Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition review

How much do you love Twisted Metal? If the answer is "more than anything else," then hoo boy, has your game arrived. Extra Twisted Edition is a gushing fan letter/developer pat-on-the-back that celebrates everything about the series' 13 year history. For a measly $20 you get the full PSP game Head-On, lost levels from Twisted Metal: Black and a boatload of bonus content that's more interesting than the aging gameplay.

See, Head-On was a PSP launch game that came out in 2005. The three year gap doesn't hurt the gameplay at all - blasting cars to fiery bits in run-down locales across the globe is as fun as it ever was - but it feels odd handing money over for something that we were tired of when firmware updates were still a novelty. Press sheets tout "enhanced" graphics, but forgive these old eyes if a new PS2 game still looks a lot like a PSP game blown up to fit a TV screen. Everything else is as it was then - fun, simple and a multiplayer blast.

About the multiplayer - you'd think any new Twisted Metal entry would support online play. But given the PS2's diminutive standing in the gaming world today, Extra Twisted only allows two people to go head to head. Not that big of a loss, considering that's how it was done on the first two (excellent) games, but we have to dock points for removing the one feature that made the PSP game relevant - online play.

As for the bonus Black levels, well, they're more of the same too, only without a story, cutscenes or reason for being. It'll take you about 10 minutes to play through them all, and even though they're well-designed, multi-tiered arenas (the carnival level is particularly cool), they're only worth seeing once or twice. No online play hurts again, as Black introduced internet play to the series years ago. So, with some competent but ultimately rehashed gameplay at the fore, it's the bonus features that make this disc worth checking out.