Genre: Action
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Melbourne House
Release Date: May 11, 2004

Buy 'TRANSFORMERS': PlayStation 2

Once upon a time, there was only one Transformers game. There was one Transformers TV show, as a matter of fact. But now, in the wake of Beast Wars and Armada, the series has seemingly sprawled all over the place, with the most recent series, upon which this Playstation 2 game is based, being a return to the simple roots of the series, it being a remake, of sorts, of the original series. No monkeys and cheetahs hopping around, it’s back to trucks, guns, and giant robots. Developer Melbourne House (who also put together Grand Prix Challenge) has taken up this latest iteration of Transformers and crafted a great action game that, while a bit tedious and slightly flawed, is easily the best Transformers game to date (especially beating out the recently released Japanese-developed Transformers import). Some recently released games that are in a similar vein, such as Metal Arms, have taken the third-person shooter genre to a league still above this game, but the polish and overall quality of Transformers puts it far above its peers. Between this and Chronicles of Riddick, it seems like licensed games are actually getting the attention they deserve.

The story of Transformers is extremely simple: one million years ago, the Mini-Cons, a lost race of Transformers, fled into space and were stuck in some sort of suspended animation for a million or so years, blah blah blah – the actual story isn’t very deep at all, not even as much as the already-shallow TV series, yet somehow the cutscenes last much longer than they should. The plot is basically non-existent. I’m not sure who directed this game, but the man should be slapped upside the head for somehow making Transformers boring! Perhaps if the story was simply filched directly from the show – animated cutscenes et all – things would have turned out better. Instead, we’re stuck with a boring mess of a story that will definitely have even the most ardent Transformers dweeb frantically jabbing his controller to skip any and all cutscenes that aren’t for entirely informative purposes.

But anyway, yes - Mini-Cons. They are a race of mentally and physically handicapped midget-bots who exist only to serve the larger Transformers that “rescue” them, or simply enslave them, which is what I think Transformers’ evil overlord/super rad dude who’s bad Megatron and his Decepticons are trying to do. I can’t tell the difference. If you really think about the plot – which you shouldn’t do, if you plan on enjoying this game – it becomes jarringly obvious that the Autobots are trying to do exactly the same thing as the “evil” Decepticons. If you want to feel like the amazing hero that Optimus Prime is (and should be!), perhaps you could dork up a rockin’ premise in your head? Though, due to the presence of the Mini-Cons, which serve to add weapon upgrades and the like, you Transformers fiends out there might have a problem playing out the events of classic episodes of Transformers. What you have instead is something that plays out more like one of those horrible Canadian computer animated shows than an episode of the original show… perhaps the mark left by Beast Wars is indelible?

The action itself is very fast-paced, on-par with Metal Arms, though it’s no Virtual On. Hordes of Decepticlones, mid-sized Decepticon cannon-fodder, actually put up a good fight, and will definitely have even the best players strafing and jumping frantically to avoid their assaults. Their AI is really simple, but effective, kind of like Serious Sam; it’s the volume that makes it fun and difficult, not the brains. A great deal of modern games are designed so the normal hordes of enemies don’t have the player batting an eye, removing much of the excitement that made straight-on action games like Contra so compelling – and stressful, in the best context possible. Transformers makes use of this design mechanic, and pulls it off very well. A small troupe of Decepticlones really could mean the end for the player, making many of the battles have an “epic” feel to them. This is what Transformers is all about! Boss battles are even more breathtaking, perhaps because they can knock the wind out of you, through visuals and gameplay. Most of the bosses are massive and detailed, truly pushing the Playstation 2 to its limits with the amount of effects in play. The game is still mostly unimpressive in comparison to games on more powerful hardware, but taking into consideration how hard it can be for some developers to coerce the PS2 into doing what they want it to do, what Melbourne House has achieved with Transformers is a small wonder.

The geometry, especially in the environments, is a bit on the rudimentary side of things. Oddly formed jagged landscapes make up a good portion of the game, making for a sub-par visual and gameplay experience. It’s not that it’s impossible to get used to the surroundings, they just don’t feel right. Somehow, I feel that the terrain should be a bit more accessible for the transformations. It would have been nice to be able to use the transforming feature a little more avidly throughout the game. What could have been an integral gameplay feature if implemented properly instead comes off as a simple gimmick retained only to make good on its namesake. When the transformations do come into play, they are extremely useful, but it seems a bit to linear and contrived – it would have been really cool to calculate transformations into your battle strategies much more than the game allows.

Sound is where Transformers has no saving grace. Some slightly familiar tunes are scattered about here and there, but mostly the music has the feel of (here we go down this road again…) a Canadian computer animated TV show, with pulsing ambient music in the background. Somehow, I just don’t see this being congruent with what Transformers is all about. I need something more exciting, and I definitely would have liked to hear more tunes from the original series. Sound effects are minimal, not outstanding, though they at least sound like what they are supposed to. While a more fitting soundtrack and better sound effects would have greatly improved the overall experience, that just would have been the icing on this battle-driven cake. A bit of frosting would have been nice, but at least we’ve still got a pretty damn good cake.

Transformers is not a hit-or-miss amalgam of amusing and horrendous like so many licensed games are. It focuses on intense battles, and tries to capture the feel of the TV show upon which it is based – keep in mind that it is not the classic Transformers that we all grew up with, but actually pseudo-remake that’s been on the airwaves for a good two years now. The atmosphere is somewhat ruined by lackluster music, sometimes shoddy level design, and repetitive battles, but if you don’t overdose on the game, you’ll have a lot of fun. Classic Transformers freaks will be disappointed since this isn’t the series they know and love, but it’s a great game and a lot of fun nonetheless.

Score: 7.7/10