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Based on Paramount Pictures’ live-action feature film, Transformers: The Game lets gamers control the outcome in the battle for Earth as they choose to protect it as Autobots or destroy it as Decepticons and experience the unstoppable power and massive scale of their favorite robots in disguise. As the Transformers’ war comes to Earth, gamers make the choice to join the Autobots in protecting our planet or to join the Decepticons in destroying it. With dual campaigns, the fate of the world is in players’ hands.

Genre: Action

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Traveller’s Tales

Online Play:

Local Play:

June 26, 2007 –
I’m a Transformers fan. I grew up with them as a child of the ’80s, owned billions of toys during the entire decade and have every last season of the television show in my DVD collection. Hell, I’m even looking forward to Michael Bay’s live-action popcorn flick despite all the loud, elitist hate floating around. I may even get the new “Barricade” action figure simply because it looks cool and reminds me of “Prowl” from back in the day.

Activision’s videogame adaptation of Bay’s motion picture, however, will remain on my local store shelf.

Honestly, I’m not sure who Transformers: The Game is going to bother more. Longtime Diaclone fans that have dreaded what the “Hollywood Blockbuster Machine” would do to their beloved robots, or LEGO Star Wars freaks that enjoyed Traveller’s Tales’ work on that series with its addictive and charming gameplay.

Can we call it a tie?

While it’s not a complete disaster, Transformers is a cluttered mess. Despite reminding me of Hulk’s Ultimate Destruction with its “obliterate everything” motto and open world design, its quality isn’t anywhere near as comparable. Structures crumble and blow up, yes, but they’ll do so from even the slightest touch. I can’t tell you how many times I walked past buildings with Prime or Ironhide, only to watch those environments fall apart in a fiery heap because I happened to brush against them. Wreaking havoc is nowhere near as fun when it happens by accident just as frequently as it does on purpose.

Transformers’ “open world” isn’t really that freeform either. When compared to Hulk, Grand Theft Auto, or Activision’s own Spider-Man franchise, the environments and mission selection are as small and linear as it gets. Most of the stages that players explore (be it the city, military base, or whatever) have only a handful of primary missions and even fewer sub-quests that can be completed with little trouble. Sure, the developers tried to add some extra replay by scattering 100 “AllSpark” collectibles in each level (and five hidden faction shields), but 80% of these extras can be found easily with a 10- to 15-minute dedication.

The game also suffers from a number of strangely designed tasks and poor pacing. Take Optimus Prime, for example. The king of all Autobots and a true force to be reckoned with, Optimus is a giant badass with powerful weapons that could take out a small army. But rather than give players a reason to go out and use his kick-butt arsenal, TT Games neutered the keeper of the Matrix right from the get-go. For the majority of Prime’s quests, he spends his missions driving around within time limits to seemingly random points on the map, or he fights bosses that can’t be hurt with guns. What’s the point in having someone who is that dominant when you never have a reason to let loose with him (especially since destroying things as an Autobot works against you instead of for you)?

That’s one of Transformers’ biggest mysteries actually — why do we have primary and secondary weapons if they rarely matter? When playing as Autobots or Decepticons both, most of the higher-level robots you face are nigh impervious to your long-range weapons (especially boss characters). Even when an opponent has his back turned, he can somehow raise his shield to deflect your plasma shot or machine gun. This means that most of the “action” in transformers is played out via brawling; and when you only have one or two combos that with a throw (that are practically identical from robot to robot), things get old real quick.

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