To start, I have known the Transformers for about 9 years now and have become a big fan of them. So I was pretty excited when I heard that there was going to be a Transformers movie. Two years later, Micheal Bay released a sequel to that movie. Of course, I'm here to talk about the game adaption. Before I start with this review, let me mention that I have not played the Xbox 360/ PS3 versions of the game. I will be reviewing the Wii/PS2 version. Though the game is based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (RotF) the movie, the game's storyline barely follows it. The basic story is the same-The Fallen wants to gain energy by destroy the earth's sun with a star harvester, but other than that, it's pretty original. To activate the star harvester, the Decepticons (the bad guys) have to locate these strange artifacts. Though the Autobots (the good guys) have no clue what the Decepticons are doing, they know it's bad and they have to stop them. Unlike the movie, Transformers: RotF the game focuses on the Transformers instead of the humans. Actually, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) doesn't even appear in the game at all (unless you count his voice on Optimus' speaker at the end). The story may be a little wierd, but it at least focuses on the transformers instead of the humans.

If you're comparing this game to the one based on the first movie, you'll notice that it's completely different. The whole game is a third-person shooter/ platformer-type genre. If you get this game for the whole “turn into vehicle” part of Transformers: RotF, you'll be disappointed. Transformers: RotF only allows you to turn into a vehicle during three specific levels. As a Transformers game, it's not very good. As a game itself, it's pretty fun. Transformers: RotF is a simple game. You try to get from point “A” to point “B”. During this, you fight a bunch of Decepticons.

 

In these two versions of the game, you have many different attacks (including a super move) and, on boss fights, you're given specific buttons to press that do special attacks. These are called reaction commands. Sadly, though, the reaction commands in this game aren't exactly that awesome. This does, however, make the game a lot more interesting. You'll encounter several different enemies in this game. Some do melee attacks, some shoot at you, and some use shields. In other words, you'll receive a lot of damage to your health bar. Obviously, then, you would expect to have health items in this game. Instead of health items, however, you can simply regenerate your health by pressing the left directional button on the Wii remote, or the L1 button on the PS2 controller. The catch is that it takes up energy that you can use to activate the super move. Those who have played the first movie-based game know that you couldn't use your guns because the enemies always used their shields against you. Well, in this game, certain enemies do have shields, but you can still shoot the other enemies.

 

The multiplayer mode was a disappointment. You either do story mode, where player 2 is a security drone that can shoot Decepticons and regenerate health, or arena mode, where both players play as main robots and defeat as many Decepticons as their hearts desire. This gets very repetitive.

 

On specific levels, your transformer needs to get through a door locked by

a code. These codes offer a challenge, but can simply be bypassed by

pressing the minus button. Though it may seem easy, bypassing activates

the alarm which sends in more bad guys to beat up. On the bright side, Transformers: RotF has plenty of unlockable content. You can unlock character models, art work, and even episodes of the first Transformers cartoon series. While playing, I noticed a glitch where my character died at a certain spot in the level for no apparent reason. This only happened in the PS2 version of the game. Other than that one time, I've yet to find any other major bugs or problems with the game in either version.

Personally, I like the Wii control scheme better than the PS2's, but it really depends on the player. The Wii version relies on your hand for aiming, which is faster than the right analog stick on the PS2. However, the PS2 has a lock-on system which helps when your enemies move around. The attacking on the Wii uses motion control also. You swing left-to-right to activate a standard attack, and swing up-and-down to activate a heavy attack. The PS2 has more simple controls and uses buttons to attack. You press the square button to do the standard attack, and the triangle button to do the heavy attack. Though the Wii version's motion controls are more fun, they need more accuracy to work. Even though the Xbox 360/PS3 version has better graphics than this, these graphics are pretty good. I don't blame Krome (the main company for this game) for these graphics since we're talking about massive robots that have all these gears and details. It's really the close-ups of the characters that look kind of ugly, but in game play, they look pretty good. Though the models of both versions are the same, the graphics in the Wii version are much better than the PS2's, since the Wii version gives more shine to the transformers. The level design is good, but not great. Most of the levels look decent but there are two levels that you should know about. These levels take place in the Decepticon base. While that may sound cool, everything in those levels looks the same. Another mentionable graphic flaw is the transforming in the game. It looks so fake. I wouldn't have minded these graphics if it wasn't for the fact that the Xbox 360/PS3 graphics are so much better.

 

 

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