Its hard to believe that its been 25 years since Twisted Metal: Black was released for the PlayStation 2. Twisted Metal: Black was the sequel to Twisted Metal 4 from 1999 and was considered to be one of the last high profile entries within its own series. While the Twisted Metal series continued after 2001 the series became seemingly irrelevant to causal gamers. The vehicular combat genre was starting to decline in popularity by the early 00’s and more adult gamers and teenagers were starting to gravitate shooters and action-adventure games. While the Twisted Metal series was starting to lose it luster the entry from ’01 was considered to be a significant improvement over its prequels. Twisted Metal: Black felt extremely dark compared to older entries between ’96-’99 because it ditched the cartoonish artwork which was designed to appeal more to teens and younger children in general. Twisted Metal: Black had around fifteen playable characters who were all inmates from Blackfield Asylum.

Each character had dark and tragic backstories which made the game more interesting as the competed in the deadly tournament held by Calypso. Twisted Metal: Black had a variety of different modes outside of the main campaign including Challenge, Last Man Standing, Endurance along with Multiplayer Battlegrounds. The refined weaponry included in Twisted Metal: Black including Satellite Missiles, Zoomy and Reticle were pretty cool features that added to the overall gameplay experience. The voice acting included in Twisted Metal: Black was also one of the defining features of the game itself because it had more life to the game. The dialogue in Twisted Metal: Black also gave each character more depth and allowed players to connect to them more opposed to previous games. The loading screens in Twisted Metal: Black felt more dynamic in a dark way but it was better than simply having written text with awkward silence like the PS1 entries did.

Twisted Metal: Black allowed up to four players locally and featured 2 player co-op gameplay for the story similar to previous entries. Twisted Metal: Black managed to sell more than 1.5 million copies worldwide following its release. Not only was Twisted Metal: Black a commercial success but its considered one of the best entries that Sony had published since Twisted Metal 2 from 1996. Its almost criminal that Twisted Metal: Black never got an official remake for PS4 or PS5. The Twisted Metal series is not nearly as popular as it once was and only appeals to a niche audience of gamers who grew up during the 90’s for the most part. While the Twisted Metal TV series from 2023 is somewhat popular on Peacock nowadays the video game series has been seemingly dead for years. While Sony does not have any major plans to create a new Twisted Metal game many long time fans of the series hope that one day a remake of the 2001 entry becomes a reality in the future.