My Review of Transformers:The Game for PS3 (Identical to X360)
Score (out of 10) 6.5
Yay: Nice Graphics...most of the time, Smooth Animation/Transforming, Great Sound Effects, Score, Good Voice Acting, Size of the City.
Nay: Mildly ******ed AI, Randomly God Aweful Collision Detection, Lackluster Combat, Frustrating Trial and Error Getup, Shotty Driving Controll.
Ok, the first thing I want to do is let you know a bit about myself. I am a fan of Transformers in general. I enjoyed the franchise when I was a kid, I had the toys, and I am familiar with and have my favorite Transformers. I do not consider myself a fanboy of Transformers...however I am a huge fan of video games. I've been a casual gamer since I could hold a NES controller in my hand, so this review is not so much about the game in terms of how it relates to Transformers as a fan, or how much it is/isn't like G1, etc. It is solely based on my likes/dislikes as a gamer.
Music/Sound: The music and sound effects in this game are top notch. It really feels epic. There is nothing more gratifying in a game to me than hearing an awesome melodic tone sweeping across senses as you attempt to do something daring or heroic in a game. Music that gets you pumped, gives you a little extra drive, that sends a slight chill down your back when you hear it ..thats what I'm talking about, and this game delivers. From the subtle sound effects of ambient noise to the clanging metalic noises of metal rivets and plates folding into place when you transform (Sorry guys, no G1 sound effect here), the squeeling of your tires as you break to take a sharp turn, it all adds to the realism. The weapon Sound effects are standard fare, what you'd expect from gund/missiles etc. Crank up the volume and take it all in.
Graphics: The graphics are good. All the robots are fully detailed and nicely animated. Some of the explosion effects, actually look a bit dull and textureless. Blackouts EMP burst for example, just looks like a textureless blue bubble, and some shrapnel that hits your robot just explodes in a hazy gray textureless circle. Overall, the game looks nice, but some of the effects look partially completed. The ambient lighting is quite good, as are the shading effects. When you walk or jump/fall on the ground you cause various sized cracks in the ground. Unfortunately, they can be there one minute, but if you turn the camera the wrong way, they either disapear or apear in the air. The crumbeling effects of the buildings are ok. Not great, not bad.
Gameplay: The game is average as far as gameplay goes. The controlls are fine. I would have liked tighter controll over vehicles/aircraft but that is just me. The fighting is pretty lackluster. Press the attack button over and over to perform a 3-4 hit combo. Yay. Press R1 to perform a heavy ranged attack, or R2 to perform a light ranged attack. It's all standard fare, machine guns and missiles of various sizes. Sad part is, most enemies, especially bosses, are imune to these attacks, so you really have to resort to running in, and pressing the attack button over and over. Sometimes you have to pick up itesm and hurl them at the enemy to get them to stop what they are doing in order to rush in, and slam on the attack button.
Speaking of picking things up, they should have worked on that more. I spend more time running around jamming the pick up button trying to pick something up, then I do actally hurling said object. Targeting is your standard fare, press L1 to lock on, but only after you have grazed your white targeting cross hair over the enemy...it just doesn't feel right. Targeting is iffy as well, just like picking things up.
The collision detection pisses me off to no end at times. I could be driving around, slaming into trees, uprooting them, or rushing through police barriers without a problem...but as soon as I drive over a random fence post....my car gets stuck and I have to transform to get un stuck. This has to be the most frustrating part of the game. I was chasing Baricade and a bus turned in front of me, it just pushed be backwards, backing up did no good, i had to transform and destroy to get un stuck. Mind you I failed that mission because i couldn't catch up to Baricade in time. I've gotten stuck on fences, downed trees, standing trees (that don't move) and I was even wedged between two buildings once, and I had to restart my game to get out of the mess. Horrible..horrible.
The AI is not very good. They will mosey around...get stuck between buildings where you can't hit them. They too will get stuck in traffic or IN another vehicle. Remember that mission I was talking about where I had to chase Barricade and I got stuck behind a bus? Well the next time I tried it, I was driving after Barricade, and I couldn't find him...I back tracked and found him wedged between a bus and a taxi..just stuck...also, when fighting a cement mixer decepticon, it was stuck on it's nose in vehicle mode, in a playground. It's just frustrating to fail a mission because of shotty controlls.
Overall: It's an entertaining game, but it's no masterpiece. It gets frustrating at times. Rent it, see if you like it. If you do, buy it. If not, get your play out of it and move on. It's worth playing if you are a fan, but I'm not sure how much fun a non fan would have, if they were just looking for an action game.
WHY DO I SAY THAT, WELL TO PUT IT IN A VERY SOPHISTICATED WAY, THIS GAME IS FREAKIN AWESOME,
LOL!!! I HAVE THE PS3 VERSION, NOW GRANTED I HAVEN'T PLAYED MUCH JUST THE FIRST PART WITH BB AND A BIT WITH JAZZ, WHO IS A BROTHA, LOL!!!
THE LEVELS ARE FREE ROAMING, YOU HAVE CHALENGES TO COMPLETE FOR UNLOCKABLES YOU COLLECT ENERGON CUBES TO UNLOCK THE CHALENGES AMONG OTHER TASKS!!! THE DESTUCTIBLE INVIRONMENTS ARE FREAKIN AWESOME, FOR EXAMPLE, I SHOT A CORNER OF SAM'S HIGH SCHOOL, THE FIRE SPREAD BLOWING UP THE ENTIRE SCHOOL AS IT SPREAD SECTION BY SECTION, IT WAS AWESOME!!!
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