Transformers: The Game

Jun 29, 2007

Like many guys my age, I grew up watching The Transformers after school. And like everyone else, I felt the knife in my heart when I first saw the new robot designs for Michael Bay's upcoming movie based on the '80s cult phenomenon. Time (and some kick-ass trailers) healed all wounds, however, and I have grown to accept these new interpretations of Optimus Prime, Megatron, and the other citizens of Cybertron. With my excitement over the new movie growing, I was really looking forward to playing this game. Besides, my Transformers fanboy-itude caused me to slog through the horrible Japanese Generation 1 Transformers title for PS2 -- this new game had to be better than that one.

Or maybe not. While the console versions of Transformers are decent if flawed games, this PSP version is a clunker. Let's start off with the good points though. As a Transformers junkie, I was thrilled to see updated versions of Generation 1 characters that aren't appearing in the movie. Old characters like Trailbreaker, Hound, Thundercracker, Shockwave and others all make appearances. Their presence is even tied into the game's storyline, which expands on the film. Sure, you'll only be playing as most of these characters in multiplayer, but it's nice to see them here anyway.

As you progress through the game, the story switches back and forth between the Autobots and Decepticons, allowing you to control members of both factions. It's during the actual gameplay where we begin to run into trouble. Perhaps the first thing that you'll notice is that the graphics are rather ugly. The robots look decent enough, but the levels are ugly and mostly barren. Start moving around and things don't get any better. The poor frame rate ensures plenty of jerky movements and the animation is choppy.

How choppy, you ask? When you fire a weapon, the Transformers barely bother to raise their weapons. Instead, we get a spastic jerk of their arm with a laser beam flying out of it. Even worse is the transformation animation. It starts off well enough, but about halfway through the process, the half-folded robot instantly pops into his vehicle mode. It's very jarring to see and smacks of laziness. Enemy transformations are even worse -- they'll often snap between their robot and vehicle modes without any animation whatsoever.

I Fear the Wounds Are Fatal

The controls don't help much, either. Using the X and Triangle buttons to look up and down respectively is awkward at first, but you can adapt to it when you're simply navigating a level. During combat, however, it's a pain. Trying to dodge enemy fire and adjust your sights on the bad guys (or the good guys if you're controlling a Decepticon) is a hassle. In theory, the target lock-on function should make things easier, but it rarely works in the heat of battle. When you're facing a single enemy, you should be able to get the lock-on to work, but the game has a hard time recognizing the feature when there are many attackers. The motions required to lock on are just too slow and deliberate. The game's poor animation affects combat as well due to the fact that enemies generally don't show any signs that they're taking damage. Just keep blasting or punching away and hope you're making contact.

Adding to the poor controls are the confusing inconsistencies between the controls in robot mode and vehicle mode. Why, for instance, do I fire my main weapon with the Square button in robot mode but with the right shoulder button (which is normally used to strafe) in vehicle mode? Having to completely relearn the control scheme whenever you transform gets old quick.

The missions themselves are actually pretty varied, but despite the different goals, they all start to feel the same after a while. This is mostly due to the uninspired levels and the terrible fighting system. It's a real shame to play through a level that contains a spark (Transformers pun!) of fun only to have the rest of the game sap it away.

If you have a few friends who assumed that this game would be good, you can at least link up with them via ad hoc wireless networking for some multiplayer battles. Up to four people can compete in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Ascension Rites (i.e. king of the hill) and Secure the AllSpark (capture the flag) modes. Although playing against human opponents is always fun, you're still playing on the same dull levels with the same bad combat. Still, this mode will get you a little extra value out of the game, and there are plenty of G1-homage characters to unlock for these bouts.

A serviceable multiplayer mode is hardly enough reason to recommend this game, however. If you're that desperate for some new Transformers action, you'd be better off sticking to the console versions. Or better yet, track down a copy of Atari's old PS2 game based on Transformers Armada (sure, the cartoon kinda sucked, but the game was aces). In the meantime, this game should be the first thing to jettison when Astrotrain starts requesting that we lighten our burden.