We feel like going on our own murderous rampage right now

If you’re anything like us, then you’ll love the Twisted Metal demo that launched on the PlayStation Store this week. Eat Sleep Play’s series reboot is everything we’d hoped it would be and more, boasting a chaotic sense of style that’s grounded in some super deep mechanics. It’s a real throwback treat.

But sadly for European fans like ourselves, it’s going to be a little while longer before we get our hands on the full game.

David Jaffe confirmed rumours of a European delay in a post on the NeoGAF forums this afternoon, stating that “localisation is taking a touch longer [than expected]” and that the game should arrive “around the 1st March”. The game was originally scheduled for release in Europe on the 17th February, a few days after the game’s Valentine’s Day US release.

Unfortunately, the bad news for Europeans doesn’t end with the delay. In the same post, Jaffe also confirmed that, like its predecessors, the European version of Twisted Metal will be subject to some content cuts.

The outspoken director explained:

Certain countries have much stricter guidelines and since Twisted Metal has never been a big seller outside of America, it didn’t really make sense to have multiple SKUs.

The European version of Twisted Metal: Black was infamous for its heavy cuts, but Jaffe insists that this won’t be the case with the upcoming PS3 release.

[A majority of] the cuts were in the movies and they’re still intact. I sat with the editor – who was the same editor for the American movies – and we went through and addressed all the notes from Europe to make sure that the stories worked.

Changes include the removal of some particularly gratuitous scenes, though Jaffe ensures that it’s always clear what’s going on. He even added that in some cases the material plays better when it’s “left to your imagination”.

Other tweaks include some slight changes to the gameplay. The Meat Wagon for example – an Ecto-1 styled ambulance – allows you to fire out an explosive patient from the vehicle's rear. In the European version, though, this will be a corpse rather than a screaming, living person.

Jaffe concluded:

I hate cuts to the original game, but at the same time it’s nothing like Twisted Metal Black and players from SCEE territories will be able to play the same game and dive into the same universe as SCEA players. It’s a touch different but I and the team still stand just as proudly behind the SCEE version and are very excited to meet up with Twisted Metal players from around the world.

As big Twisted Metal fans trapped in Europe, we can live with the minor content cuts; it’s the delay that’s hurting the most. Twisted Metal is a game designed around practice; it’s going to be harder to overcome the game’s established US player-base when the region’s got a substantial head-start.

[source neogaf.com]