Transformers: The Game

"One shall stand...One shall fall."

Made by: Activision in association with Hasbro

Based on: The Movie "Transformers" (Paramount & Dreamworks - 2007) as directed by Michael Bay

Available Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, XBox, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC CD-Rom

Plot

The planet Cybertron is at war.  The participants are opposing factions of sentient robots with the ability to change their appearance and disquise themelves in some sort of vehicular form.  The Autobots (the good guys) are lead by the powerful and benevolent Optimus Prime.  The Decepticons (the bad guys) are lead by the equally powerful and malevolent Megatron.  Their war has raged for millenia and in the course of which, both sides have lost the All Spark, a powerful and ancient cube-shaped artifact which was responsible for the birth of this mechanical race of shape-changers.  A centuries long search ensues during which time the All Spark has made its way through the Cosmos to Earth.  Now the battle continues here as the Autobots and the Decepticons race to locate the All Spark and claim victory once and for all over their enemies.

Gameplay

"Transformers: The Game" allows the option for players to run one of the two campaigns.

The Autobots: Players control popular franchise characters (and their alternate forms) Bumblebee (a Camaro), Jazz (a Pontiac Solstice), Ironhide (a GMC 4x4), and Optimus Prime (a big-rig semi cab) as they protect young Sam Witwicky who has unknowing possession of the key to locating the All Spark, while safeguarding humanity at large from the imminent threat of Megatron and the Decepticons.

The Decepticons: Players control the equally popular Blackout (an MH33 Pave Low Helicopter), Barricade (a Selene model police car), Scorponok (a robotic scorpion), Starscream (an F22 Raptor jet) and the mighty Megatron (a Cybertronian high-altitude jet fighter) as they seek to tear the world apart in search of the All Spark so that they can remake the universe in their image.

Each campaign is broken into 6 chapters which are in turn broken down into missions (ie: Rescue Bumblebee from Sector 7 agents) that take you through highly detailed renderings of key movie settings (the town of tranquility, Hoover Dam, the US air base in Qatar) which are almost fully destructible.  The object of each is simple: succeed so that you can move on to the next part of the relevant campaign.  During each mission you will fullfill the assigned tasks which will often include battle with opposing human forces or transformers of the opposing faction while changing back and forth between vehicular and robot modes as needed.

The key difference between playing the two factions is that as the Autobots, the challenge is to complete the various segments with a minimal amount of damage to the surroundings or friendly forces (ie: the human military and police forces).  As the Decepticons, destruction and mayhem is more freely encouraged, however as a result the required battle situations tend to be a bit more challenging than for that of Optimus and his ilk.

Bonus Content: the game itself has a host of bonus content (ie: movie stills, trailers, character bios, playable alternate skins) which can be unlocked by a variety of methods including the completion of each mission:

Collect Energon Cubes / Faction Symbols: There are 100 glowing energon cubes and 5 Autobot/Decepticon faction symbols hidden within each chapter setting that can be collected at anytime.  Bonus content is unlocked for each 15 energon cubes or all 5 faction symbols.

Skills: There are various skill points that can be earned (ie: Speed, Throw, Jump, Destruction) which can be completed by performing certain tasks (ie: driving as fast as possible along a city road) and holding that task for at least 5 seconds.

Complete Sub-Missions: Within each chapter there are 4 optional sub mission types (scavenger, attack, sumo, etc...) depending on your faction.  These are sort of mini-games, often on a time limit, and with each one completed additional bonus content is made available.

Pros

The gameplay is easy to get a handle on with relatively simple melee attack options and vehicle controls.  The near fully destructible settings are rendered in great detail as are the characters and you really get a feel for just how large and heavy (yet graceful and fluid moving) these beings are as they scale buildings, pick up and throw vehicles at their enemies, and jump across busy freeway overpasses.  The effects and chapter vignettes are of near movie quality with the likes of Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Frank Welker (Megatron), Keith David (Barricade) and Shia LaBeouf (Sam) lending their voices to this project.

Cons

The gameplay is easy to get a handle on with relatively simple melee attack options and vehicle controls.  While the POV is almost always fixed on the rear of the player character during battle situations, occassionally the angle slips and gets obscured by a large tree or building at a time that can be very inconvenient.  The physics don't quite make sense all the time as little Jazz will easy barrell past a tank and flip it off its treads while in vehicle mode, while the hulking semi truck mode of Optimus tends to get hung up on a traffic light that's been knocked down across the street in front of him.

Summary

On the plus side, if you are a fan of the franchise (as I was having grown up in the 80s) or a fan of the new movie, this game definitely has its moments and certainly makes for a good time waster.  Watching Optimus Prime jump from roof top to roof top in the big city is a thing of beauty and some of the sub missions are challenging enough to keep you entertained for a bit as you try to get through them.

On the downside, the controls aren't terribly sophisticated, making remote set ups like that for the Wii a bit of a headache to use.  The camera angles aren't always the most friendly and the night scenes can make the gameplay a bit frustrating (although it makes the cubes are super easy to spot) with darker shaded characters to keep track of like Barricade.  The biggest dissapointment of all however is the short-sightedness of the designers to not allow for a multi-player mode and satisfy the long standing debates as to who is stronger or better - Optimus or Megatron - by allowing you and your best friend to put these great titans head to head instead of the single player set-up it is now where the game itself has control of one or the other.

Basically, unless you're a die hard fan or collector, save your money and rent it.  A few days is about all you should need to get through this one...both ways.