Twisted Metal 2

Story

Calypso now wants to take over the world, and use the world as his battleground for the Twisted Metal competition. So, he recruits more drivers who want to compete and the winner will get any wish they desire. Each character has a different wish, and in the manual for the game, it focuses on Axel for the backstory.

Halfway through the tournament, in Amazonia, you must fight Minion who was the victor of the tournament two years prior, and the final boss of the first Twisted Metal game. He says he has a score to settle with Calypso.

Upon completing the tournament, Dark Tooth, which is Sweet Tooth’s father, comes after you and claims you killed his son. In the first tournament, the driver of Yellow Jacket, Charlie Kane, was Sweet Tooth’s (Needles Kane) father. But, upon defeating Dark Tooth, inside the head is an old man. Defeat him and the winner will see Calypso for their prize.

• Roadkill (Marcus Kane)
  • A homeless man who wishes to return home. He claims everything is all a dream. Calypso grants his wish and Marcus wakes up in a hospital after being in a coma. The other drivers of the competition are seen in beds next to him.
• Twister (Amanda Watts) NEW
  • A woman who is always looking to go faster. She asks Calypso to for the ability to go faster than the speed of light. Her wish is granted as she travels back in time until her car is on empty and she gets crushed by a dinosaur.
• Axel NEW
  • A prisoner in his own vehicle who is looking for a way to escape. His father bound him to two wheels, as he became the axel, over 30 years ago. Calypso grants his wish to confront his father, but his father says 10 more years before he learns his lesson. Axel breaks free by ripping off his arms and walks away into a filed.
• Mr. Slam (Simon Whittlebone) NEW
  • An architect that was fired and now wants to build a structure that extends to Heaven. Calypso allows him to build the tower, but his greed got the better of him as he had to have the tallest building. He climbed to the top and fell off when shouting down at the other buildings.
• Shadow (Mortimer) NEW
  • A mysterious man who helps those who have died get revenge on their killers. He’s after Calypso, and upon winning the competition he has souls take Calypso away, but he manages to escape the souls by grabbing onto a plane as the souls are not able to keep up.
• Hammerhead (Mike & Stu)
  • Two clueless teenagers just looking for a good time and chicks. When they win, they ask for the ability to fly. Calypso delivers as they run off the rooftop, falling to their death, as he pulls out plane tickets.
• Outlaw 2 (Capt. Jamie Roberts)
  • A sister who wants to get her brother back after Calypso sent him off into space in last year’s tournament. When she wins, she demands to see her brother, only to find that she too is in space with her brother. However, she was prepared for this and installed rocket boosters on her car, allowing them to return safely to Earth. (The driver of Outlaw in the first game was Carl, while in this game Jamie refers to her brother as Buzz.)
• Warthog (Capt. Rogers)
  • An army captain that is over 100 years old who wants his youth back. He asks Calypso for the body of a 20 year old. Calypso grants his wish and gives him the body of a 20 year old, leaving his head alone. His head become all shriveled up and even more decrepit looking.
• Mr. Grimm
  • The grim reaper who feeds off souls. He wants to devour souls for dinner. Calypso grants his wish and turns the world into a battleground where people die at an exponential rate. All of humanity is wiped out, and Mr. Grimm is hungry again…
• Grasshopper (Krista Sparks) NEW
  • An underaged driver who is looking for her father that was presumed dead from a car crash. It turns out that Calypso is her father, and upon winning the tournament they reunite. However, Krista is actually now an android, rebuilt after the accident, and property of the LAPD. Calypso gives her a hug, and they blow up.
• Thumper (Bruce Cochrane)
  • A man who fought for his friends and family, yet never succeeded. He’s asking Calypso for revenge on those holding him back. He asks Calypso for control over the world, and his wish is granted. However, the world has been destroyed due to the tournament and thus he has no one to rule over.
• Spectre (Ken Masters)
  • All alone and ignored his entire life, he asks for Calypso to be recognized and popular, but specially says, “Make sure the entire world knows my face.” Calypso grants his wish, stretching out his face for the whole world to see.
• Sweet Tooth (Needles Kane)
  • An insane clown who is coming after you! His first home was a circus, second was an institute, and next will be yours. Not much else is known about him since he is a secret character. When he wins, Calypso grants his insane wish of wanting to turn into a bug in the garden to escape from the madness. His wish is granted and he become a bug, killing the others in the garden.
• Minion
  • A demon who is after Calypso for stealing his powers 11 years ago. When he wins, he sends Calypso down to hell.
• Dark Tooth (Charlie Kane)
  • The father of Sweet Tooth that is out for revenge of those who killed his son. This would imply that he is Charlie Kane since in the first game, the driver of the taxi cab, Charlie Kane, was Sweet Tooth’s father. It was revealed in that ending that he killed his own son in the competition, and Calypso granted him immortal life. Well, he’s back after Calypso’s brainwashing and is the final boss of the game. He can only be controlled via a GameShark code, but it doesn’t fully work since the head is detached and the game can be glitchy.

Gameplay

Much like the first game, you drive around, picking up weapons and destroying your opponents with them. Each vehicle has different speed, handling, health and armor, as well as special weapon.

Turbo allows the driver to drive super fast, perhaps to get away from enemies, or even ram them.

Additionally, there are no more health stations, but rather health pickups that look like a blue first aid kit symbol. It is so much better than the stations you had to drive onto to recharge your vehicle.

Some weapons return, such as fire, homing, and power missiles. But, there are several new weapons that are much better than some of the old ones they got rid of from the first game (such as tire spikes, catapults, rear flames, and oil slicks). New ones include a napalm fire attack, ricochet bombs, remote bombs, and lighting (an environmental attack only on a few stages).

In addition to the weapons, there are now special codes that can be input during battle to do special attacks and techniques. Such as a freeze burst, napalm, rear versions of weapons, mines, and even minion’s special. Additionally, you can even jump, and use a shield and brief invincibility. Your ability to use these techniques, however, is based on how much of the special meter you have.

Each vehicle has different stats and special weapons:

• Roadkill (Marcus Kane)
  • An overall well rounded car, but has relatively low armor.
  • Special Weapon: Boomerang Blast – A boomerang that shoots out in front and comes back to the vehicle. It has moderate damage, but increases if the boomerang hits on the way back to your car.
• Twister (Amanda Watts)
  • A weak race car, but has incredible speed.
  • Special Weapon: Tornado Spin – Powerful tornado that spins surrounding enemies around the car.
• Axel
  • A well rounded vehicle, with low speed and moderate armor.
  • Special Weapon: Supernova Shockwave – A shockwave that originates from the bottom of the vehicle, and the closer the enemy is, the more damage it does.
• Mr. Slam (Simon Whittlebone)
  • A powerful vehicle that is slow, but has amazing armor.
  • Special Weapon: Grab and Slam – Pick up opponents with the teeth of the front loaded and slam them, dealing massive damage.
• Shadow (Mortimer)
  • A long vehicle that has relatively low armor, but decent speed.
  • Special Weapon: Soul Shadow – Send out a shadow that can be detonated on the victim, dealing high damage.
• Hammerhead (Mike & Stu)
  • A slow vehicle, but has decent armor. The monster truck is one of the larger vehicles in the game.
  • Special Weapon: Monster Crush – Run over an enemy vehicle to automatically use the special, crushing your opponent.
• Outlaw 2 (Capt. Jamie Roberts)
  • A fairly well rounded vehicle that lacks armor, but makes up for it in speed.
  • Special Weapon: Omni Taser – A laser that circles the vehicle and attacks the nearest enemy. It has decent damage and is mostly useful for a drive-by attack.
• Warthog (Capt. Rogers)
  • A heavy duty tank with excellent armor, but relatively low speed.
  • Special Weapon: Patriot Missiles – A set of powerful homing missiles that seek out the closest enemy, and builds up power the further away it is (but not too far or else it won’t target an enemy).
• Mr. Grimm
  • A fast motorcycle that is extremely weak.
  • Special Weapon: Death Spawn – One of the most powerful weapons in the game that shoots out in front of the vehicle. While it lacks a homing ability, it’s extremely powerful and can kill an enemy with just a few hits.
• Grasshopper (Krista Sparks)
  • A small dune buggy that resembles that of Pit Viper from TM1. It is relatively quick, but very weak.
  • Special Weapon: Leap n’ Slam – The vehicle jumps into the air and slams down onto the opponent. It is relatively weak, and can even cause damage to you if used near low ceilings.
• Thumper (Bruce Cochrane)
  • An overall well rounded vehicle that is relatively long.
  • Special Weapon: Ultra Flame Thrower – A powerful flamethrower that shoots from the front of the vehicle that does massive damage.
• Spectre (Ken Masters)
  • A great vehicle that is fast and handles well, but is extremely weak.
  • Special Weapon: Ghost Missiles – Missiles with the capability of going through walls and homing in on the opponent. It has pretty good damage also. 
• Sweet Tooth (Needles Kane)
  • A well rounded ice creme truck with low speed.
  • Special Weapon: Napalm Cones – A relatively weak homing pink ice cream cone. The recharge rate is very good.
• Minion
  • An absolute beast of a tank that has pretty much max stats. The speed is slightly lower than max, but still higher than most vehicles.
  • Special Weapon: Shoots a freeze missile plus three powerful missiles. Dark Tooth can also run over vehicles with ease.
• Dark Tooth (Charlie Kane)
  • A large ice cream truck that is dark and has a rotating head above it. The most powerful vehicle in the game, with practically max stats.
  • Special Weapon: Dual Napalm Cone Missiles – like Sweet Tooth’s but fires twice as fast). Clown Ricochet Bombs – gigantic ricochet bombs with a clown face on it. Flaming Headbutt – the head detaches from the top of the truck and slams into the enemy vehicle, causing moderate damage. Dark Tooth can also run over vehicles with ease.

The final boss, Dark Tooth, is not a playable character, but there are some GameShark cheat codes that allow you to play as him and use the special. It doesn’t work perfectly, but is doable.

Select Dark Tooth:
8003434A 0E0E

Dark Tooth Special:
80187BA0 0010

My favorite characters are Axel, Shadow, Warthog, Thumper, Spectre, and Minion.

Graphics

The battle grounds have now expanded to the entire world, so go sightseeing in Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, Amazonia, New York, Antartica, Holland, and Hong Kong. Some of the stages have things in the environment that can be destroyed, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris to access the top of the buildings. Or the Statue of Liberty in New York to undress her.

The game is much brighter than the first game. Much of the first game took place at night, while this one has brighter stages and is mostly during the day.

Weapon pickups are no longer incased in a bubble, but rather out in the open and it’s easier to see what you pick up.

The game still runs at 20fps, which can be choppy during gameplay.

Sound / Music

With the exception of the menu music, all tracks are Red Book CD audio and can be played on a CD player.

Game Info

Developer: SingleTrac

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Initial Release Date: October 31, 1996

Platforms: PlayStation, Computer

About the Author

Asphodel Gaming

I am a Twitch streamer and game reviewer.