What were they thinking?!?!?!?!?
I don't even know exactly how to start this off except that I was hesitant to but the game in the beginning and I should have followed my gut instinct. Then I played the first level which was like a tutorial mode and thought "well, it looks a lot better than I was expecting, BUT..." and I should have stopped there. I could have saved myself a lot of agony if I just waited for a used copy, or for it to come down in price. But, alas, I didn't. I purchased the game the day after it came out, against my better judgement and usual principles. Never again will I buy a game without trying it out first. Let's get one thing straight...I LOVED the first generation of the Transformers. I watched the full-length movie over 30 times the summer it was available for rental on VHS. I will NEVER forgive them for the horrendous spin-offs such as Beast Wars. That said, I think you might have an idea where my review is coming from. After forcing myself through the first 3 levels, here are my final thoughts...
The opening cinematic got me fired up to play a great action title featuring updated versions of my favorite characters from 20+ years ago. Even with the new character designs, I got chills watching Optimus Prime run across rooftops and jump on the back of (I'm assuming it was) Starscream, and other Autobots and Decepticons blasting away at each other. But alas, I started the game and Optimus was extremely sluggish. The phrase "tank with brick wheels" comes to mind. He trudged along as I wandered aroung the level. The default control scheme wasn't quite horrible, but it was fairly useless unless you were auto-targeting every enemy, I wish you could have changed your control layout in the first level. Then again, the alternates to the default are as equally frustrating and useless. Give me the old Goldeneye 64 control scheme any day (with a toggle button for free-look on the analog stick). I hate having to use the triangle and X buttons to look up and down. What really could use some work is the battle system. It's a 3rd person shooter but it really didn't have the exitement I was looking for. Slowly making your way to the first enemy was kind of like going to a family reunion. It's something you should do, but you really don't have any fun when you get there. A few laser blasts and close range mele attacks...move on to the next one. Not really much of a challenge early on in the game.
Something that really hurt me was the lack of fluid animation. I really wanted to see a good transformation from robot to vehicle and back, but it was almost non-existant. It was almost as if Optimus fell into his truck form like he'd been tripped and was playing it off by becoming a truck. Does it make me a fanboy or a little too picky to want a good animation for the Transformers' defining characteristic? They change into vehicles...it shouldn't look sloppy!
I was more than surprised to see that the backgrounds for the first level to be quite detailed for a road in the middle of what looked to be a desert. And the tunnel you make your way to looked nice as well. The graphics began to fail as you encountered Decepticons though. I hadn't seen much in the way of images of any of the Transformers except what was posted on the official movie site and the few images posted on Gamespot, so I didn't know what to expect. Most looked like they were ripped straight from Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS. I was a little concerned to see that the first boss battle was a bit ugly. I couldn't tell where the head was or what Decepticon it was supposed to be (except that it's name was mentioned before the battle). As I moved on through the game to the second and third levels, it just got worse. The sound was a mixed bag. The voices were all fantastic, but they didn't run smoothly. There was a lag that kept it from flowing properly. The use of other effects was quite sparse and nothing seemed to sync up like a badly dubbbed Godzilla movie. Overall, was completely disappointed with the time I spent playing beyond the first mission. I would HIGHLY recommend anyone looking to purchase, TRY IT OUT FIRST! I was so excited about firing it up at first, I was determined that nothing could be said or done to ruin this game for me. Boy was I wrong! Movie tie-ins have always been a let-down and this was such a poor tie-in, I'm very concerned about the quality of the upcoming movie. If the movie is half as bad as the poorly made CGI cut scenes for the game, I'll be walking out before it ends.
Here's where you should reference my Transformers DS review...
I could get over the fact that the graphics were only slightly passable, but the game could actuallly take a lesson from the DS version. It really should have stayed close to the console and DS versions and been made into a GTA-style free-roaming game with more fluid (and faster) movement and animations. What the DS lacks in graphics, it excells in every other aspect. The bottom line is, this is some decent looking garbage that would be acceptable if it were priced a LOT less. (Once I can get it for $10 or so, I'll buy it again.)