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Twisted Metal 4

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Twisted Metal 4
Developer989 Studios
Publisher989 Studios
DirectorJonathan Beard
ProducersJonathan Beard
Darrin Fuller
William Todd
ProgrammersJim Buck
Mike Riccio
Matthew Titelbaum
William Todd
ArtistsBaz Pringle
Jonathan Beard
Diane Covill
James Doyle
Darrin Fuller
Thai Tran
Nikola Trifunovic
Julius C. Willis III
WritersJonathan Beard
Matthew Titelbaum
William Todd
Julius C. Willis III
ComposerChuck Doud
SeriesTwisted Metal
PlatformPlayStation
Release
GenreVehicular combat
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Twisted Metal 4 is a 1999 vehicular combat game developed and published by 989 Studios for the PlayStation. It is the fourth game in the Twisted Metal series and the second and last developed by 989 Studios. The game was released in North America on November 16, 1999, followed by a Greatest Hits edition in 2000.

Players control armed vehicles in enclosed arenas, collecting weapons and using attacks to destroy opposing vehicles. Tournament mode can be played alone or cooperatively by two players, while Deathmatch supports up to four. The game also introduced Create-a-Car, which allows players to build and save a custom vehicle. The story follows Sweet Tooth after he overthrows Calypso and takes control of the Twisted Metal tournament, with Calypso entering the contest as a driver.

989 Studios developed the game in response to criticism of Twisted Metal III, enlarging the arenas, adding more environmental interaction and revising the vehicle handling. The soundtrack features seven bands, including Rob Zombie, who also appears as a playable contestant. Critical response to the game was mixed. Reviewers often considered it an improvement over Twisted Metal III and praised its arena design, but disagreed over the handling, multiplayer modes, graphics and soundtrack. The game sold fewer copies than each of its three predecessors.

Gameplay

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A player controlling Quatro engaging an opposing vehicle, the Joneses

Twisted Metal 4 is a vehicular combat game in which the player selects an armed vehicle and fights other drivers in enclosed arenas until only one remains.[2] Each vehicle has its own special attack.[3] Further weapons, including missiles, remote explosives and proximity mines, are collected during battle.[4] The arenas contain several elevations, hidden areas and hazards, and some include mechanisms that can be operated against opponents.[2][4] These include a magnet in the Construction Yard that lifts vehicles before dropping them and a train that runs through Neon City.[2][5]

In Tournament mode, the player fights through a series of arenas, each ending with one or two boss vehicles.[2] The mode can be played cooperatively by two players, while a single player may select a computer-controlled ally.[2] Deathmatch supports up to four players on a split screen.[4] The Create-a-Car option allows players to choose from nine vehicle bodies, add a paint scheme and exterior fittings, assign one of four special attacks and select a battle cry; the completed vehicle can then be saved to a memory card.[5]

Plot

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Twisted Metal began as a traveling carnival led by Calypso, in which contestants fight in vehicles for a mysterious prize said to be a single wish, while those who lose forfeit their souls. Sweet Tooth first encounters the carnival as a child and follows it until he eventually becomes a contestant. After proving successful in the competition, he wins and asks Calypso to make him the star of Twisted Metal. His desire for prominence eventually turns to envy, and he and a group of clown henchmen overthrow Calypso and take control of the tournament.

Under Sweet Tooth, the competition again promises its winner a wish. Calypso enters as a contestant driving a nuclear missile launcher, seeking to reclaim the tournament and the ring now held by Sweet Tooth. The playable contestants have separate endings based on their wishes rather than a single conclusion to the story. In Calypso's ending, he demands the ring after winning, but Sweet Tooth's henchman refuses to surrender it. Calypso fights the henchmen and struggles with Sweet Tooth for the ring, causing the souls held within it to escape and destroying their surroundings. A boy later finds the ring among the wreckage and sees Calypso and Sweet Tooth still fighting inside it.

Development and release

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989 Studios developed Twisted Metal 4 internally, having taken the series in-house for Twisted Metal III after original developer SingleTrac was sold to GT Interactive.[2] Jonathan Beard directed development and produced the game with Darrin Fuller and William Todd, while Jim Buck served as lead engineer and Chuck Doud as music director.[6]

The team did not receive the source code used for the first two games, which remained under SingleTrac's ownership.[7] Buck said the changes to the arenas and handling addressed repeated criticism of Twisted Metal III, particularly its small stages, limited environmental interaction and tendency for vehicles to overturn.[7]

In a September 1999 demonstration, the vehicle physics had been revised to allow more airborne stunts, and cars showed visible damage when struck.[8] Other planned additions included larger interactive arenas, new weapons and vehicles, stages made specifically for deathmatch, easier combination attacks and a larger role for Sweet Tooth.[9]

Pre-release plans for vehicle customization included choices of wheels, body style, engine, weapons, call sign and colors.[10] The soundtrack featured seven bands, including Rob Zombie, who also appeared as a contestant driving the Dragula.[10] Twisted Metal 4 was released for the PlayStation on November 16, 1999.[1]

A fifth 989 Studios entry was approved after Twisted Metal 4 shipped but was canceled in December 1999 as the company turned away from PlayStation games and sequels ahead of the PlayStation 2.[7]

Reception

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Critical response varied. GameRankings recorded an average score of 68% from 17 reviews.[11] GameSpot's Joe Fielder called the game much better than Twisted Metal III, but said that the series had not regained its former standing.[2] Game Informer praised its closer resemblance to the play of Twisted Metal 2 and its controls, whereas GameFan argued that the new engine, cast and arena design moved it further from the first two games.[15][16]

The arenas earned praise for their hidden routes, multiple elevations and interactive hazards.[2][4] Brian Chin of GameRevolution found that the early stages were stronger than those near the end, while GameFan criticized the open spaces and uneventful battles.[5][16] Fielder and AllGame's Damien Thorpe found the physics improved from Twisted Metal III but still prone to flips and collisions with the scenery, whereas Marc Nix of IGN objected to the vehicles' toy-car feel.[2][12][4] Game Informer was more favorable, praising the handling and weapon effects.[15]

The multiplayer modes were better received with two players than with four: Game Informer called the two-player game enjoyable but found the four-player option choppy. Nix also criticized its movement and the poor visibility of vehicles.[15][4] Create-a-Car was welcomed as an idea but considered too limited to sustain much interest.[5][19]

The graphics also received qualified praise. Thorpe called it the best-looking game in the series but placed it below Vigilante 8: Second Offense, while Nix found the environments colorful but unexceptional.[12][4] The soundtrack divided reviewers; Androvich praised it, Chin found the repeated songs tiresome, and GameFan disliked the reused Rob Zombie remixes.[19][5][16] Twisted Metal 4 sold substantially fewer copies than each of the three preceding games, selling 465,000 copies by April 2001.[20]

In a 2001 retrospective, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine said that the game contained some good ideas but had been rushed to take advantage of the series' popularity.[20] Series co-creator David Jaffe later attributed the rejection of the game by some fans to its treatment of the series' setting, which he felt reduced a coherent fictional world to a loose collection of comic ideas and cars.[21]

References

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  1. 1 2 "Twisted Metal 4 Shipping: Zombie In, OJ Out". Game Informer. November 15, 1999. Archived from the original on May 24, 2000. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fielder, Joe (November 16, 1999). "Twisted Metal 4 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  3. ↑ Twisted Metal 4 instruction manual (PDF). Sony Computer Entertainment America. 1999. Retrieved July 1, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nix, Marc (November 22, 1999). "Twisted Metal 4". IGN. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chin, Brian (November 24, 1999). "Wanna be da boss? Throw your old one out the window!". GameRevolution. Archived from the original on October 25, 2004. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Twisted Metal 4 credits (PlayStation, 1999)". MobyGames. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 Mortimer. "Jim Buck interview". Twisted Metal Alliance. Archived from the original on April 18, 2001. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  8. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (September 14, 1999). "Hands On With 989". GameSpot. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  9. ↑ GameSpot staff. "First Look: Twisted Metal 4". GameSpot. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  10. 1 2 GameSpot staff. "New Twisted Metal 4 Info". GameSpot. Retrieved July 15, 2026.
  11. 1 2 "Twisted Metal 4 for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 2, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  12. 1 2 3 Thorpe, Damien (1999). "Twisted Metal 4 - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  13. ↑ Hsu, Dan; Hager, Dean; Johnston, Chris; Chou, Che (January 2000). "Review Crew: Twisted Metal 4". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 126. Ziff Davis. p. 234.
  14. ↑ Conlin, Shaun (1999). "Reviews: Twisted Metal 4". The Electric Playground. Elecplay.com Productions. Archived from the original on February 10, 2001. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  15. 1 2 3 4 McNamara, Andrew; Anderson, Paul; Reiner, Andrew (January 2000). "PlayStation Review: Twisted Metal 4". Game Informer. No. 81. Sunrise Publications. p. 37.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Rodriguez, Tyrone; Weitzner, Jason; Mylonas, Eric; Ngo, George (February 2000). "Viewpoint: Twisted Metal 4; PlayStation Reviews: Twisted Metal 4". GameFan. Vol. 8, no. 2. Shinno Media. pp. 13, 27.
  17. ↑ Kujawa, Kraig (January 2000). "Reviews: Twisted Metal 4". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 28. Ziff Davis. p. 92.
  18. ↑ "Reviews: Twisted Metal 4". PSM. No. 29. Imagine Media. January 2000. p. 53.
  19. 1 2 3 Androvich, Mark (January 2000). "EXrated: Twisted Metal 4". PSExtreme. Vol. 5, no. 2. Dimension Publishing. p. 58.
  20. 1 2 Davison, John (April 2001). "Twisted Metal: Black". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 43. p. 88. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  21. ↑ Santos, Wayne (October 20, 2010). "God of Metal: An Interview With David Jaffe Part 3". CGMagazine. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2026.
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