Transformers, not a name I would readily associate with a good game, and I certainly would not buy any game bearing this title. So I am lucky they sent me a review copy or my ignorance would have had me miss this little gem of a game.
Set on Earth more or less in modern day, but never visiting any location that might give you an accurate time frame, Transformers has you fighting the Decepticons once again for control of the Minicons; small robots which crash-landed on Earth many years ago which, for some reason best know to themselves, can add new abilities to any Transformer enhancing combat capabilities and giving the game a great majority of its depth.
Your goal is simple; wade through each mission based level and collect Minicons which you can then equip to enhance your abilities and allow you to survive as the levels get harder. The common enemies, known as ‘Decepticlones’ to thinly veil the fact they are mostly unvaried, will get in your way as you try to complete missions and grab Minicons, each level also has a Decepticon end boss however you will have everything from your fists to grenade launchers and sniper rifles to dispatch with them.
So we have the makings of a fairly generic shooter. However, Transformers will throw you a few curve balls to make the game generally more fun.
The first and foremost of these is, of course, your ability to transform, if you suddenly need to get out of a sticky situation quickly you can transform into your vehicular form and burn rubber out of there. This proves most useful in the boss fights, if you do not transform during a boss fight it is fair to say you are toast. There are also a few areas in some of the levels where it helps to drive and simply run the Decepticlones over if you want to get through quickly.
The second has to be the Minicons; they are not just something to collect, as equipping them will give you some pretty badass weaponry some of which are pretty unconventional. For example, the ‘Tractor Beam’ allows you to lock that beam right out of Star Trek onto your enemy and you can then use it to swirl them around your head and/or lob them off a nearby cliff. I have not seen a Tractor beam in any other game, although I do not deny there is one somewhere, so this made for an unusual and quite fun experience and with a few friends present could have constituted the first annual Decepticlone Lobbing Competition. Weaponry aside the Minicons offer a few helpful abilities such as a Predator like stealth field, the ability to glide some protective force-shields and then some. All in all this makes for a somewhat Mechwarrior like feel letting you equip your Transformer for any situation before you go into combat.
Last but not least are the surprisingly huge levels, you will generally not get a feel for how huge they are until you take to the skies as a glider. Whilst the graphics in Transformers are not groundbreaking, and are privy to a very noticeable lack of anti-aliasing (edge smoothing) the size and complexity of each level, not to mention the detail, more than makes up for it. The huge levels leave plenty of room for hiding Minicons and you often find yourself wondering, “How the hell do I get there?” as you desperately struggle to get the Minicon which could mean life or death in the next level.
The fact remains, however, that whilst you may find them difficult to grab in the early stages of the game the Minicons are not well hidden. As soon as you grab glider capabilities almost every single Minicon can be attained simply by jumping from cliffs and swooping down to grab them. Although it has to be said that you gain the glider Minicon close to the end of the game when it really is time to start rounding up those Minicons.
Although our Transformers previewer found the car controls, “a little loose” I was hard pressed to find anything wrong with them, before long I was hurtling around the levels at breakneck speeds knocking Decepticlones aside like so many ten-pin skittles. This leads me to believe that the control quirk was ironed out. Equipped Minicons are still bound to the shoulder buttons, meaning you can only equip four and a simple tap of a shoulder button will either activate/deactivate or fire the respective Minicon. You can also equip new found Minicons to these buttons when you first find them, for the most part however you will need to return to HQ to load out.
I found both the car and glider modes reasonably realistic to control. The glider will stall if you attempt to climb too high and will speed up during your dives visually, however, the wings are about a third the size they should be to support a huge Transformer but this should not bother anyone but discerning aviation experts.
Overall, and sadly, with only 5 levels big though they are Transformers is far too short and prone to being repetitive. However for a no-brainer shooter with an easy way of loading your Transformer out with weapons it makes a great pick-up-and-play game for taking out that pent up anger inside. You can pick from Hot Shot, Red Alert or the mighty Optimus Prime, load them out with gear and go out hunting, replaying each level just for the fun of blowing up endless hordes of Decepticlones with a Sniper rifle or going hand to hand beating them down with your steel fists and flinging them around with the Tractor Beam.
Despite the repetitiveness and over all shortness of the game it is impossible to deny that Transformers makes a great and highly varied shooter if you are the sort of person who likes to forgo plot and pick up a game for a quick laugh every now and then a half completed save on your memory card could keep you occupied for hours. If you like a good solid story and play straight through your games you will be let down by Transformers.
For a game like this I would take the overall score with a pinch of salt and go for the great gameplay and graphics. If you want an intensely detailed story line and plenty of FMV sequences then leave Transformers well alone. PH
