Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Video Game Review

Like the movie it’s based on, Transformers:  Revenge of the Fallen has gotten a lot of mixed reviews.  While the game is very light on plot, it’s very heavy on action.  Explosions and stylish kills take the place of an actual storyline.  While the combat controls are a bit clunky, if you can master them they offer the ability to do some really cool stuff. 
On one hand, the game is disturbingly jilted and feels nearly broken at times, on the other, there’s something very cool about screeching down the street firing away at a Decepticon and then, just before impact, transforming into your humanoid form and launching into a deadly melee attack.
However, it will take you a long time to grow the skills you need to overcome the awkward button assignment and finicky controls in order to do that.

Gameplay

There’s really not much meat on this games bones.  It vaguely follows the story of the movie but most of the context is provided by boring “cutscenes” which consist of Transformers standing around and explaining what’s going on.  From there, players are launched into missions which are short and choppy and consist of tired old variations on a theme including hostage rescue, check point races, and delivery missions.  However, most of the missions simply depend on destroying everything in sight. 
To accomplish this, your chosen Transformer (either Autobot or Decepticon) can use either the humanoid form or the vehicle form.  Each come with various weapons including ranged and melee. 

The first thing you’re going to stumble on is transforming between those forms.  The button you must use to do that is also the button that fires your weapons and also the button you use to accelerate in vehicle form.  You must hold this button all the way through the transformation process and if you let go, you’ll revert to you previous form—often leaving you to fall flat on your face or crash into an environmental obstacle. 

Speaking of obstacles, the environment is filled with all sorts of stuff you can destroy, most with pyrotechnic grandeur.  Cars, buildings, and enemies are no match for your awesome firepower and all will bow down before you.  That’s really one of the best parts of the game and it will leave you wishing that there were more destructible objects in your path.
The camera gives the game a very cinematic feel while players are in humanoid form but in vehicle mode it leads to quite a bit of disorientation and many motion sickness sufferers may find themselves actually getting queasy.

Though many of the missions are set up like epic battles between two opposing Transformers, the enemy AI is so bad it passes laughable and becomes painful.  Often times, enemies will just stop attacking you and wander off.  They also have an annoying habit of climbing the side of buildings during battles (leaving them completely exposed to ranged weapon fire and easy fodder for your cannons.)

One of the other annoying parts of the game is the level timer.  By completing levels faster, you’ll earn better medals (gold, platinum, etc.) accompanying which are appropriately varied amount of Energon which can be used to upgrade your character.  Unfortunately, the timer really rushes you through levels and you’ll find yourself wondering if there was more to do and explore (and explode).
You’ll also find yourself having to “grind” levels to earn campaign points in order to unlock new zones on the map.  Grinding in a third person shooter--really?  Yes, really.

The multiplayer ends up being more fun than the single player mostly because human enemies are smarter and more engaging than the dumb AI equivalent.  You’ll find your standard multiplayer game modes including the ever-present death match as well as a mode called “One Shall Stand” in which opposing players will be pitted against each other as either Optimus Prime or Megatron.  What happens next?  Well, to steal a line from Highlander, “there can be only one.”

Graphics

Graphically the game is a mixed bag.  While the Transformers look great, move extremely fluidly, and transform in an engagingly cool fashion, the environments feel a bit two dimensional and bland.  As mentioned above, the lack of true cutscenes is really annoying and the great robot models could surely have been used for something other than static exposition.
Generally though, the battles, explosions, and cannon fire really look cool, making Transformers excellent eye candy.

Sound

The soundtrack and effects are pretty standard which turns the player’s attention to the voice acting.  Unfortunately, that voice acting really isn’t enough to carry a sense of immersion.  While the original cast do reprise their roles, and the voices are okay (with the notable exceptions of some of the supporting Transformers whose voices get lost in digitization), the dialog is extremely repetitive and you’ll hear the same things a dozen times over.
Combined with the less than spectacular presentation, this makes the whole game feel a bit underdone, as if it was slapped together in a hurry to make some quick cash off the franchise name (no comparison to the movie version was intended with the last comment . . . really.)

Value

If you’re a fan of the movies, the game is worth playing.  If you’re a fan of the television show, you might think twice about it.  It’s the explosions and destruction combined with shiny character models that hold this lackluster shooter afloat.  While there are unlockables (including episodes of the original cartoon and vintage paint jobs) you may not want to wade through levels multiple times in order to unlock them.  You may not even want to take the time to play through both campaigns as they are extremely similar and really just mirror each other without expanding on anything.

Final Verdict

While Transformers is a flashy game, there really isn’t enough substance to keep a hardcore gamer interested.  Like the movie, it appears to be just so much eye-candy.

Pros:  Cool looking robots, big bangs, nifty nods to the original cartoon.

Cons:  No overarching plotline, poor dialog and scripting, wonky controls.


Overall Score: 6/10