I work in Washington, which has some of the worst traffic in the United States. So, I spend a lot of time in gridlock, wondering how much faster I could get to work if my car was equipped with rocket launchers.

Sony’s “Twisted Metal” games have been answering that question since 1995, allowing players to vent their road rage in the safe, legal confines of their living rooms. After a few years in the garage, series creators David Jaffe and Scott Campbell finally have rolled out the first “Twisted Metal” (by Eat Sleep Play; for PlayStation 3; $59.99; ESRB rating: M), and while it still delivers plenty of multiplayer mayhem, its solo campaign is about as much fun as changing a flat.

REVIEW CONTINUES BELOW

The game takes place in a sort of alternate America where Calypso, a ruthless billionaire, stages massive demolition derbies for his amusement. The star attraction is Sweet Tooth, a flabby serial killer who wears a flaming clown mask. He drives a souped-up ice-cream truck, but instead of Bomb Pops, it’s stocked with actual explosives – and it can transform into a killer robot.

The other vehicles in “Twisted Metal” range from zippy but vulnerable hot rods to sluggish but heavily armored behemoths. There’s a motorcycle equipped with a grenade launcher, a hearse that shoots coffins and a station wagon strapped to tank treads. For the first time in the series, you can take flight, picking off the competition from the turret of a helicopter.

Online, you can battle against up to 15 other drivers. The multiplayer modes include the usual death match and “last man standing” events, as well as “Hunted,” a sort of reverse game of tag in which everyone else is trying to kill “it.” The newest addition is “Nuke,” a more sadistic take on capture the flag. Nothing terribly original here, but a good way to blow off steam.

The single-player campaign is less satisfying. It tells the stories of three characters – Sweet Tooth; death-masked motorcyclist Mr. Grimm; and mutilated ex-model Dollface – as they fight through a series of challenges. Each has been promised her or her heart’s desire by Calypso; each learns, in a morbidly comic twist, that one should be careful what one wishes for.

The stories are not worth the aggravation of forcing yourself through Calypso’s events. In most of the challenges, you’re dropped in an area with a half-dozen computer-controlled opponents; you have to destroy them all to move on.

Only “Twisted Metal” diehards will have the patience to make it through its story. Online play is more amusing, although the variety of game modes is slim. Overall, this once-
beloved franchise returns to the road with not much left in the tank.