Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Ambitious"

I'm something of a Transformers fan. Not a diehard fan, but I still watch some of the shows and collect toys to mess around with. I was familiar with Transformers before playing this game, but it really was this game that started my enjoyment of the franchise. So, having played this now as a Transformers fan and on release as someone who didn't care much for the franchise, I can understand some of the complaints about this game and appreciate its finer points.

Transformers (based upon the Transformers Armada line of toys and cartoons) revolves around the Mini-Cons, a race of small transformers that can be used by the Autobots and Decepticons (good guys and bad guys respectively) to augment their powers. When both factions find out that the mini-cons have crash landed on Earth and have been scattered across the planet. The Autobots race to Earth to try and rescue the Mini-Cons before the Decepticons can enslave them.

So the objective of this game is to explore several different levels (each based on parts of the planet such as Antarctica or the Amazon Rainforest) and rescue Mini-Cons, with the ultimate goal of defeating Megatron and his Decepticons. Standing in the player's way is a vast army of Decepticlones, mindless combat drones of varying classes designed by Megatron to help him defeat the Autobots.

At its heart, Transformers is a third-person shooter. The player can choose to play as one of three Autobots, each with varying strengths and weaknesses and thus are suited to different tasks. In combat your Autobot can transform into its vehicle mode, which you can use to ram enemies or escape the area. I am somewhat disappointed that there are only three Autobots to play as (and you can't play as Decepticons at all), but having more Autobots would divert attention away from the Mini-Cons, which are the key gameplay mechanic. The player can equip up to four mini-cons (once each has been unlocked) to enhance their Autobot's abilities. Some Mini-Cons act as light or heavy weaponry, some provide other effects such as defensive shielding and others function in the background to provide long term functions. This gives a lot of room for the player to strategise. Combined with the different Autobots' abilities, there are many different approaches a player could take to a situation.

Many of the game worlds are large, open ended and beautifully rendered. Though the graphics are dated by now, they still hold up well and are easily among the best I have seen on the PS2. There are few other games that allow the player to see enormous levels in their entirety without showing some significant loss of detail on parts that are further away. Mini-Cons and Data-Cons (which unlock content in the "extras" menu) are hidden throughout these levels, giving the player a great incentive to explore. The levels are, for the most part, not linear, so the player has a number of means of achieving their primary objective for that level. You can return to base at any point using warp gates dotted throughout the level, to restore health or change your loadout for a new combat situation.

Combat in the game is generally fun. Dropships are constantly buzzing around the levels and will thunder over the player to release their payload. The enemy AI is impressive and can work in many different ways. Sometimes a group of enemies will flank you and keep you busy while one goes off to summon re-enforcements, others will become very organised and threatening when under the command of a superior unit. This means that the gameplay avoids becoming repetitive by introducing new enemies and new strategies. None of the enemies' actions feel scripted, it feels as if anything can happen in a battle and careless players will find a situation escalating in minutes. The level freedom aids players in combat, by giving them different means to approach enemies and use the terrain to their advantage. Most of the levels end in boss fights against a Decepticon, which can be very exciting. Players often have the whole level to fight in, and enemies who have not yet been destroyed may join in the fight too. The bosses may sometimes hammer you, and you just don't care because they are doing it with such style. The game is certainly difficult, but skilled players can overcome problems by thinking carefully about what Mini-Cons they choose to use.

The music in this game is very well done. The levels have ambient soundtracks, often in the style of the level, with varying levels of intensity depending on how much action is going on. Though this isn't a unique idea, it is executed very well in Transformers. Each of the bosses has their own theme music, all of which match the particular boss well and are enjoyable to listen too. Heck, the music is downright epic in parts. Some of the sound effects are poor, but for the most part they're decent enough.

The one thing this game really lacks is story and character development. The story does not progress in the game beyond the idea of Autobots and Decepticons fighting over the Mini-Cons and is only briefly summarised in the first place by a cutscene. This may be especially problematic to fans of the original Transformers series who have never heard of Transformers Armada and thus have no idea what the story is. The voice acting is decent and some well placed (and well delivered) lines from the original Transformers Movie from the 1980s are peppered throughout the game, but most of the voice acting consists of updates from your commander throughout the level giving helpful information. Some characters have only one line in the whole game. Combat feels somewhat impersonal because nobody is talking. Most of this will not bother people who have seen Transformers Armada, as they know enough about the story and characters anyway. Other players may feel left out.

What may really disappoint some transformers fans is that this game doesn't fell all that much like a transformers game. There are only three Autobots and the Decepticons are mostly absent, leaving only the non-canonical Decepticlone soldiers. Outside of particular battle tactics or covering ground quickly, there is little specific purpose to the transformation ability. This feels a let-down considering the potential that exists with having the rights to use the transformers name, but does little to damage the solid gameplay.

Transformers does not do as much as some other games and feels empty in parts, but what it does do, it does very well. Graphics and music are both fantastic, gameplay is challenging and there are so many ways to play it by using different Mini-Con loadouts. The enormous, well constructed levels push the PS2 to its limits, with great results. Some of the more recent transformers games are more likely to satisfy players who want to smash things up with a large number of giant robots to choose from, but players who want an enjoyable and challenging third person shooter will certainly find it in this game.