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 Yes you read that right, Twisted Metal 2 for PC! I was surprised when I found out recently that one of my favorite PlayStation franchises made it's way to the Windows platform 11 years ago. As far as PC games go and as far as ports of hugely popular titles, this one is apparently quite uncommon to find these days. According to what I've read, Sony was afraid that their then popular but not dominating PlayStation platform, would potentially lose sales if the game was offered on more than one system. So shortly after release, they yanked the title and ceased printing. Did it work? Well TM2 sold over 2 million copies worldwide on the PS1, who's to say if PC sales would have affected it in the long run?
So to get right down to it, this would be considered an enhanced port. While the gameplay, design, graphics and sound are very similar to the console version, it does have the advantage of, in some cases, improved textures and vastly improved anti-aliasing. The greatly improved smoke and fire effects are the most obvious things that stand out. So much so in fact that they almost look too good as far as matching the rest of the game. Being able to significantly raise the resolution on a PC monitor definitely has it's advantages over the PlayStation, even the PS2's smoothing filter doesn't match what the PC version does standard. Soundwise, the game is virtually identical to it's console counterpart in every way, even right down to the menu effects and music.
Having spent many hours on the PS1 version, I can safely say I'm qualified to compare it's control to the PC version for you enthusiasts out there. The button mapping for the keyboard or a game controller has everything you'd want for a title in it's day but while playing, I find the game feels a bit more floaty controlling the vehicles, even the more nimble ones like Mr. Grimm.
As for gameplay, if you haven't at least played a Twisted Metal game once in the last 13 years, where have you been hiding? Seriously though, it's basically the same as the PlayStation version. Vehicular combat with exotic weapons and unique vehicles set in arenas and vastly different locales around the world. Addictive, colourful and fast!
Now here's where the PS1 and the PC versions part ways: multiplayer. Where the PlayStation had 1 or 2 player gameplay, the PC version has 1-8. Unfortunately, due to the game's age and it's availability, I wasn't able to easily jump into a player match as of the time of this writing. I will say however that there are small groups of hardcore fans out there keeping the game alive, and using the Kaillera client for network play. You can also run it on modern machines without too much hassle. I personally have tested it on Windows XP SP2 using a user-made patch that makes small improvements and changes and also using by using Win95 compatibility mode unpatched (though it was a bit less stable than with the easily downloaded patch).
So there you have it, a popular, memorable game that helped define one of the highest selling game systems of all time, that had a short stint on another non-Sony system. I've giving it an 8.5/10 because it's a fun title even on PC and because as a collector, I find it to be a great conversation piece and treasured item.
Twisted Metal 2 PC - RF Generation game page.
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