Is this another crappy spin-off videogame about our robotic alien friends, or is there more to this than meets the eye?
When I first saw the trailer for this game, I wasn't sure what to make of it as Transformer games in the past have been pretty crap. But the idea of fighting on the home world of Cybertron without crap Earth stuff around was a new concept I was quite excited about. I then read IGN's review, which gave it an incredible 9/10 and so gave it the chance.
For those who don't know, the game takes place way before the Transformers have even discovered Earth, Optimus isn't even Optimus Prime yet, instead this game covers how he becomes leader of the Autobots and why they must leave their home planet. For the geeks out there, you see how Prime gets the Matrix, the first view of the ship they crash to Earth in and how Starscream met Megatron. What makes this game special is it hasn't followed the films at all and instead has kept with the original (and better) premise.
You start off as a Decepticon (though you can do the story of the Autobots to begin with if you wish) and you're trying to contaminate Cybertron with 'dark matter', whereas with the Autobots you are trying to stop them. This makes the evil storyline more sneaking around (if you can call it that) whereas the Autobot storyline is more gun-ho and a lot more fun. There's nothing much else to it! You complete mini missions in an epic setting as different characters (should you wish) and all the usual characters get a look in, including Soundwave, Bumblebee and other favourites.
Cybertron is a living breathing planet and looks great, but it's so detailed that soon it gives you a slight headache. It's like there is a wire mesh over everything and, though I can't think of a solution to this, it makes the visuals seem almost messy. Apart from that it looks good, but I still feel there's something missing, there's not much of a score and everything looks the same no matter where you go in the game.
The gameplay is satisfactory, the transforming plays well and works and you have enough different guns and grenades to keep you busy. The AI is also impressive, your teammates know what to do and the enemies don't always just concentrate all their fire on you. The flying and driving plays well, but feels soft and slow which is unfortunate as I would loved for that to really work, but it could have been a lot worse.
It's a lot of good fun but it really is just the same thing again and again. You have to get somewhere, push a button, kill some bad guys, and move on and so on and so forth. They try to make it slightly varied but really, it feels like a poor man's Halo but tinged with Gears of War. Saying this, that doesn't make it a bad thing, but I wanted to complete it for the sake of completing it rather than for enjoyment.
I never got the chance to try at online co-op but I think this would make it a whole lot more fun and the deathmatches etc. were a good laugh. You unlock different modes, create your own Transformer but after playing the entire game, you can't help but feel that really, it's just the same thing against real people and soon the novelty wears thin.
How anyone can give this 9 out of 10 is slightly mind-blowing. Yes it works for fan-boys and the general public alike and it's great fun with a different twist on the Transformers franchise but it's a one-trick pony, and yes it might be one hellavu trick, but there's not enough to justify it as being one of the best games out there at the moment, because it isn't. If you like Transformers then you'll love it, but I'd wait until it comes down in price or maybe rent it for a bit, but if you just want to play a good shoot 'em up, there are better ones out there.
Good, but not great. Sorry IGN.
Rating: 7/10
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