Publisher
Atari

Developer
Melbourne House

Released: May 11, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

8
9
8
9
8.4

Supported Features:

For me, as often is the case with games based on pop-culture, ignorance is bliss, and I ventured into this dazzling new title very happy and totally unbiased. The first thing that grabbed me was the excellent production values of this title starting with the opening movie. Stunning graphics of the type normally reserved for Xbox titles blasted their way onto my screen and recounted the background story that most fans of the series will already know.

One million years ago, a race of Mini-Cons was lost. Fast forward a million years to the current battle between the Transformers and the Decepticons, or is it the Decepticlones? I think it’s both. The war was about to be won by Megatron and his evil army when a transmission is received indicating the Mini-Cons have been located on Earth.

Now it’s a race as Megatron and his massive army head to Earth to find the Mini-Cons. You are in control of three Autobots; Optimus Prime, Red Alert, and Hot Shot, sent to Earth to find the Mini-Cons before Megatron, and use them to boost your powers so you can defeat the Decepticlones once and for all.

Once on the planet the game unfolds much like a traditional third-person action game. You can run and jump and transform into a car, truck, or SUV to move around faster and jump greater distances that possible in robot form. You can also switch into a “recon” mode, basically a first-person view with variable zoom used primarily for aiming and reconnaissance but you can also move and even play the game in this mode if you wish, although I wouldn’t recommend it.

Your goals are laid out in objective form as a series of waypoints. There are also a couple dozen important pickups on each level. These are broken down into Mini-Cons and Data-Cons. Mini-Cons can be equipped in the field to one of your four weapon nodes conveniently accessed with the four shoulder buttons.

Some Mini-Cons need to be activated while others offer upgrades for as long as you have them equipped. If all of your nodes are full you can either switch out with the new Mini-Con or send it back to HQ to equip in a later mission. Picking the right mix of Mini-Cons is often crucial for successful completion of each mission. Each Mini-Con also has a certain power drain, and your Autobot has a max power limit, which can dictate your selection and possible combinations.

Data-Cons are small gold disks that unlock a host of bonus art and supplemental material. These aren’t crucial to the gameplay but they will certainly add countless hours of game time to perfectionists who are compelled to unlock every last secret. If you are a fan of the series there is some pretty cool stuff like movies, toys, and artwork to unlock.

After warping into the Amazon you are eased into the gameplay with an ongoing tutorial that pops up in the form of radio transmissions. The first thing to deal with is the very realistic portrayal of weight and momentum. Despite a total lack of scale in the visuals, the Autobots take awhile to get up to full running speed and they certainly can’t stop on a dime. This makes jumping puzzles – yes, there are a few – tricky since you always take a couple of steps after each jump.

Once you are comfortable moving about you are instructed to make your way to the top of the nearby cliff. This teaches you the limits of your jumping ability. As you near the top a few Decepticlones make their appearance giving you a chance to test your default blasters. All weapons in the game use energy so you never have to worry about ammo, but you will have to wait for your energy bars to recharge if you hold down the trigger for too long.

From the top of the cliff you have a spectacular view of the first level, and here is where the game gets mighty impressive. The scale of these levels is huge. If you check out the first screenshot in the gallery you will see only about half of the first level and you are free to explore everything in sight. To put things in perspective, it can literally take you 15-minutes to walk/drive from the opening warp gate to the mountaintop temple where the level ends, and that is if you don’t engage in any combat or complete any mission goals. That’s how big these levels are.

Even more impressive is that the draw distance is infinity and through clever use of bright glowing pick-up indicators and blue beams of light marking the various checkpoints, you can literally see every important location on the level from the right vantage point. I was halfway up the mountain near the end of the first level when I happened to look back and see a Data-Con I had missed way back down in the jungle across the river and past the pyramid ruins – a 20-minute roundtrip.

One nice feature the designers stuck in for those who don’t like to walk a lot is the ability to warp back to HQ then warp back to the surface at any previously unlocked warp gate. With some creative use, this can save a lot of travel time.

Not only are the levels massive, they are densely populated. Well, perhaps Antarctica is a bit barren, but when you are squeezing through narrowly spaced trees in the jungle it’s almost claustrophobic. Talk about not being able to see the forest through the trees. You’ll be stomping through the jungle and come over a rise to find a glowing Data-Con surrounded by a dozen enemy robots.

Combat is relentless and you will want to load-up on Mini-Cons as quickly as possible to increase your fighting abilities. The first and possibly most useful Mini-Con you get is a seeking missile. Unlike most lock-on weapons where you must first acquire a lock before firing, these missiles can be fired in the general direction of the enemy and they will find and lock on to their own target.

As you blast your enemies into fiery smoking bits they will leave behind energy that can be used to replenish your health and shields. These tend to vanish after awhile so you need to collect them after each battle. You can also engage in melee combat by simply getting in close and mashing the attack button. You can execute some killer combo moves including a slow-motion head butt that is as much fun to watch as it is deadly.

While the game plays out pretty much the same level after level there are some really creative missions, level designs, and spectacular scenery to be seen. For those of you who are in this for the perfect score, you will find yourself having to revisit all of the levels after you acquire new Mini-Cons. Even in the first level there are several pick-ups you simply cannot access until you have found Slipstream and enabled the hang-glider mode.

To make things even more challenging when you revisit a drop zone that area is now heavily occupied by enemy forces, and not just the standard enemies but by powerful bosses and sub-bosses. Kill them all and the dropships circling overhead will swoop down and drop off a fresh batch. Needless to say returning to a previously explored level is very challenging.

To even the odds, when you return to a level you are accompanied by a Mini-Con who runs around at your feet and helps you out. While their firepower is fractional to your own they do offer you the unique ability to enter Powerlinx mode. While in this mode your power and defensive capabilities are increased and time slows down in a sepia tone bullet-time effect. Your health will deplete for as long as you are in Powerlinx mode and when you exit you only get half of that energy back.

Transformers is an intense shooter than admittedly gets repetitive at times, but the designers have done an admirable job of mixing up the strategies and the levels, and with some of the most creative and challenging boss designs in the history of the shooter genre, there is plenty of random variety to break the monotony.

The movies are simply some of the best CG cutscenes you can see on the PS2. The lighting, textures, fire, smoke, and animation are gorgeous, almost surreal. When you are dropped into the first level things are obviously toned down a few notches but the scale and detail of these massive environments is unparalleled in PlayStation history.

Regrettably, there is a bit of shimmering in some objects and textures but it’s not terrible. The ability to go just about anyplace you can see and see to the very limits of the horizon is dazzling and something you just don’t expect from the PS2.

Special effects are like a fireworks show. When an enemy blows apart several chunks of smoking metal shower away from the central blast and there is all this electrical discharge, smoke, and even a subtle shockwave. Each explosion seems to be dynamic or at least random enough that you won’t notice any repetition.

You’ll also see heat waves coming off the dropship engines, and some impressive water effects. The skies are gorgeous and the sun is blinding, creating a wonderful lens flare and there is a cool colored streaking effect on your Autobot when it’s zooming around and catches the light just right. In the arctic level you will be treated to some of the best free-floating snow effects plus a blinding white wind that cuts your visibility. Footprints crunch into the snow and leave a trail. Everything is just subtle perfection.

The robots themselves are meticulously detailed and wonderfully animated. When you “hatch” a Mini-Con you can easily identify the power-up it offers simply by its design. The transformation animation is also pretty slick but I was disappointed that you seldom had to transform except to jump a gap or travel long distances faster.

The only thing keeping Transformers from getting a perfect score is the aforementioned shimmering and some framerate issues that crop up during some of the more intense battles where pyrotechnics are lighting the sky. It’s not terrible and considering the complexity and intensity of the visuals, I’m surprised the PS2 can crank out half of what this game is offering.

You might want to tone down the music settings so you can appreciate the wonderful sound effects. The weapons are loud and threatening and the explosions with electrical discharge are most satisfying. All of the robots in this game stomp around and make mechanical clanking noises when they jump or fall. Environmental sounds like roaring waterfalls and howling wind will help to immerse you in the game world.

Aside from the cutscenes there isn’t a lot of dialogue in the game. You receive frequent missions briefings as you move through the levels and even your own character will make a verbal confirmation of orders when you press the X button. There are some fun taunts and jibes made by both sides during combat that help break-up the monotony of gunfire and explosions.

Playing from a strictly mission perspective, you can complete the critical objectives and win each level in 30-60 minutes each. So depending on how dedicated you are to opening up all that bonus content you can spend anywhere from 10-40 hours on this game.

After I got over my initial resentment I did appreciate the fact that the designers repopulated the prior levels with infinite bosses, not only to punish you for not getting those pick-ups on your first pass, but to maintain a constant level of challenge. It certainly wouldn’t be any fun revisiting barren levels just for the sake of retrieving a few items.

Transformers is gorgeous, fun, challenging, and offers a unique blend of gameplay that tailors itself to the type of gamer, even while they are playing. As an action game, you won’t find anything even close to this on the PS2 – a definite worthy addition to your gaming library.