No one would argue that the car combat genre has been profoundly dead for quite some time, given the long list of insipid games that have been released in recent years. Even the venerable Twisted Metal series has become a joke, as the lacking 989 Studios crapped out the unimpressive and derivative Twisted Metal 3 and 4 to dwindling fan interest. Sony first-party Incognito Inc. is hoping to reverse this trend and revitalize the genre with a return to its roots in Twisted Metal: Black. Comprised of a few key developers from Singletrac, creators of Twisted Metal, Incognito has done what many thought to be impossible: reviving the car combat genre and infusing it with fun, playability and style.

Twisted Metal: Black is just that: a fast, beautiful, fun game filled with disturbing imagery and hectic gameplay. This game is an absolute blast to play alone or with friends, and should go a long way in establishing Sony's position as a quality first-party publisher. While the PS2 hardware is certainly put to good use in the audio-visual portions of the game, Incognito has also gone to painstaking lengths to craft a quality and compelling gaming experience, and the results are impressive. Twisted Metal: Black is a great-looking, great-playing game that offers a surprising amount of depth and a healthy serving of M-rated carnage.

What sets TMB apart from its predecessors is, at least in part, its theme and presentation. This game exudes a dark demeanor throughout, from the excellent 3D menu systems rife with freeze-frame carnage, to the mentally unstable character and vehicle designs, right down to the loading screens filled with character "insight" and psycho-babble. Samples from the Rolling Stones song "Paint it Black" play in the background, fused with industrial metal and brooding electronica. The main menu holds a movie theatre that stores the character movies you've unlocked, and features carnival-style six-sheet posters for each character decorated with excellent artwork and brief snippets of back story. While the game certainly earns its M rating, it's clear the developers have a dark sense of humor that is prevalent throughout their product.

The excellent presentation becomes even more pronounced upon loading the first level, Zorko Bros. Scrap and Salvage. This grungy, trashy arena is littered with junk and debris, over- and under-passes, buildings, hills, ramps, an airplane hull you can hide in, and even a gigantic trash masher. The geometric diversity is staggering for sure, and all of this great scenery gets put to use throughout your battles. A blinding rainstorm blankets the arena with rain, reducing visibility at times to near zero, while the smoke and particle effects look outstanding and add greatly to the hectic atmosphere. Textures are very clean and detailed, and show off a great sense of artistry in the forms of metal, rust and corroded concrete. The game screams along at 60 frames per second, never flinching even during the most heated of battles. Overall the visuals are crisp and clean, and the game is super-fast at all times. Twisted Metal:Black really is a beautiful game, and even stands up against games released much later.

Vehicle design is top-notch, with a healthy mix of newcomers and veteran Twisted Metal favorites. Long time fans will recognize Sweet Tooth, Shadow, Axel and Warthog, while reveling in their impressive PS2 makeovers. The selection is deep and varied, with a great mix of hulking trucks (Manslaughter, Darkside) and speedy compacts (Spectre, Mr. Grimm), and even a few that mix speed and armor quite well, like my personal favorite Roadkill. These varying vehicles require different playing styles, so when you conquer the game with one character, the next one you choose is likely to offer a very different playing experience. As cars take damage, their appearance changes accordingly with dents, missing parts and smoking engines. When you trash your car in TMB, you really trash it. One of the coolest aspects of the vehicle design is that weapons deploy from a variety of locations, instead of a generic launch point. You'll see side-panels open up for missiles, or the Gas Can will pop out of the trunk. This attention to detail is really cool, and makes each vehicle truly feel like its own beast.

Of course the environments are extremely detailed and (mostly) destructible as well. In the Suburbs level, you can literally destroy just about every single building in the nicely-modeled suburban town, right down to the church and amusement park. Many destructible items house powerups and weapons, so it's beneficial to spend some time ramming into everything to find all the hidden secrets. Some levels feature some outrageous moments of carnage. For instance, in the Zorko Bros. Scrap and Salvage level, a jumbo jet can be shot down, and the flaming wreckage then crashes into the ground, opening up an underground tunnel. And in the Suburbs, the ferris wheel at the amusement park can be unhinged, sending it careening through town and crushing anything in its path. This level of carnage is almost unseen in deathmatch games, but it looks and feels so in-tune with the themes of TMB, and I personally enjoy seeing the consequences of such deadly mayhem. The levels vary in size and scope, from the tight confines of the Snowy Roads, to the vast destructible expanse of the Suburbs. Coupled with the different playing styles of each character, there is always a unique deathmatch to be fought, immensely extending the replay value of the game.

After taking a few minutes to adjust, you'll appreciate the precise controls and fast, frantic gameplay. Three control schemes are selectable (Classic, Run and Gun and Control Freak), with Classic being the most familiar and, in my opinion, useful. Pressing square accelerates your car, while double-tapping gives you a temporary turbo boost. Tight turns are accomplished by pressing X, which is quite necessary as you'll need to stop on a dime and turn around quickly against fast opponents. Machine guns are fired with R2, while weapon pick-ups and Specials are fired with L2. While the controls take some getting used to, you'll quickly appreciate how the layout enables you to perform all of the required actions almost simultaneously. Simply put, the controls are quick and responsive, even when you're piloting the larger and heavier vehicles in the lineup.

The balance of weapons feels exactly right, with a number of old favorites returning to action. You've got your standard machine gun, which has infinite ammunition but is fairly weak (until you snag an upgrade for it that will greatly increase its killing power). There are three different types of missiles, whose damage increases as homing capability declines. Some of the more powerful weapons, such as the Gas Can or Satellite, require precise aiming and a steady hand to use properly. This welcome risk-reward aspect will keep you from cheaply dominating with high-powered weapons, as you'll need skill and luck to use the more unwieldy ones. In addition to the main weapons, you can also execute special moves, using keypad presses similar to fighting games. Players can temporarily shield their vehicle from damage, fire paralyzing ice blasts at opponents, or execute a rear-drop of a weapon that is usually fired forward. These moves are quite a bit more difficult to execute in the heat of battle, but they can give you a definite edge, especially in the two difficult boss battles.

While every character can use the standard set of weapons, each vehicle is capable of a unique Special attack. From the charged homing missile attack from Roadkill, to the stealthy seeker missile from Spectre to the melee power-ram attack from Darkside, the Special attacks are brutal, effective and for the most part, very cool to watch. The cream of the demented crop, however, is Sweet Tooth, who undergoes an extremely cool transformation from an ice cream truck into a mobile robot, spewing dozens of missiles at opponents. While this is one of the most devastating attacks available, the long transformation time and accuracy required keep it from being a cheap, instant-kill move. All of these Special attacks require different strategies to use effectively, so you've got to experiment with each character to figure out how to best use them. The play balance is just about perfect for the every aspect in the game, from vehicle selection to weapon power to arena diversity. Incognito has definitely gone back to the drawing board and done their homework, and it shows in every facet of this great game.

Four main modes of play are available. The Story mode lets you fight your way through a branching series of eight battles, including two boss battles. Progressing will unlock movies, which provide back story and flesh out your characters' history. Selecting Endurance will pit you against a gauntlet of opponents, as you fight to survive and rack up consecutive kills. Challenge mode is a bit of a free-for-all, as you pick an arena and some opponents and get down to business. Finally, there is a head-to-head split-screen multiplayer mode that is every bit as frantic as the computer-controlled deathmatches. Each character has three movies that can be unlocked through play that flesh out their story. You can then watch these in the Movies option in the main menu. There is a lot to do here, with four secret characters to be found through a variety of methods.

Twisted Metal: Black is the undisputed king of car combat games. Incognito has done an outstanding job of resurrecting the genre and injecting it with some much-need style. This game is fast, furious, brutal and beautiful, and is a great example of next-generation gaming at its best. Every PS2 owner should experience this awesome game, as it truly is one of the top games on the system. Go get Twisted Metal: Black as a Greatest Hits title right now, or better yet, wait for TMB Online, which ships later this year. Either way, you can't go wrong.