With the new TV show hitting Peacock later this month, Sony is ready to remind gamers of Twisted Metal's greatness by releasing two of the long-running franchise's best games on the PlayStation Plus service. That's right, starting today, PS Plus Premium subscribers will have access to both Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2. That's great timing, but the question remains: Are either of these games worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Hyper, Next Generation and more classic magazines to see what the critics said when these games were first release. So, go and reinforce the frame of your car, because we're about to smash up the competition in this episode of PS Plus Review Crew.


The original Twisted Metal was the right game at the absolute right time. It was a first-generation PlayStation game that gave gamers a small taste of a Doom-style deathmatch, all while controlling more like a traditional racing game. This was a big deal for consoles, as it would be another two years before first-person shooters truly made their mark on game consoles (thanks to the release of GoldenEye 64). Twisted Metal was one of the first real showpiece games for the brand-new PlayStation, giving gamers a taste of 3D environments that were full of colorful characters and secrets to find. It was the type of experience you simply couldn't get on the Saturn or any other system, and the critics were ready to fall in love.

That certainly describes Electronic Gaming Monthly, who not only gave the game a staggering 9.25 out of 10, but also named it the best game of 1995. Sushi-X raved about the game and its “mindless death and destruction. It is a perfect game to relieve frustration while blasting away computer enemies or your friend in two-player mode. The different endings for each character offer nearly unlimited replay ability for this already great title.” Mark agreed, though praised a slightly different part of the game: “With all the new technology available to programmers, a lot of games are becoming so ‘high-tech' that the most important function of the game can be lost: fun! Twisted Metal seems to have only one job, and it does it well. The game is a blast to play.”

Believe it or not, EGM gave Twisted Metal the highest score of any magazine at the time. It's worth noting that Die Hard Game Fan did come close, giving it an average of 91%. The next highest went to the Australian publication, Hyper, who gave it an 88% and praised the game's handling and long-term fun. They concluded: “When my mum said ‘son, here are the keys, keep your eyes on the road, because there are lunatics everywhere,” she didn't know how right she was. The future looks pretty grim indeed, and you better be damn good on the gas, and even better on the rubber.”

The low to mid-80s is where we find the rest of the scores. Game Informer gave it an 8.5 out of 10, Computer + Video Games went a little lower with an 81% and you saw GamePro settle for a flat 4 out of 5. That's the same score Twisted Metal received from Next Generation, who lowered their score because “the damn thing is too short. If you have any skill at all, you can get all the way to the final stage in about two hours. Granted, the final boss is all but impossible to defeat, but by then you'll have seen all the game has to offer. However, in the end, the short running time is nearly redeemed by an excellent split-screen two-player mode, resulting in one-on-one combat that never gets old.” And, in the end, that is the reason we're still talking about Twisted Metal all these years later. The game is fun on its own, but a whole new experience when going up against real players.

Released one year after the smash hit original, Twisted Metal 2 delivers more of what you want. More characters, more locations and more crazy endings. This time around we take a tour across the world blowing up some of the most iconic landmarks. I'm talking about New York, Moscow, Hong Kong, Antarctica and, of course, Paris and its destructible Eifel Tower. Much like the original game, Twisted Metal 2 continued to benefit from a lack of any real deathmatch competition on consoles, and the developers at SingleTrac were ready to take full advantage. Does that mean they made a game that is actually better than the original? The answer to that question depends on what magazine you were reading at the time.

If you were to ask Electronic Gaming Monthly, they would have said no. The magazine gave Twisted Metal 2 a score of 8.25 out of 10, down a full point from the original. However, they did have a reason, and it has a lot to do with the new critics that were brought in between the release of the first and second games. Crispin, for example, starts off his review saying that he didn't like EGM's favorite game of 1995: “I wasn't all that crazy about the first Twisted Metal, but this sequel is worlds better, even though it looks like the same old thing at first glance.” He was especially impressed that you could run over mimes in Paris. Dan also acknowledges the new blood at EGM: “I know a lot of people weren't wild about the mindless ride that Twisted Metal was, but how can you not enjoy blowing other cars up? I loved Twisted Metal and I love Twisted Metal 2 just as much. Give us a better-looking game for part 3.”

EGM wasn't alone in giving it a slightly lower score, as Edge could only muster a 7 out of 10 when they reviewed it in issue 41. Fellow UK mag Computer + Video Games went even lower, giving it a 3 out of 5 and mocking Americans for liking this series so much: “Strangely enough, this is one of the most popular games in America at the moment. Without being too offensive, it's possible to see why, as this is exactly what we've come to expect from American developers – rockin' music, wacky characters, explosions and mindless destruction. While it's fun for a while, like the first game, it isn't going to last very long at all, even in multi-player mode.” This is the second Review Crew episode in a row where CVG takes a shot at Americans, and I'm starting to take it personally.

Thankfully, there were some magazines that liked the game more than the 1995 original. For example, you saw Game Informer give the game an 8.75 out of 10. GamePro went even higher, giving Twisted Metal 2 its first (and only) perfect score. They concluded that “the one-player modes are plenty enthralling, but the two-player split-screen head-to-head action is where the game really shines, providing hours of thumb-blistering, fender-bender action. If you've played the first Twisted Metal and wanted a little more bang for your buck, then this is the game for you.” If you're only going to play one, then I say go with Twisted Metal 2, but the truth is, you're going to have a good time either way.