http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158080
Transformers' Producer Bites Back at Criticism
Game producer says there is more than meets the eye in first showing.
By Philip Kollar, 03/19/2007
What's one way the potentially childhood-destroying powers of Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers film could be heightened further? A lackluster video game adaptation of the movie, naturally. Last week Activision unveiled Transformers: The Game to a group of journalists eager to see if it would match up with their wildest dreams or their darkest nightmares. And what's the word? Let's just say right now it seems to be leaning a little more towards the latter.
CVG reported on the event with a hefty dose of negativity, calling the crowd "underwhelmed" and saying that the game's physics "lacked impact during combat" They also stated that the game looked rough around the edges, lacking the detail we've come to expect from next-gen games.
The most interesting part, though, came with a later update to the story. In another case of what we can probably start calling Denis The Dyack Effect, Activision producer Callum Godfrey sent CVG a response reminding them that the game is still in development and suggesting that they were judging it far too harshly for such an early preview. Here's a segmet of the response:
"We're really disappointed you guys didn't get an accurate impression of what Transformers: The Game is all about and the direction in which we're headed. A work in progress system was shown that we finished putting together in the early hours of that morning specifically for a first-look presentation.
"We should perhaps have made it clearer to you guys that the physics system is not yet final and a large number of animations and reactions of the Transformers have yet to be implemented. These are due to come online during the next few weeks, and will help to make the player feel like they are taking heavy hits or are themselves generating considerable mass and force behind their own attacks. We agree this is crucial for a game about giant robots and this is where we're headed.
"The combat mechanics in a build we can show at this stage don't fully show the level of interaction between the Transformers in battle. The reactions are not hooked up yet, the melee combat has not been balanced and tuned for damage or impact and the enemy AI combat routines are being worked on in isolation at the moment. As I say, this was just a presentation piece to allow journalists to get a first glimpse of the game.
Godfrey assured CVG that they are still working towards delivering the best Transformers game possible.
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