Till All Are One indeed
Being a child of the 90's and a sibling of a child of the 80's, I have been around Transformers for as long as I can remember. There was Drew's, my brother, collection of classic toys, his posters, and even the Beast Wars animated TV show, that of which I am not a fan.
With that being said, I have grown to love Transformers and I have played many of the games. There was Beast Wars: Transformers, on the PC, Transformers, on the PS2, Both Transformers Autobots and Decepticon, on the DS, Transformers: The Movie: The Game, on the 360, and finally Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Movie: The Game, on the 360. I have had my share of ups and downs with every single one of those games, so I have become reluctant to look forward to any more.
The game is set before most others, as focusing on the trials and tribulations that are going on Cybertron, the Transformers' home world. There it splits into two campaigns, the first in the series of the story mode. This is where Megatron is starting the uprising of the Decepticons, and the downfall of the Autobots. To bring down the Autobots and control Cybertron for himself, Megatron needs the help of "dark energon." Optimus Prime, is just 'Optimus' for he is not in command of the Autobots and that is the storyline for the Autobot campaign.
That is where the differences end and the similarities begin. You get to pick one of three playable characters, be it a car, tank, or plane, where you move with heft and weight you would expect a giant robot should, alongside the other two unpick-ed AI controlled partners. With your character chosen, you just shoot the crap out of anything and everything that moves. The planes, the Stalkers and Seekers respectively, have the most mobility, seeing as they are jets, but still feel the same way as the wheel bound vehicles do.
The main game is a third-person shooter that feels a lot like Gears of War, but no real cover system implied. But with how much shooting you do, you have to be searching for health and ammo constantly, if you shoot willy nilly. That being said I was playing as Megatron early in the campaign with no ammo in either weapons and was forced to use the most untrustworthy attack: the melee. In the process of clicking in the right thumbstick, you are opening up your vulnerability with a sometimes clunky animation.
As I mentioned earlier, the robots transform into vehicles. With the name "Transformers" you would think that transforming between the two modes would be a pretty important thing to do, but I found that only in three levels it was integral to the continuation of said levels. Two were being jets, and one was escaping a giant opposing force. All the vehicles hover, with the exception of the jets where they can take full advantage of the x, y, z plane. To me, it felt tacked on, but transforming on the fly might draw people in. With the plot taking place before the Autobots crash land onto Earth, the forms are Cybertronian, meaning nothing but futuristic-crazy-big designs. You can easily notice some favorites like Prime, Bumblebee or Megatron, but some others, mainly Soundwave a big space van, are turned into something as a filler.
Besides the story mode, this games packs quite a big punch in the multiplayer section. It has the classics like co-op, both cooperative and competitive, deathmatch and team deathmatch, and a new mode called Escalation. It is another nod, to me, to Gears with Horde where you and up to four other players go through wave after wave of enemies in survival. Here you can spend points earned by killing foes on ammo, health, or advancements in the two maps. I have had a lot of great fun in this mode online, and I hope it lasts like Horde has. Ive only had one problem with the connection where it booted me for no reason, but besides that it works great.
All in all with the sub-par main campaign, and the excellent multiplayer modes, I have had quite a lot of fun. I will always have a soft spot for Transformers, even when its been bad. I can recommend this game, neither with candor nor remorse, just recommend it. It will tickle your fancy, campaign wise, for a couple of days, and you probably won't want to return, but the online aspect will drain you of your hours.
