I'll admit it. I'm spoiled. I LOVE the graphics that the PS2 can achieve and, having grown accustomed to them, have become a bit critical of the PSOne's graphic capabilities. That having been said, I found the graphics in Twisted Metal: Small Brawl to be less vibrant than I had hoped. There were several times that 'seams' in the game objects were not only visible, but even distracting. This includes a lot of clipping problems (seeing through things that you shouldn't...). The music and sound effects are very nicely done, however, with some fast rock with a nice tempo to keep the feel of the game going and nice weapon and explosion sound effects.

As for the theme, TM:Small Brawl brings a new twist to the Twisted Metal series; remote controlled cars and the major change in scale that would be expected. The levels are the main difference here; everything is huge and themes for levels are taken from childhood. There are levels that are patterned after a school playground, a tree house, a movie theater, and a (very disturbed) kid's room. The cars are also slightly different from those in the other Twisted Metal games, the primary difference being the addition of a 'flag'-type antenna.

If you love the Twisted Metal series, then you might like Twisted Metal: Small Brawl. Then again, the 'darkness' of the other Twisted Metal games really is missing in Small Brawl. The only thing that remains (in spades) is Calypso's twisted way of granting wishes. The game is pretty short, at least the 'Tournament' part. There's only eight stages to work through to get to the ending. Out of those eight levels, the fourth one is probably the hardest, and the final stage (eighth level) is the longest.

You get six modes of play: three one-player games (Tournament, Challenge and Endurance) and three two-player modes (Head to Head, Cooperative and Free for All).

There are three difficulty levels to choose from in Twisted Metal: Small Brawl. In addition, there is a 'cooperative' two-player mode that allows you to have a friend help you out. I found that (on medium difficulty) the levels didn't usually take much to beat; just time. You have three lives (per level) and the other cars only have one, so it's reasonably hard to mess up bad enough to actually lose in a level. That is, of course, with the exception of level 4. Level four takes place in a mini-golf course. Basically, you play through level four as if it were a normal level, but then when you beat the last enemy, a new enemy (bigger and badder than the others) appears. Additionally, you're restricted to about half of the level (conveniently not the part that you could find health in earlier...) and you have to defeat this new enemy with what you have left. Well, there is still one one place in this level that you can get health. Find it and you'll have a much better shot at getting past this level. Level eight is not really all that difficult; it's just much longer than a normal level. You have to find where to get health and then make sure you go get more health when you need it. (This one could take a while...)

I wish I had been more pleased with Twisted Metal: Small Brawl. As a Twisted Metal fan, I really was anxious to see what TM:SB had to offer. Unfortunately, it just could have been better. The 'Small Brawl' name seems to not only refer to the scale of the levels, but the available area as well. Some of the levels seem cramped and confined.

Any other gripes? Sure: riddle me this, 'how would you go about loading your game?'. Did any of you answer, 'under the menu option MEMORY CARD'? No, I didn't think so... and yet, that's exactly how you have to go about loading your game in Twisted Metal: Small Brawl. There's no indication on your way through the menu items to play a game that you can load a game in progress. For quite a while I thought that you could save your game, but you couldn't load your game and continue where you left off.

Finally, when the game first loads, in the early menu screens, there's a delay problem. I have no idea why there's a delay problem, but it's a little aggravating. When you select an item in the menus by pressing your 'X' button nothing happens... then a few seconds later... 'bang' it's selected. Once you're into the menus a bit, this clears up, though. Still, it makes you wonder if your controller's working correctly for a minute...

PS2: It is possible to improve the graphics by using the smoothing option in the PS2's PlayStation driver options. BEWARE: It appears that the code for handling the music in Twisted Metal: Small Brawl simply plays audio tracks at the same speed as the CD player. Using the double speed option in the PS2's PlayStation driver options will cause the music to be twice the normal speed. Funny? Yes, but you wouldn't want to play the game the whole way through like that!

In conclusion, I wish Twisted Metal: Small Brawl had been a bit prettier, a bit longer, a bit more polished. It has a great concept, and a strong license, but it just seems to fall short of the mark. It's worth renting, sure. Twisted Metal completists will probably want to pick it up, if just for the namesake...