It could have been so much more...
I'll be honest, I've played worse games. This game isn't the worst game I've ever played; but I've played much better as well. Right from the get-go this game has problems... The gameplay is clumsy, there isn't a whole lot of content, the default controls just plain suck, the sound effects are bad, and even for the PSP the graphics aren't all that good. And really, the world isn't all that destructable either.
As you play through the game you randomly change between Autobots and Decepticons. As far as I can tell you really don't get to pick which side you want to play, you're forced to play a side randomly and that can change from level-to-level. The "customizeable" weapon equipment isn't all that much to speak of. Mostly you can choose from a "laser", "laser 2", "machine gun", "machine gun 2", and so on. The weapons really don't seem to have that much difference from eachother, and one thing that also bothers me is that you have to hammer the fire button down to refire; holding down the fire button does nothing. Not to mention there is no animation when firing, the characters just stand there and a bullet or laser beam appears from a point on their body.
And than there's the controls. Oh boy. With the default controls you look up and down with the key buttons and move around with the analog stick. To transform you press the two shoulder buttons at the same time. The controls are just clumsy, and to even enjoy the game I had to change the control scheme. The problem is, with the other control schemes the controls different from 'mech mode and vehicle mode. So while in one control scheme, while in 'mech mode you can move with the buttons and look around with the analog stick, when you switch to vehicle mode the controls switch around on you so you have to remember what to use to drive around.
The first couple levels in this game are painful, but after awhile the game does slowly begin to grow on you. But don't expect to be having a lot of fun. It's more of a game to play when you need to kill some time and have nothing better to do. There is a little bit of unlockable content in this game. You'll collect points throughout your game which you can use to "purchase" the unlockables. The problem is, there really is no unlockable content worth "purchasing". There's a few pictures, some music clips, and that's it. At least the points are easy to get so you should have no problem getting enough points to unlock the useless crap there. The PSP version doesn't get the unlockable skins it would seem.
I had been thinking of picking this game up for the PS3, but after reading a couple reviews I decided against it and picked up the PSP version instead (which saved me about half the price). As much as I wanted to like this game, after playing a few stages of it I realized it really wasn't worth the $40 I paid for it and, honestly, I regret purchasing it. If I were you, I'd wait a couple months for the price to drop to around $10-20 and than pick it up. Don't make my mistake.
It's a shame, really. This game could have been great. It could have been awsome. It could have been fun. Unfortunately, though, it fails in all three of those. It's mildly entertaining but nothing more.