The reviews are in, and Twisted Metal is…pretty good, actually?

Today, Peacock debuts Twisted Metal, a TV show based on the decades-old PlayStation video game series about souped-up cars crashing into each other. It’s not the first video game you’d think might make a good TV show, but apparently it worked out because the reviews are rolling in and they’re pretty positive!

As of this writing, Twisted Metal has a 70% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is perfectly respectable. Again, I don’t want to sound like I was expecting it to be terrible…but maybe I was just a little. Good on it for defying the odds.

Twisted Metal stars Anthony Mackie as John Doe, a courier delivering packages across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He runs into trouble when he encounters Sweet Tooth, a violent road warrior wearing a clown mask.

Critics praise Anthony Mackie’s performance in Twisted Metal

Sweet Tooth is played in the flesh by Samoa Joe, but voiced by Will Arnett. John Doe is played by Anthony Mackie, whose performance several critics praised. Check out a sampling of some of the more positive reviews of the show:

• MovieWeb: “Twisted Metal is a glorious blast of unrepentant carnage. The big surprise is a smarter than expected plot with several clever reveals. Old school fans and neophytes alike are going to love this crazy summer joyride.”
• Movies and Munchies: “Twisted Metal is a huge surprise of a series. While the story is a fairly simple and straightforward one, the characters and their journey create engaging complexities filled with sarcastic interactions and violent action sequences.”
• IGN: “Twisted Metal is absurd and hilarious in exactly the ways you want a dystopian Cannonball Run to be. Yes, it matches the games’ crude humor but, mostly, it springboards from there and creates its own dark and warped wasteland sensibilities.”

Here are a few reviews that are a bit more lukewarm:

• San Francisco Chronicle: ““Twisted Metal” realizes that sometimes the appeal of the post-apocalypse genre lies in the simple pleasure of living vicariously through a likable hero dispensing one-liners while racing across the American wasteland.”
• But Why Tho? “The series is bombastic, and that comes with a lot of flair, some awkward but well-fitting special effects, and a loudness that rings through. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good time, and that’s all Twisted Metal has ever been.”
• United Press International: “Fulfills the promise of ultra-violent comic mayhem. It won’t win any new fans, but should satisfy those who love the Playstation game.”

And of course, there are some negative reviews:

• The Daily Beast: “An aggressively unfunny adaptation of a one-dimensional decades-old PlayStation franchise that few still care about, Peacock’s R-rated action-comedy breaks down from the start and never recovers.”
• The Verge: “Obviously, it was important to set up the world and characters for a show like this, but the series does it in a way that both takes too long and isn’t particularly fun.”
• RogerEbert.com: “A middle-of-the-road action-comedy for Peacock from the “Deadpool” and “Zombieland” dudes.”

All 10 episodes of Twisted Metal are available to watch now on Peacock.

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