; they hop in their own whacked out vehicles and annihilate each other until there's one man standing. Whoever wins the tournament meets Calypso face to face and their wildest fantasy or wish is granted.

Using an all new ~TruPhysics engine, Twisted Metal III is the third installment in this vehicular shooter series; Singletrac has given the development reigns to 989 Studios. Players can choose from fourteen different cars and drivers including new characters and older fan-favorites. Among the old characters is Mr. Grimm, an undead motorcycle racer addicted to souls and Axel, whose arms were attached to two monster truck wheels; the new characters include Flower Power, a neo-hippie and environmentalist and Firestarter, who oddly enough resembles Keith Flint from the dance-rockers Prodigy.

In addition to each vehicle's array of special weapons and advanced attacks, special items and weapons can be found within each arena. The standard missiles, homing missiles, napalm blasts, and ricochet bombs have been included as well as items specific to arenas, such as the UFO in ~Hangar 18 and the radar dish in ~Tokyo. Health and turbo items can also be collected.

Twisted Metal III features two gameplay options, tournament and deathmatch. In the up-to-four-player deathmatch mode, players choose an arena of their liking plus up to seven computer-controlled opponents. The tournament is the actual game in which players choose a driver and set out to meet Calypso. There are 10 new combat arenas including ~Washington, D.C., ~Egypt, ~Hollywood, and the ~North Pole. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide