Messing with a formula... is risky and this time destroyed game play elements that should have been left intact.
It was a life saver in the previous game... a function I'd love to have back, perhaps in an update I've also been experiencing a lot of in game freezing (only with this game mind you.) In which it hardly ever recovered and had to turn the system off, but it wasn't the system... if had been I would have had to report the error. So along with the constant issues with in campaign mode I finally completed it the game, then made my way into multiplayer... had to see if it do the same thing.
(luckily not one freeze)
I always enjoy a team death match and customization was nice, but rather the lack of different transformers and the amount of DLC was displeasing, but not unexpected. I honestly expected a little more to work with design wise, more alternate transformers to give the player more design styles... rather then character frames. The level up system seems to work for most people including myself, just some of the weapons seem unbalanced for the classes. Example... Convoy's like Optimus Prime your given a large plasma cannon, then as a secondary you have a rocket launcher... nothing like a machine gun could have been granted! Personally I like to spray with a rapid fire and then use a plasma cannon, the previous title gave you a little more to work with. Now it also didn't have custom settings for weapons once you level up, which was a setting I was honestly impressed with.
The lack of co-op in Campaign was not a feature I overly cared about, but the lack of choice when it came to playing it did. Let me explain... I enjoyed the first game for the selection it gave with each level, I found that it still revolved around the characters and it gave players a chance to actually test out what specials they liked. This time around I was switched so often... it became annoying, along with the chapters just moving to the next... I couldn't put the controller down after finishing that chapter. Playing as only two of the Dinobots... Grimlock as the main one felt like God Of War, build up your rage and then unleash it... just felt to familiar for me to enjoy. Aside from Grimlock... none of them sounded like they belonged, much like bumble bee (Johnny Young Bosch) voice over from the first.
DLC hasn't been bought as of yet and I can say this there is five dinobots... not four which the pack fails to realize and ten dollars is steep price to pay, the last one gave us map packs at least and they cost the same amount. Now there is a second DLC character pack for the same amount and same number of characters, once again... no maps included. They should be priced properly for the amount of content your actually getting, no game play add ons... I'd say around seven dollars would be fair.
Multiplayer is the only place I really started to just enjoy myself, but I didn't walk away from this game with out enjoying it to some degree. I do however suggest more possible designs for either an update, or DLC pack (which should be free) to enhance the players experience and customization options. Perhaps let us record... and customize a voice with various tools, or update the settings on the voices... once again... it's all about customization features. Gives us the feeling these are our own creations, instead of all sounding practically the same. One last thing... no custom characters in "Escalation" there was talk about doing it in the first game, why isn't it in the second game?