Twisted Metal release delayed in Europe, possibly due in March

Eat Sleep Play has said Twisted Metal will be delayed into March in Europe due to localization issues, and cuts requested by SCEE.

According to a NeoGAF post from David Jaffe, he has "heard" the game will now be released on March 1, but nothing concrete has been announced. This should give the developers plenty of time to sort the localization issues as well as put all bits from the cutscenes at the request of Sony Europe.

"99 per cent of the cuts were in the movies and the movies are still intact and I sat with the editor - who was the same editor of the American movies - and we went through and addressed the notes from Europe and made sure the stories still worked," he wrote.

"And to be fair, there have not been that many cuts. For example, in the scene we've released on the net from the intro - where the girl stabs Tooth in the eye - the SCEE version has this but we cut away right before the scissors make contact with Tooth's face.

"It's CLEAR what she's doing and I think we even keep the sound effects in and such - but the last few frames are gone. The story itself though totally works."

A few gameplay details have also been switched around, but like the cutscenes, not too awful much.

"Only a few content cuts - for example, I think the guy on the gurney from [the] Meat Wagon is dead so you are exploding a corpse covered with TNT versus a screaming man trapped to the gurney," Jaffee wrote. "Sucks on my end but at the same time, I get it and the game play isn't different and the intent is still there, as is the humor.

"In some ways, it's actually much more macabre when you think about it. Shooting a dude screaming out the back of an ambulance is pretty stupid and fun and cartoony in a dark, twisted way. Turning a stolen from the morgue CORPSE [into] a missile? A bit more disturbing in some ways...not trying to sell you on it, just thinking outloud."

Jaffee said it was easier to make small cuts than to release multiple discs for different regions, but as far as wanting to make any changes at all, Jaffee said "f**k no.. but it ain't my game... and some countries have much stricter guidelines."

Since Twisted Metal has never been a big seller outside of America, I guess it didn't make sense to have a whole bunch of different discs for each country," he said. "Anyway, it sucks, in that I hate cuts to the original game."

Twisted Metal is out in the US on February 14 and was originally slated for February 17 in the UK.

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