Head On was a return to the fun, but comically dark stylings of II and a game that should have achieved more success than it did. A cancelled third person game starring Sweet Tooth was made playable, and you could enjoy some cut levels from Twisted Metal: Black that clearly inspired parts of the PS3 reboot. The PSP got Head On as a big title, and it was then brought to the PS2 with a definitive edition that added a slew of extra content. Its graphics and dark art style have also aged gracefully, as has the storyline.
I found its maps to be some of the best in the series, and the ever-changing nature of them was unique and has held up very well with time. The endings are disturbing, and David Jaffe nearly apologized for it being that way in the Head On doc. This M-rated take on the series was dark and remains one of the most nightmare-inducing games ever due to the horrifying circumstances that have led each character into the Twisted Metal tournament. Luckily, Jaffe’s team returned to close out the franchise on the PS1 with Small Brawl before beefing things up with Twisted Metal: Black.
It has some of the worst endings in gaming, and is a black mark on the franchise. Twisted Metal IV brought car customization to the mix, and that’s it. Head On was essentially Twisted Metal III – only the one he wanted to make, not the awful 989 Studios-developed entry. He talked about the origins of the franchise in the Twisted Metal: Head On documentary in the PS2 version of that game. It has a slew of great maps, a ton of Easter eggs, and even hidden moves you can do with fighting game-style inputs. It has some of the franchise’s best maps and was viewed by David Jaffe himself as the best entry in the series. Its Paris map has become legendary, and its split-screen co-op was innovative for its time. Singletrac developed possibly the best entry in the series with Twisted Metal 2.
12 year old me adored this game, and while its graphics weren’t great even then, its gameplay has held up fairly well as has its charm. Beating him was a real accomplishment, and resulted in some hilariously-bad endings. Battling against the final boss Minion felt terrifying as it was just you against this behemoth, and it felt like a David vs. You could destroy enemies in a stadium, in the suburbs, against a Christmas-set winter area, or even chase one another along rooftops. This dark take on driving featured a mix of gunplay and demolition derby set against real-ish backdrops. The system had a slew of new franchises out, including one that did something that hadn’t really been done before on a console – Twisted Metal. With Sega shooting themselves in every possible appendage with the Saturn’s launch, Sony dominated the fall of 1995 with the original PlayStation launch. 2D gaming was on the decline, and 3D was the way of the future.
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