Twisted Metal: Lost

Twisted Metal: Lost
Release Date(s)	NAFebruary 5, 2008
Developer(s)	Eat Sleep Play
Publisher	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Rating	Teen

Twisted Metal: Lost is an extra feature in Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition. This game is loosely based on the beta version of the unfinished and cancelled sequel to Twisted Metal: Black, named Twisted Metal: Harbor City.

The game has only two endings accessed by beating the Story on Normal and Hard difficulties, both being related to the hoax involving the letter of the developers. It also has two additional vehicles which did not appear in Black; 12-Pak, and a special enhanced version of Sweet Tooth - Gold Tooth. It also includes four new stages, which are Suburban Terror, Stadium Slaughter, Death Port and Carnival of Darkness.

Story

This extra mode has little in terms of plot. However, it provides an urban legend-style story that was written to give the game a more mysterious feel, as well as to advertise the Dark Past documentary included in the Extra-Twisted Edition of Head-On. Additionally, it also hinted at the existence of a (at the time) upcoming Twisted Metal game.

The story gave a reason as to why Harbor City had never been released in full, which according to Lost was due to 6 key members of the development team having died in a plane crash, and 2 years later, their spirit sent an ominous letter to Sony demanding that their work was released to the public. Obviously, this story was false. It was completely made up by David Jaffe (who did not work in Harbor City), and he later admitted as such multiple times. Chad Liddell, one of the Harbor City developers would later respond to this story, saying that the former developers are all alive and kicking at Disney and that they still were making games.

Below is the intro for Lost with the story given. It's important to bear in mind that all of it is false.

Intro

THE LOST LEVELS OF TWISTED METAL: BLACK 2

"In 2003, work began on Twisted Metal: Harbor City.

The game was to be a sequel to the award winning, million selling Twisted Metal: Black®.

The levels in Harbor City were designed to connect via a series of freeways that would allow players to experience - for the first time - a seamless, streaming Twisted Metal world.

Sadly, only a select few ever got to experience this new vision for the Twisted Metal series.

On March 13th, 2005, 6 key members of the Harbor City team were killed when their plane crashed following a celebratory skiing trip in Colorado.

Because of this tragic event, the game was cancelled.

On March 13th 2007, 2 years to the day of the plane crash, a note arrived at the offices of Sony Computer Entertainment.

The note pleaded with Sony to allow the public to play the last works of the deceased team members; to allow the public to enjoy the last game the teammates had ever created. The note was signed with the names of the 6 deceased team members.

After months of debating the origin of the note, the consensus was that it was a joke in poor taste. However, it was decided that elements of Harbor City would be released to the public in order to honor the fallen teammates.

While the connective freeways have been removed and no stories were ever written for the characters, we hope you will enjoy the classic Twisted Metal gameplay that these levels represent. They stand as a testament to the talent and dedication of our beloved teammates.

If you would like to see the actual note sent to the Sony offices, complete all the levels in the LOST story mode. If you would like to see the note in its entirety - and unlock the secrets it contains - complete all the levels in LOST story mode on HARD difficulty."

The Twisted Metal Team
October 15th, 2007.

Normal Ending

CONGRATULATIONS!

You've completed the Lost levels!

Now you will see for yourself the letter sent to Sony by the supposed deceased game makers.

"We are dissapointed[sic] to hear of your decision to keep the world from seeing the last of our work
...We bed of you...
Show them all what we have done...
Show them our last Earthly deeds
...If you doubt our existence, look to the Dark Past for proof that we are who we say
For in this Dark Past you will find proof
That we know what the future will bring...

And do not forget..."

(the rest is smeared).

Hard Ending

Continuation:

"The truth lies in the greenery of Paris...
...To the left the truth is reveald[sic]...
This is why we have come back...
...To let you know what awaits..."

Contestants

Most of the contestants and vehicles are reused from Black with bios made for the Lost version specifically. They likely were not intended for Harbor City. In total there are 16 playable vehicles; two of them being unlockable.

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Availability	Newcomer Vehicle?	Description
RoadKill	John Doe	Default	✘	A Clone of the original John Doe, he wants to bring down the Twisted Metal contest.
Crazy 8	No-Face	Default	✘	Has been trying to rebuild his face for 8 years, so his baby daughter doesn't burst into tears when he smiles at her.
Mr. Grimm	Mr. Grimm	Default	✘	Mr. Grimm has started to think he may be the Grim Reaper himself, he now searches the streets for more human flesh.
Shadow	Raven	Default	✘	Now a hero of Midtown, she wants to get rid of the killers that roam the city.
Brimstone	Preacher	Default	✘	Back as a ghost after being rejected from heaven and hell, he roams the Earth in search of those who wronged him.
Axel	Axel	Default	✘	Still feeling guilt over his wife's death, he chooses to stay strapped to his machine.
DarkSide	Dollface	Default	✘	Choosing to stay locked in her doll mask, it begins to crush her head as she grows older.
Outlaw	Agent Stone	Default	✘	After winning the previous contest, Agent Stone is now stuck in a time loop that always ends in his death.
Sweet Tooth	Needles Kane	Default	✘	Needles continues to try and search for his next victim, meanwhile his brother wants to stop him.
Yellow Jacket	Charlie Kane	Default	✘	Wants to track down Sweet Tooth, kill him, and then kill themselves to end the Kane bloodline.
JunkYard Dog	Billy Ray	Default	✘	Wants to outdo Sweet Tooth as Midtown's most notorious serial killer.
Spectre	Bloody Mary	Default	✘	Has lost all hold on reality. Secretly, she wishes to be killed in the contest, and have her suffering come to an end.
Manslaughter	Black	Default	✘	Still wants to kill Calypso.
12-Pak	Severed Sam	Unlockable ( * )	✔	His body decapitated, he wants to find the crazed fan who lept from the stands on the day of the accident and stole his head.
Warthog	Cage	Default	✘	After a battle with Sweet Tooth, now Cage is only a torso and a head.
Gold Tooth	Needles Kane	Unlockable ( * )	✔	Provided to Needles by a mysterious benefactor.

Levels

David Jaffe used photoshop to guess how to make the levels from Harbor City "play great" in his eyes, and told to the rest of the team in Utah to modify the levels with his guesses. The results were stripped down and / or amalgamations of levels from the cancelled game.

• Suburban Terror - reduced version of the Suburbs level.
• Stadium Slaughter - reduced version of the Stadium level.
• Carnival of Darkness - stripped down version of the Scenter level.
• Death Port - unlockable; uses ships from the Docks level.
• City of the Dead - unused level; can only be played via hacking, buggy but functional; amalgamation of the Ghetto and Downtown levels.

Gallery

Left side of the Highway on top of the higest point of the movie theater in Suburban Terror

Right side of the Highway. Same point on the movie theater in Suburban Terror. Note the road leads into a cave.

Doublelane highway outside stadium in Staduim Slaughter.

Twoway tunnels outside stadium in Stadium Slaughter.

Mr. Grimm jumps to get a better view. Just for you.

Two-way tunnels in "City of the Dead."

Double lane hightway tunnel in City of the Dead.

Same doublelane highway destroyed.

Trivia

• The music themes that play in each level are actually the themes from Twisted Metal Black slightly sped up.
• Defeated combatants no longer scream and run ablaze when eliminated. This is something that was removed in the Lost version, as they do still appear in the Harbor City builds.
• In some of the levels from Lost, there are highways featured in them, although they were made unaccessable. This is because a planned feature in Harbor City was to have a connected world via a highway system. Making the game as one whole for the player to explore.
• There are actually five levels in this version, but only four of them are playable. The fifth level is known as "City of the Dead" and is unplayable due to some textures unapplied, some interactive elements unstable, and the spawning points not being one for each vehicle. It was the only level that contained a machine gun upgrade pickup, plus the ability to drive on the broken freeways, however they had invisible barriers, keeping the player inside the map. There is a code that will "force" City of the Dead to be the only playable battleground, whether it be in Twisted Metal: Lost or Twisted Metal: Head-On.