Shockingly, the game isn't shit. In fact, it's actually pretty damned fun. I played through the first two Decepticon scenarios (there are 10 total, 5 for each side) and it was quite good. It's a pretty solid storyline, set during the civil war on Cybertron (the beginning of the original cartoon showed both sides desperately seeking refuge after a long war that has left them both ravaged and on the brink) and some pretty decent cutscenes to tell the story. And no, it's not all pure G1 even if it is heavily influenced by it. There are a number of changes with some of the characters to update them (ie. Megatron looks different and is a tank; he's closer to the movies than the old show) but it's done in a way as not to crap all over the core cannon of the show but rather to update some of the very dated stuff (really, Megatron can't turn into a small handgun anymore). You can tell it was done by people who are fans so those of us who are old-school fans won't (shouldn't) be up in arms over any of the changes.
The real strength is actually the gameplay. Not only can you constantly transform back and forth between humanoid and vehicle modes, you actually have to do it and there's a bit of strategy involved with it at the higher difficulty levels. You do get weapon upgrades (you can carry two different weapons) and have to constantly worry about ammo (a little irritating considering they're energy weapons; shouldn't you have ammo until your energy runs out?) but that's a relatively minor complaint considering they're replenishing you often enough that you're never short for any real length of time. You can explore the relatively large areas (there are widgets to collect/destroy) and the game does a good job of making the vehicle modes feel natural. It could very easily have been irritating as shit to transform into a vehicle and fight in the middle of a hallway but it's actually pretty well done and an option you have. In a Transformers game, you should really never be punished for transforming and these guys realized that.
Overall, if you had any interest in the game, you should be pretty satisfied as it's a pretty good title. But for people who aren't fans of Transformers in any way, it'll probably feel like a pretty derivative, but solid, 3rd person action game.
The real strength is actually the gameplay. Not only can you constantly transform back and forth between humanoid and vehicle modes, you actually have to do it and there's a bit of strategy involved with it at the higher difficulty levels. You do get weapon upgrades (you can carry two different weapons) and have to constantly worry about ammo (a little irritating considering they're energy weapons; shouldn't you have ammo until your energy runs out?) but that's a relatively minor complaint considering they're replenishing you often enough that you're never short for any real length of time. You can explore the relatively large areas (there are widgets to collect/destroy) and the game does a good job of making the vehicle modes feel natural. It could very easily have been irritating as shit to transform into a vehicle and fight in the middle of a hallway but it's actually pretty well done and an option you have. In a Transformers game, you should really never be punished for transforming and these guys realized that.
Overall, if you had any interest in the game, you should be pretty satisfied as it's a pretty good title. But for people who aren't fans of Transformers in any way, it'll probably feel like a pretty derivative, but solid, 3rd person action game.
I was there on that fateful day, were you?
