How Can Twisted Metal Be Made Relevant Again

There are some games that unfortunately fall under the radar now and then and Twisted Metal is one of them. In case you didn't know, Twisted Metal is a franchise that started on the first PlayStation console and it was all about participating in a deathmatch tournament created by a strange being called Calypso. You chose a character to play with and if you won you could see that character's dream come true (or so Calypso said). Today, I am going to share some personal ideas about how can such a dark and twisted game come back to life on this generation. It would be a reboot that mixes both old and new ideas so here it goes.

The Story
I am really not a fan of super "realism" in games, but in the case of Twisted Metal it could make for an interesting approach. This time the story would have to be a little more believable in order for the game to look different. The setting would still be our world, but instead of a fictional post-apocalyptic version, let's have a very close contemporary one. On this story line, an all new Calypso, seen the sad state of affairs that the world is in, opens the Twisted Metal tournament as a mean for people to get their desires or fulfill their dreams in a world that isn't fair anymore. People all around the world sign themselves in through a special and bizarre social network and build their own cars as they get ready for the carnage that awaits them. At first it would seem like Calypso is in complete control, but halfway through the game Minion (a boss in the previous games) comes back from hell and makes him to be the final contestant (or final boss).  

The Environment
The battlegrounds on the game would be real life cities that will more or less resemble a mini sand box game. Each contestant is placed on one place of the map and they would have to look for resources in order to for them to be able to battle the others. This means that some "realistic" things will happen like running low on gas, getting a flat tire or even a malfunctioning engine. If any of these things happen to you, you would have to go to certain places in order to fix them before your opponent blows you up or else the performance of your vehicle is affected and that will make you an easy target.

While all this happens and as the battle heats up, the government begins to try to stop the battle by force. They will release waves of extra foes, ranging from cops, to the army and even special weapons of their own that will make the battle a little more interesting and challenging. To top things off, if your car is destroyed you would have the chance to jump out of it and make a final stand with a weapon of your own. The battles can also feature elemental hazards like deep water, fires or even natural disasters coming at random. All of these details make for a very active and action packed battle where the winner is the one who can use everything around him/her and an advantage.

Customization
We can have a cast of original characters to choose from in case we just want to pick the game and play, but there should be an emphasis on customization. This time the player should be able to make their own cars and characters. Starting with the car, customization begins to look like a really fun feature, so let's look at an example. Let's say you build a battle vehicle that has the chassis of a military hummer which will be the main body of your vehicle including stats like armor, weight, etc. Then you choose the kind of tires you want (could be dirt oriented, slick, monster truck like, etc). After that you choose one basic weapon (like machine gun, rail gun,etc) and set it where ever you want on the vehicle, a special weapon (missiles, laser, etc) and an ultimate weapon (nuclear bomb, satellite laser, etc). These weapons can either be ranged or melee and the variety would depend on the type of chassis you chose.

After that you get to choose perks/weaknesses based on a point system. Perks would be little extra goodies like special armor, keeping your speed underwater and cool stuff like that. Weaknesses on the other hand would be like small sacrifices you make in order to have more perks. Let's say that you choose that your vehicle runs low on gasoline quickly, but that gives you some extra points to get the "Ram damage" perk. A system like this would make building a battle vehicle to feel like making a character build on an rpg game, but a lot simpler.

Your Own Character
Customization of your vehicle is interesting, but it shouldn't stop there. You should also have to be able to make your own character. First you can choose a stock picture for it, or just put one of your own. Then, you would have to choose character traits. Character traits would be certain characteristics that will give your character a personality and will serve as information that the game would take to generate a story line and ending for you. These traits would be classified into 5 categories that would be:

• Type of person: Who would you be.
• Personality: How would you behave.
• Setbacks: Bad stuff about you.
• Virtues: Good stuff about you.
• Desires: Things you want in life.

You would have the opportunity to choose 2 types of person, 1 personality, 3 set backs, 3 virtues and 3 desires and each of these categories would have tons of options to choose from. Let's say you chose to be a retired soldier who is also a cab driver and your personality is gloomy. 

For setbacks: You are an orphan, you are addicted to betting in casinos and were involved in a scientific experiment accident. 

For virtues: you are physically strong, immune to most diseases and have a good reputation.

For desires: You want for a dead friend to still be alive, you want to be rich and you want to have a family.

When you finish making your character the game generates a story line for you. You were a cab driver that decided to enlist in the army for some time. When you came back after a big conflict in the middle east you came back with PTSD because of the death of your best friend on one of your missions. You decide to enter the tournament in order to get the riches necessary to get back on with your life the way you want to, so you can re-build everything you lost.

As for the ending, you would enter the tournament with those desires in mind and after winning, Calypso would trick you. He makes you rich and lets you fix your life and live comfortably with your new family, but one day your dead friend comes back from the dead as a zombie and eats you.

Wrapping it up

As you can see, this is a concept that could make this franchise interesting to gamers again. The whole customization feature lets the players to live their own version of the Twisted Metal tournament and could also serve as the character used on an online mode. Mix this up with cleverly designed stages, mechanics that feel a little more realistic and the chance to develop your character for both offline and online modes and I think that you have a new version of Twisted Metal that can be very appealing to both the old and new schools in gaming.