It was extremely fitting that the first location to get my godly hands on the game was in the arcade set up immediately after the Sony conference. At least I thought so. Who better to play against than the diehard fans that have been enthralled with the franchise since 1995? That and mix in the standard I was paid to be here and play the game people, but that's neither here nor there.

What was being shown? The multiplayer for the game primarily, at least on the floor. Nuke mode and a free-for-all style mode to be even more specific.

So after a bit of wait, I donned the headphones and chose the best vehicle of the franchise, Sweet Tooth, and took off guns blazing. Almost instantaneously I had flash backs to when I first put the original Twisted Metal in my PS One. I was like a teenager again being amazed by the game, only with better visuals, audio and some great new level designs. I fell back in love with the long lost franchise.

But like a good reviewer, and praises out of the way, my keen analytical eye and fingers began to notice a few issues. The big one being in the controls, the driving in particular. It was extremely sluggish and pretty much required you to do power slides to even do a basic turn. I'm talking a turn as if you just wrenched a real car's wheel all the way to one side. It just seemed as if the sensitivity was set WAY too low; which was not the case according to the PlayStation rep. that started the match.

I could look past that and just chalk it up to the fast paced action that the game is going for except that I could also power slide when not moving at all. Maybe my physics is a bit out of date, but wouldn't there need to be some momentum to swing a multi-ton vehicle into a 180? Unless we were in a weightless environment, I don't think so. Granted, this is still an early version of the game but these controls need to be tightened up. Or that PlayStation rep needs re-education.

I'd hit up on the actual combat of the game, but outside of the auto aim it fell to the issues with the steering and driving. That and I only got my hands on Meat Wagon and Sweet Tooth. But from what I saw it is all the same sans the special weapons of the vehicle you are in.

I am extremely optimistic for Twisted Metal given the faults I found while playing. I have great faith that ESP will take what is so close to a perfect "remake" and polish it up before October.