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Transformers Dark of the Moon
Fans of robots in disguise listen up! What
we have here is the tie in to the latest in the Transformers movies by
Michael Bay, Dark of the Moon. In this little shindig you'll have the
chance to play the roles of your favourite 'bots, fight some pretty cool
little battles, and feel like you are part of something greater than
your everyday life.
Sounds pretty neat huh? I thought you'd like that.
Fans of Transformers will most likely be
stoked with this game especially after the monumental success of the War
for Cybertron title that came out last year, taking the imaginations of
gamers with it's ability to transform at will, with great graphics and
enthralling storyline. Have they succeeded this time? Not quite as well
but this is still a compelling enough game to play all the way through.
The storyline takes place after Revenge of the Fallen and is a pretty
linear affair with the first part of the tale following the exploits of
the Autobots, who you get to control until the part of the tale switches
over to the Decepticons and then you get busy as the bad guys for a
while. This is an exercise that will take the average gamer about six to
eight hours to work their way through. Players who wish to platinum the
title will need a few go throughs in order to get all the achievements
that make up this fun game.
There are some interesting new things that are brought to this title.
One of which is your robots' ability to adopt a stealth mode that
essentially puts you in vehicle mode with all weapons at your disposal.
It's pretty cool, and your vehicle is extremely manoeuvrable sort of
like a hovercraft. There is a downside however and that is that in that
mode you are stronger than you are as a robot. It sort of didn't make
sense to me that in a game about Transformers, they'd make the
transformed robot the more powerful of the two mode as you almost don't
have to change to robot form at all to get through the game. Fortunately
the storyline sees a number of bots crippled and only able to proceed on
legs, however in terms of needing to switch back and forth through the
game, those occasions are few and far between.
Visually this is a great looking game with
a worthy number of locations to make your way through, albeit in a very
linear fashion. Environments look convincing, and both Autobots and
Decepticons look like the real deal, along with excellent seamless
transformations that take place with a click of a button. Weapons and
effects are great and in all seriousness, there was not a great deal to
fault in how the game looked. In fact the only gripe I had was that I
couldn't pan the camera around to check out the front of my playable
characters themselves instead only getting to marvel at how amazing the
NPC's looked.
The title supports online play, and also the ability to progress online
as well, rounding out the experience for those who wish to continue the
fight. There are a number of Transformers you get to play as online that
are not available in the single player experience too which gives gamers
another reason to get on and have a shot in multiplayer.
My main issue with the game is that the storyline feels a bit rushed at
times with battles taking place within locked arenas whilst you take on
waves of enemies that have to be cleared before suddenly you can open a
door or proceed. At times that sensation provides for a touch of
claustrophobia or annoyance when you realise this great looking world
has barriers, but it's worth battling your way through it just to see
what is next as all robots have very different weapons and ways of
getting the job done. This does change up the way that you play and
whilst in essence this is a blast em up, it does still make for an
experience that changes as the game moves on.
Gameplay whilst fun does get a bit
repetitive at points in the title which detracts from your overall
enjoyment, but for the most part this is a just a fun game that allows
fans to play as their favourite Autobots or Decepticons. As a lifetime
fan of the series, I was pretty happy with the title overall and found
it good enough to play the entire way through. I do think that
experienced gamers who are not fans may not find this title a challenge
unless they play on the hardest modes and then are happy to get
pummelled quite heavily. There is nothing about the mechanics of the
game that get in the way of gameplay itself, and the missions are easy
to understand and get underway. Sometimes the simplicity of the title
made some sequences a bit of a non event but for the most part I was
happy enough to grab the controller and get me some Transformers action!
I would recommend the title for fans of the movies and old school fans
also. Hardcore gamers might not get enough out of the title to make it
worth the purchase, but I would still heartily recommend renting it to
those people. I do have a question though…. When is someone going to
make a good G1 Transformers game? Huh?
Tory Favro |
