After Twisted Metal 2, 989 Studios took over production of the series, and basically ruined it at that.  However, for the fifth installment, the creators of the first two came together to bring the series back to life.  And just that they did.  This, is Twisted Metal Black.

Packed with many new things, and a new presentation, Incog revived the seemingly dried out genre.  TMB is now in a dark, evil, Mature rated version.  With plenty of new vehicles, weapons, and levels, you will love every part of the game, except the difficulty.  That's right, this game is incredibly hard, and has a very tight learning curve.  Even on easy, you will find yourself pulling out your hair at times.  But, don't let that get you down, the game is still great, and you will eventually get up to par.

Sweet Tooth has returned, except, this time, he is a character, not a boss.  Also, he doesn't have the same annoying Special Weapon he had in TM4, but he still is tough.  There are 18 new levels, each of which is almost entirely interactive, and very large.  For example, in one of the levels, if you shoot the base of a theme park ride, it will roll across the land, destroying everything in its path.  Also, the addition of weather is added, so it will effect your driving and vision.  Many times in the first level, weather will effect your fighting.  A huge storm keeps passing over, and you will barely be able to see 50 feet in front of you.

The CPUs AI is truly phenomenal.  When fired at, they will turn towards the closest object and Turbo around it, causing the weapon to miss its target.  Also, if they notice you are going for a health, they will run and try to get it first.  Also, if your health is low, the characters will gain up on you and try to surround you.

TMB's graphics are very good, and detail everything very well.  Also, every time you change your weapon, the form of your vehicle changes.  For example, if you select a homing missile, an arm with the missile attached will come out of the side.  While many of the same old weapons are in TMB, there are many new and revised ones.  Twisted Metal Black is a great improvement on the past ones and is truly a great game.

-Mike