View All (6)

View All (3)

Transformers: The Game - torture in disguise.

The collective squeal of a million giddy fanboys was heard ‘round the Internet the day that Dreamworks announced the existence of the Transformers live-action film. Upon hearing the blood-curdling yelp of a legion of frenzied man-children, the folks at development studio Traveller’s Tales sprung into action to craft the licensed video game counterpart. The result of that hard work is Transformers: The Game for Xbox 360 and a half-dozen other formats. It features huge robots, expansive locales, and more explosive mishaps than an episode of Mythbusters. Despite having some high production values including sharp visuals and great voice talent, the end product is one best left to rust in gaming’s junkyard.

The basic premise of Transformers: The Game (henceforth abbreviated T: TG) involves two interstellar robot factions at war over a life-giving device called the AllSpark. The Autobots are the self-professed good guys sworn to protect humanity from the destructive greed of the Decepticons in this mad race to acquire said plot device. Along the way, buildings will be leveled, cutscenes will be played, and many a wireless controller will be broken in disgust, for there are many points in the story campaign that will cause the most patient gamer to scream in frustration. Why, you ask? Let us share our woe.

At its heart, T: TG is a third-person action game of equal parts Crackdown and MechAssault. On paper, merging expansive environs with heated robotic combat is a sound concept, but in execution it’s more of a failed experiment. For starters, the deceptively open levels are immediately constrained by arbitrary mission timers and nebulous “action zones” that force you to stay put.

Should you stray too far from the task at hand, you have mere seconds to return to the designated area or you fail the mission. Add to that a rigid linear mission structure that runs the gamut from painfully easy to blisteringly difficult, and you’ve got yourself a game that tries too hard to be challenging. So while you’re racing across town to rescue Sam Witwicky from the clutches of a Decepticon hit squad, there’s little room for error while dodging heavy traffic and firing off salvos of painfully inadequate munitions.