Transformers: The Game

Life

Transformers: The Game is a tie-in for the recent summer blockbuster, using a third-person perspective to recreate the plot of the movie. The game is divided up into two ‘campaigns’ where you can play as the (heroic) Autobots to focus on protecting people/assets/objects or as the (not so heroic) Decepticons where you destroy said people/assets/objects.

When starting the game you pick to play as one of the two sides both with their own separate objectives. Once in the actual mission area you have a set time limit to complete each task or fail the level. This is the worst thing in the game without a doubt, totally ruining any chance of experimentation.

A lot of the time you have to face a robot from the other side. This is done by picking up poles and other things, throwing them and hoping you’re aim isn’t too wide of the mark. Although its very mindless and some things have no effect when they should destroy the enemy it is very fun combat. Plus transforming is a joy even with difficult controls.

The game duration is not that long but since it is available on consoles and is a movie tie-in you can’t say it’s a surprise. The campaigns in general are a mixed bag with the Decepticons coming out on top as a seriously entertaining affair. Transformers is almost worth a purchase to play the bad guys alone.

The graphics are average but the destructible environments are better than expected. The shame is that for a game crying out for multiplayer carnage there is no co-operative mode.

Overall Transformers: The Game cannot be rated like any other PC game out now. Since it is based on a much-loved and established franchise the ability to finally play as one of the Autobots or Decepticons will be a huge selling point. As the game is little more than a mindless brawler you know not to expect the longest game or the best designed. What can be said is if you are after an afternoon of robot carnage, this is for you. But try the demo first.

Verdict: Mindless robot brawler for a Sunday afternoon.
Rating: ***
Specs: Windows XP, 2GHz CPU Pentium 4/AMD Athlon, 256Mb RAM, DVD-ROM drive, DX9 sound and graphics adapters (64Mb)

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