Fast And Not So Furious
I have yet to see the new Transformers film, Revenge of the Fallen, that hit theatres several weeks ago. After nearly walking out of the first film in disappointment, I’m really in no hurry at all to see the second, which I’m told is as bad or worse than the first anyway. So, we got in the game based on the new movie recently, and I’m much more inclined to enjoy a game based off of a bad movie than vice versa. That said, developer Luxoflux focused on a speedy campaign for both the Autobots and Decepticons while also including an online package and an upgrade system. Let’s have a look shall we?
To be blunt, the campaigns last about three hours each, and are built for speed. One core element of the game is the Medal system. Medals, from Bronze to Platinum, are awarded given how quickly you complete a mission. Missions are designed to be beaten in under ten minutes each, and I think my longest mission (defeating Grindor) took like twelve minutes. It’s easy enough to net at least a Silver, if not a Gold, on all missions, but to earn a Platinum you will have to find and shoot out the icons spread throughout the map. These icons (the Autobot and Decepticon insignias) are often attached to the sides of buildings, and when shot, pause the Medal timer for ten seconds, giving you just a bit longer to earn that Platinum.
The different Medals yield additional Energeon points to spend to upgrade your faction’s abilities. There are six abilities to upgrade, most of which affect the amount of time you must wait for things, like primary weapon cool down, special ability cooldown, etc. Each of the six upgrades has three tiers of upgradeability, but you don’t have to go strictly from level one to two, or two to three — you can apply points as you have them. Besides earning Medals, you earn Energon by defeating your foes, and you get more points for defeating them in a variety of different ways. Getting headshots, destroying an enemy while jumping, or while they are climbing up the side of a building, are just some of the several different ways to earn additional points.
The upgrade system in Transformers 2 is obviously very basic, but it’s a good addition that gives it much needed variety. Variety could have also helped out the core game, which is strictly a third person action affair. Each mission is flat with just a very straight-forward objective, maybe two, like destroying all of the enemies or rescuing NPCs and bringing them to a safe zone, or providing an escort. Also, perhaps unsurprisingly, the twenty-three missions are essentially shared between the two campaigns, so while you’re not doing the exact same thing, you are still in the same “Zone” or area and that obviously weakens and cheapens the experience. The twenty-three missions, only about half of which are required to complete a campaign, are unlocked one at a time as you advance through the story. In between missions, your faction stands around a holographic sphere and does talks just enough to advance the plot along, but they also chat a lot about improving mission completetion speeds and efficiency, which seemed a little goofy.
Most missions require that you use a particular Transformer, but a handful give you the option to choose, especially the additional missions that are unlocked as you go (and count towards the total twenty-three). You rarely fight alongside another friendly, which I think is another aspect of the experience that seems kind of weak. Instead, you’ll fight against a few dozen Decepticons or Autobots alone, but it’s all built in such a way as to be very easy. Frankly, playing through the Autobot campaign, I only died one time, and that’s when I wasn’t paying attention to my health meter as I fought Starscream in Egypt. Otherwise, I rarely dipped below 50% health, and even when your health is low, you just need to run out of the battle for a few seconds to quickly regenerate.
Combat in Transformers 2 is almost exclusively shooting based. Each Transformer has a Primary and Secondary weapon and a Special Ability. All three of these have overheat/cooldown mechanic attached to them to prevent abuse, and this was balanced well enough I thought to be fair without being too annoying. That said, you’ll do probably 90% of your combat while in your standing (non-vehicle) form and with your ranged weapons. Very rarely did I do any melee attacks (which yield less Energon points anyway) and I spent even less time in vehicle form due to the controls, more on those shortly. That’s not to say the action wasn’t fun, it’s just limited to routine third person running and gunning.
Controls, Presentation
As far as controls, there isn’t much to Transformers 2, but the vehicle controls are bad enough to almost completely avoid using them. To transform and to accelerate, you hold down R2, and you keep holding it down. To do an advanced jump or ground pound, you hold down the corresponding face button and then release R2, while still holding down the face button. For some reason, that took a bit of getting used to. What I never got used to was having to hold down R2 the entire time I wanted to stay transformed into my vehicle; not only that, but when you are transformed, you’re accelerating, unless you use L2 to brake or hover (if flying). Other than helping me get across the map when transporting NPCs, or when flying was required, I never used the vehicle mode because controlling it wasn’t comfortable. How about just letting me do a button combination to transform, rather than having to hold down a button the entire time? That’s one thing that would have helped.
Transformers 2 also includes a multiplayer component that allows you to battle with and against friends online as either an Autobot or Decepticon. I haven’t spent a great deal of time with this mode, but it seems to run well enough and there is a small community of players currently online. I don’t think there is anything really interesting enough to keep me coming back for more though.
Visually, Transformers 2 looks dated and bland, but since the game rolls by so fast anyway, I wasn’t too bothered by it. That said, it’s a weak looking game with a lot of drab and monotonous textures; maps are also small, which is one problem with the multiplayer, too. The maps are all cordoned off with infinitely tall walls that are meant to keep you in the game zone, which is fine, but it’s a really tacky way of going about it. Weapon effects, character animations, lighting, and all of that just “is” with Transformers 2; it certainly doesn’t impress, and at worse it looks darn near last gen. For audio, all of the proper voices are in place as far as I can tell, but the script is brief and dull. As you play through a mission, you’ll get constant reminders to watch your health and to be aware of another wave of enemies coming, and so forth — just throw away dialogue that you could just as well do without and that is repetitive too. Also, I thought some of the voices in the cutscenes were very quiet; I think it was Ratchet, but during the cutscenes in between missions, I could hardly hear what he was saying while everyone sounded fine. Oh, and Sam (voiced by Shia) is as annoying as ever, with his hurried, totally useless comments. In game effects are okay, but there are frankly very few and much like the entire campaign, fly by without really captivating you. The soundtrack is fairly low key and generic.
Ultimately, the best part about Transformers 2 for me was how fun it was, and it was fun primarily because it was short and easy. I don’t know if this game was built made for kids or not, but it’s so brief and so easy that it was kind of relaxing to just sit down and play through it in one sitting. Had this game been as tough as even an average third person action game, or half as long, it would have worn out it’s welcome very quickly. It was also just somewhat fun to bash up some Decepticons (or Autobots) in mindless, arcade fashion. As strange as these ideas sound, I think more of these types of games — those based on movie or TV licenses that are really produced to cash in — could benefit from being shorter and easier (and cheaper) than your typical game in the same genre. You also earn quite a few Trophies or Achievements playing through Transformers 2, and that’s never a bad thing.