Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

Transformers bring back many great memories from my childhood days and for some reason I still find the stories from the franchise appealing. Bringing the Transformers to the big screen was no simple task and yet the crew at Industrial Light & Magic and Michael Bay pulled it off. Sure, the whole thing is drowning in way too many wacky characters and suffers from several worn-out Hollywood gags. Nonetheless, the movie will be enjoyable to anybody who wants to watch a decent summer blockbuster.

Nice and polished, ready for destruction.

Where are the people?

Now, we come to the matter at hand - the game. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the video game follows the plot of Paramount's big-budget movie, which recently landed into cinemas across the world. To cut a long story short, the Decepticons are looking to revive Megatron, who was defeated in the previous installment. At the same time, a new evil power is on the horizon. Meanwhile the Autobots, lead by valiant Optimus Prime, formed an alliance with the humans to counter any major threats throughout the globe, especially possible Decepticon attacks. Suddenly another Decepticon incursion takes place, this time complete with a massive robot nearly destroying half of Shanghai.

Although the story generally won't garner much attention, both Decepticons and Autobots are likable (almost as much as they are in the movies). The game allows you to side with either faction - Decepticon or Autobot. Having to experience the main campaign from both perspectives is a praiseworthy feature. The feature loses its appeal when you grasp the fact that the levels and missions do not differ much. I've finished the game with both factions and I didn't manage to find anything exciting that could eventually augment the game's replayability.

As for the gameplay, we were bothered by a few mishaps. In order to transform, players need to press and hold down the RT. The moment you let go of the RT you immediately return to your robot form. This makes things difficult in combat and is one of the most irritating aspects of the game. So, you're probably asking: what good is the rest of the game, if they've already screwed up the basics? Actually, there's more to it. The non-stop action, the shooting, special powers, upgrading characters and general destruction kept me occupied. Boosting your robot's power by pulling off specific kills clears the way for more destruction, giving your weapons extreme damage capabilities. It was cool, albeit nothing spectacular.

My biggest disappointment, however, came along when I finished the Autobots campaign. Things were just getting intense and I started to enjoy myself. Once the end credits showed up, my heart sank. True enough, you can continue to play and unlock more missions on the world map after you've completed the campaign, but a lot of these tasks feel extremely repetitive, so there's no point continuing 'the fight' aside from collecting more energon and hunting for more Achievements. Also, like in the first game, I still find it difficult to control flying robots such as Starscream or Sideways. Aiming and controlling the aircraft isn't intuitive at all; kind of like the transforming.

And, again, where are the people?

Good thing there are no people around to witness this!

While Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen boasts some excellent robot models, carefully animated and furnished with plenty of detail, the environments seem quite outdated and at times very ugly. The sound is nothing more than average.

What really surprised me is the multiplayer. There are a lot of Transformers to choose from and once the online battles kick off, we realized that using the powers of each robot is the key here. Everyone has a distinctive power that provides a tactical advantage and should be used carefully in combat. If you've mastered these robot skills properly, chances are you'll have a good time with the multiplayer. However, much will depend on how well you control the Transformers and in this game that requires a lot of practice.

Not many are capable of ignoring the stench of yet another movie-based creation and this game certainly possesses the symptoms of industry tackiness. That doesn't mean you won't have some fun if you take the time to learn how each robot operates and in time you should get a kick out of the multiplayer. We regret the developers didn't iron out some of the technical issues, which often ruin the experience throughout the single-player campaign.