Twisted Towers — Review: An Honest Shooter That Should Leave BioShock Alone

The communication from companies operating in the video game world has become increasingly shrewd in trying to attract "pockets" of users particularly attentive to not-so-subtle references to significant titles. And so, to attract even video game journalists, emails have multiplied stating things like "Our game is the meeting point between X and Y," where in place of the two variables you can insert high-sounding names at will, and you can be sure that the reality is as far as possible from the cited references.

And I fell for it too…

Twisted Towers is not BioShock: Let's Get Things Straight Immediately

Mind you, by this I certainly don't mean that Twisted Towers doesn't deserve your attention, far from it. But the points of convergence with the much-touted BioShock, if you exclude a certain Art Deco style of the environments, sadly end there.

In fact, I'll be honest: the email that arrived in the newsroom described Twisted Towers as if BioShock were set in Disney World. Well, more than Disney, I'd say Twisted Towers met Psycho Circus, the not-exactly-successful Kiss game, remember?

That said, however, Twisted Towers deserves credit for being a game capable of entertaining thanks to classic FPS gameplay that doesn't seek any kind of innovation (and that's certainly not a flaw), but which is still able to take you from the beginning to the end of the game aboard a bandwagon where, in addition to gunfights and puzzle-solving (which I'm even reluctant to call that), you'll also have time to listen to a story of madness and abandonment where things are not exactly what they seem (but the twist is quite obvious, come on).

What Really Works: Atmospheres, Weapons, and the Madness of the Playground

In this, you are Vincent, a young sprout who asks his beloved Charlotte to marry him, but just as you pull out your bling to seal the pact with the devil, she is taken away by Mr. Twister, the mad maniac of the hour. To retrieve your future half, you'll have to venture into a labyrinth of environments decked out as a serial killer's playground, facing waves of enemies born from the mind of Collodi on (strong) acid.

Fully armed, with always-themed weapons, from candy-shooters to "marble" guns, you'll have to climb a Dantean hell "in reverse," scrambling up the tower designed by the sadist who, from time to time, sends you messages of death through the TVs scattered throughout the various levels where, among other things, you can also find special contraptions that, for the simple cost of tickets collected around the maps, will upgrade your weapons to increasingly lethal and fun-to-use ones.

Nothing new under the sun, then, and we also send back to the sender anyone trying to pass off a combat mechanic, all in all pleasant, as something similar to what was seen in BioShock. A true blasphemy, not only because what Atmos Games (backed by those old foxes at 3D Realms) has put into play is infinitely more basic, but also because it especially lacks the variety and strategy guaranteed by Rapture's recombining powers.

So stop looking for dangerous and useless parallels and enjoy the atmospheres, madness, and, why not, the story of this Twisted Towers for what it is: an honest, fun, and slightly different game. And that should be enough for you.

Leave BioShock alone, it's better.

See ya