Almost all movie-to-video-games
translations are not worth the cost of entry. This is mostly due to rush
development times and studios making the product go live before it is ready.
Once in a blue moon there is a game that gets released that is just as good as
the movie. Unfortunately Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not one of those
games. Even though this game has a good foundation, it is hampered by poor
presentation, weird control scheme, and lack of mission variety.
There are two single-player
campaigns in this game: Decepticon or Autobot, and it is based loosely off the
plot of the movie. The first mission of either campaign is a huge tutorial that
shows players what the controls are and how to pull off advanced moves that will
cause the most damage to enemy units. After players complete this tutorial, they
will be sent to the "mission control area" where they can tackle many different
missions, including a few bonus objectives.
The main problem with the missions
is the complete lack of variety. Each mission is about destroying a certain
enemy, protecting an ally until they reach a certain point on the map, or
defend/attack a certain point on the map. After completely half the mission’s
players will have played about every mission scenario available in the game.
This is a missed opportunity for the developers to really create some ingenious
missions, but instead we are left with objectives players will get to perform
many times over.
The graphics for this game are a
mixed bag. The developers really got a nice level of detail for each of the
robot mode. What boosts this even further is the animation for each robot,
especially when it is transforming. The issue with all of this is the
environments that players are thrown into are very sparse of life and do not
have the same level of detail. It is understandable that the characters would
have more detail than the environments, but it is a huge jump between the two.
The musical score for this game is
really good. Player will love hearing some of the tunes as they are blasting
various enemy units on the screen. The sound effects are also nicely done, from
the explosions to hearing the vehicles rev-up during the game. The voice work is
decent, but it is nothing to get excited about, this is especially true since
some of the cast from the movie did not reprise their role for the video-game.
The AI in this game is not very
bright. Many times players might be chasing an enemy down the road, and then it
will decide to climb up a building to shoot players from afar (even though it is
in mid chase). The issue is that while an enemy (or a player) is climbing a
building they cannot attack of defend; they are basically a sitting duck.
Another issue is that it does not like to defend itself very well. Unlike most
games when the AI is getting shot at it tends to move out of the way to avoid
getting to much damage. In this game the enemies prefers to get shot up while it
tries to line up their shots, even at close range, it will still try to shoot
players instead of using the melee skills it has available.
The developers implemented a very
confusing control scheme for this game, and players will still struggle with it
even when they are close to beating the game. One of the main issues is the
right trigger button. This button is used for transforming between robot and
vehicle form, accelerating (while in vehicle form), and firing weapons (in robot
form). This is extremely confusing, especially when players get in a middle of a
fight. Players will stay in the robot form by default, in order to change to
vehicle mode they need to press and hold the right trigger button, which also
makes them automatically accelerate. If players let go of the right trigger
button, they will automatically transform back into robot form. This is not an
ideal situation, as it puts a lot of (finger) pressure to hold the button down,
and becomes confusing when chasing three enemies down and trying to shoot them
at the same time. To add to the confusion, pressing X while in vehicle mode will
fire the machine gun they have loaded, but the X button while in robot form is
the melee button.
Even though the controls are
extremely confusing some of the moves players can perform are great to see in
action. For instance players can be in vehicle mode, jump in the air in
mid-transformation and fire weapons on an enemy. No matter how many times
players might perform this particular move, it never gets old. Each robot has
several ways to attack an enemy: melee attacks (which can be linked together to
create a destructive combo), two different long weapons, and a special move.
While most gamers might prefer to use the long weapon weapons against their
opponents, the best way to defeat them is using the melee attacks. This becomes
even more obvious later on in the game when players upgrade the melee attacks,
because it can cause massive damage in a short time.
One of the biggest issues players
will have with this game is the lack of presentation. When players load the game
for the first time they will be treated to a set of cut scenes that look like it
is came straight from the movie. This will get players very excited to play the
game and look forward to more as the game goes on. Unfortunately, this is about
the only cut scene players will get the entire game. The story is told by use of
a holographic map and voiceovers telling gamers the next mission and their
assignment.
This is very disappointing as the
intro movie really sets the game up for something great. Players will not want
to hear how the story progresses, they will want to see it. The movie is all
about action, and this is what players expect to see. Instead players are left
in the dust thinking about what could have been.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
is rated teen.
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Gameplay: 6.5
The controls scheme is very odd and hard to
get adjusted to, even after beating the game. The missions are also very
repetitive and get stale quickly.
Graphics: 6.8
The Transformers are really detailed, and the animation is great. The bland
environments really bring the score down.
Sound: 6.1
The musical score is pretty good, but players will either love or hate
the voiceovers.
Difficulty: Easy
The game is really easy, especially with the dumb-down AI.
Concept: 6.0
Following the movie storyline is great, but better presentation is
definitely needed.
Multiplayer: 6.6
Thankfully there is an online mode which freshens up this game
somewhat. There are several different modes to choose from: Deathmatch, Team
Deathmatch, One Shall Stand, Control Points, and Battle for the Shards (capture
the flag). These modes really help freshen up the game, but even then players
are stuck with the weird control scheme.
Overall: 6.7
Just like all movie-to-video-game conversions, this game has potential
but falls flat at the end. With a little more development time, better controls,
and additional mission objectives, this game would have been a force to be
reckoned with. This is a weekend rental game only.
