The Euro mainland prefers a ”sleeker, cleaner, more refined” experience than Twisted Metal’s ”garage band” style. The ”wrapper is so off-putting” to some.
Twisted Metal is all about completely ludicrous levels of vehicular mayhem as players bust each other up with weapons. It doesn’t gel all that well with Europeans though says David Jaffe, but then WipEout never explodes in sales over in the US either.
”My layman’s sociological view of Europe is that you guys tend to respond to things that are sleeker, cleaner, more refined, a bit more humorous,” said Jaffe of Eat, Sleep, Play.
”I think Twisted Metal is rough around the edges, it’s raw, it’s like a garage band. It’s dented, it’s busted up, it’s oil and diesel fuel. And to us in America, at least to Twisted Metal fans, it wears that as a badge of honour. We like that spirit.”
”In the same way Wipeout was never a mega hit over here and has always been appreciated by a smaller group than in Europe. There’s a similar dynamic going on. Your Wipeout is our Twisted Metal.” Censorship has rocked the series as well, hindering it.
”Our last really big Twisted Metal went out everywhere except America with all the storytelling, cut scenes, characters and things that gave it a conceptual definition ripped out for censorship reasons,” continued Jaffe. Some EU countries stripped out segments.
In the end the studio and publisher hasn’t succeeded in their methods of informing the gaming public exactly what Twisted Metal is all about.
”If you just look at the game on face value you either respond to the spirit and the imagination or you don’t. What you don’t see is the depth in the game. You don’t see the fighting game and the sporting spirit,” he said.
”I think especially in Europe the candy wrapper is so off-putting to certain people. You say ‘that’s not for us, there’s not enough irony, there’s not enough humour’. It’s not given the chance to unveil what’s beneath the candy wrapper.”
While hopeful that more of Europe will give the series a chance with its reboot due later this year on PS3, Jaffe also states firmly they aren’t going to reel back its style.
”In terms of reaching out through the internet, reaching out through Twitter, in terms of having SCEE being much more excited about the game, yeah, of course we’re hopeful,” he said.
”What we’re not going to do is go ‘how do we cut the balls off this spirit, of this essence, just in order to say maybe we’ll get more fans. There are games that can survive that kind of neutering, but Twisted Metal isn’t one of them. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.”
”I hope Europeans give us a shot. I know we’ll do better with this one than we have ever done before, but I’m not going to beg.” Twisted Metal releases exclusively on PS3 October 4th. Will you be giving Eat, Sleep, Play’s latest the time of day?
