Transformers: The Game [PS3]

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• Transformers: The Game Xbox 360 Review
• Transformers: The Game Wii Review

Michael Bay's new Transformers movie is exactly what the trailers promise: a big, dumb action movie that's light on story and very heavy on giant robots making stuff go boom. In other words, it's exactly what fans want. Activision's tie-in game, however, isn't. It's just as loud and dumb as the film, but has far less of the satisfying robot action. We walked away hoping this disc might transform into a better game.

Transformers: The Game is split into two campaigns, Autobot and Decepticon, with a few side goals, missions and unlockable goodies like skins that make the characters look as they did back in the '80s. In each campaign, you can theoretically go anywhere, but in practice you're confined to fairly specific routes and combat zones. The high point for fans might be the fact that nearly everything in the game can be destroyed. But that doesn't make up for the unfailingly poor campaign design. Playing the Autobots, you'll spend a lot of time racing from point to point, battling a group of Decepticons here and there, and eventually getting to a boss battle where your guns are useless. Yep, these Transformers are more heavily armed than those of the past, but guns are good only to take down buildings and cannon fodder enemies. Bosses are mostly immune to the cool-looking rifles mounted on Optimus Prime and everyone else, so you'll rely on a very limited selection of combos and grapple moves to win.

On the Decepticon side, there's at least the fun of destroying massive city blocks. Autobots are penalized for breaking the scenery (they're supposed to protect the squishy humans, remember?) but the bad guys are rewarded. Finally, a reason to fire up the guns! And airborne characters like Starscream are a lot more fun to play with than the clunky road-bound Autobots, who suffer from rusty-feeling controls.

No matter which side you're playing, developer Traveller's Tales (responsible for the happy fun Lego Star Wars series) tries to make the action feel more immediate by having the camera shake and rumble with every giant metal step. There's lots of shaky-cam in the movie, too, but there it makes sense. The motion helps disguise the line between photographic film and CGI. Here, there's no need to shake us up to such a ridiculous degree.

While the movie feels properly like a giant summer blockbuster, the game is simply too simple and lean. Each campaign is only a few hours long, and the side missions take little extra time. The objectives are generally simplistic and the cutscenes (even with the proper voice actors like Shia Lebouf and Peter Cullen) hardly compelling.

If nothing else, the Transformers all look great. In relation to their movie counterparts, that is. Take issues with the modern designs if you like, but here they're all brought into the game world looking great. The transformation sequences are cool and there's a lot of tiny detail in each replica Autobot and Decepticon. They sound great, too, and we'll admit to a thrill hearing Peter Cullen as Optimus and Frank Welker as Megatron. (Hugo Weaving voices Megatron in the new film; Welker voiced the character in the original animation.)

Transformers: The Game doesn't look quite as hot on the PS3 as on the Xbox360. Many levels are noticeably darker, and while you can bump the brightness to compensate, the game is consequently a bit washed out. The difference isn't massive - no need to run out and grab a 360 just for this - but gamers enabled with both systems should nod towards the 360 version.

Big Decepticon fans should note, however, that the PS3 version gets the nod for control, as it's possible to use the motion sensing SixAxis controller to guide flying characters like Blackout and Starscream. That's not a huge deal, but we'll take whatever adds an extra bit of fun to this package.

In general, however, this is pure movie tie-in fodder. Fans have long considered Atari's Transformers: Armada the best in-game version of the characters. (Well, they've thought as much since 2004, when the game released.) Though it's new and shiny, this newcomer does nothing to challenge Armada's title. Even the most die-hard fans are better off considering this a rental to tide them over for the last couple days until the film's release.