PS3 Game Review - Transformers The Game - A Video Game Based on the Movie

PS3 Game Review - Transformers The Game - A Video Game Based on the Movie
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Overview

It’s a given that a hit action movie like Transformers is going to get a video game treatment. It’s also assumed that nearly all games based on movies are not very good games. Part of the reason behind this is the rushed development of the game in order to meet theater release date times, and as a result you often end up with a buggy or underdeveloped game. Transformers: The Game for the PS3 is a decent enough game, and certainly better than most movie-based games, but it still plays like a ‘movie game’.

If you saw the Transformers movie, then you’ll be familiar with the different Transformers featured in the game. If you aren’t familiar with the movie, the basic premise is that these alien ‘spirits’ can take over machinery and transform into humanoid type shapes using parts of whatever machine they have inhabited. In other words, trucks can race down the road, then transform into walking robots. It’s totally unrealistic, but that doesn’t make it any less cool.

Gameplay (3 out of 5)

In this game, you get to play as some of the Transformers from the movie, and you can be either the Autobots or Decepticons. It takes place in a city type environment that looks almost like a miniaturized version of the Grand Theft Auto world. The environment is interactive, meaning you can knock down some buildings and things, and that is pretty cool. As you progress through the game, you’ll get to fight as one of the giant robots, race cars around, fly robots, and so on. It’s a fighting game where you play a giant robot as tall as most of the buildings. Some of the missions can be fun, but it all gets to be too repetitive after a while.

Controls (3 out of 5)

The controls are varied in this game. The best parts are when you play the big robots walking around smashing stuff. In some missions, you’ll get to drive a car and it isn’t much fun. The problem is that the car controls like a guy floating down a river in an inner tube. It’s tough to go in straight lines, and you just end up spinning all over the place. It is kind of cool that you can smash into other things on the playing field, but otherwise the whole driving experience is, quite literally, all over the place. In keeping with the ‘arcade style’ action of the game, you can forget most everything about realism.

Graphics and Sound (4 out of 5)

I was pretty impressed by the graphics in this game, and that helps make it more playable. The Transformers in the movie were extremely well detailed with all of their moving parts, and while the ones in this game might not be so high-tech, they still look like their movie counterparts. I think this game had a lot more potential than what it turned out to deliver, because the overall look and sound scheme of this game is very good. It’s just that the gameplay is a little on the boring side.

Overall (3 out of 5)

Fans of the Transformers movie will surely get a kick out of playing their favorite character from Michael Bay’s hit film. Otherwise, you shouldn’t expect too much from this game. It’s so short that the whole thing can be beaten in a weekend, so you’d probably be better off renting it instead of buying. Now that the movie has been out for a while, you ought to be able to get a cheap copy of Transformers: The Game for the PS3. It is also available for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii game consoles.