Activision uncloaks Transformers sequel

In summer 2007, Activision released the Transformers game, based on the eponymous effects-heavy summer blockbuster inspired by the Hasbro toy line. Given that the film grossed $320 million and the game made $75 million in the US, small surprise then that the publisher and Paramount Pictures are joining up again. Today, the two companies announced that they are indeed collaborating on a game adaptation of the forthcoming sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Directed by Michael Bay, Revenge of the Fallen the movie premieres in US theaters on June 26, and will once again see two factions of towering, shape-shifting robots--Autobots and Decepticons--engaged in a life-or-death struggle. Unfortunately for Earth, the androids continue to use the planet as a battleground, leveling cities and decimating human armies, as can been seen in the film's latest trailer.

The Revenge of the Fallen game will be, like its lukewarmly received predecessor, an action-focused game that puts players in control of a variety of Transformers. Jumping between robot and vehicle mode, players will fight through a single-player campaign set in such locales as Cairo and Shanghai. Unlike its forbear, the new game will also feature online multiplayer modes.

To put out Revenge of the Fallen games on every active platform, Activision is calling on no less than five separate studios, four internal and one external. Luxoflux (True Crime) is handling the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions of the game, Beenox is working on the PC, Krome Studios on the Wii and PlayStation 2, Savage Entertainment on the PSP, and Vicarious Visions on two DS games--one Autobot-themed, the other for the Decepticons.

As-yet unrated and unpriced, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be released "near" the film's premiere, according to an Activision rep. The same rep declined to say if any of the film's cast, which includes Shia LeBouf, Josh Duhamel, and Megan Fox, would lend their voices to the game.