View All (3)

More than meets the eye? Not even close.

"Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!"

Truer words couldn't have been spoken by Mel Brooks in the movie "Spaceballs" referring to "that" time of year. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's the time of year when legions of action movies with shoddy scripts and wooden acting go on to make a gazillion dollars anyway. This, thanks to enough things in these popcorn flicks that go "boom!" to keep the trained seals in the audience entertained, as well as the clever Hollywood marketing machine. Now while you'd think, of all action franchises, "Transformers" would have an excellent chance of making a decent videogame (it's giant, talking robots that morph into vehicles after all), leave it to Activision to prove us so very, very wrong.

Transformers: The Game basically rushes through the plot of the movie. Optimus Prime's noble Autobots are in a struggle against Megatron's evil Decepticons for control over the all-powerful AllSpark. The Decepticons want the AllSpark in order gain enough power to add Earth to their conquered-world collection. The Autobots have vowed to guard the AllSpark with their lives in order to protect humanity from the tyranny of the Decepticons. Even if you're nothing resembling a "Transformers" fan, it's a pretty simple story to follow.

At the game's outset, you're given a choice of playing through either the Autobots' or Decepticons' scenario. Guess which one's more fun? You guessed it. Having the freedom to lay waste to everything in sight as a Decepticon is far more satisfying than being penalized for destroying too many buildings as a goody-two-shoes Autobot. Not that you'll get a terrible amount of enjoyment out of playing as either side.

At first glance, Transformers' levels almost resemble GTA-style open-ended, destructive environments. This is merely a tease, however. The game only lets you tackle one mission at a time, usually a repetitive chore involving destroying, defending or finding something. The few time-based side missions that exist feel tacked on and are rarely used for anything other than unlocking some cheap extras. Also, should you stray too far from your designated "action zone" during a mission, your Transformer has only a few seconds to sprint back to its confined area before the "Mission Failed" text appears. In otherwords, this game's levels are not only linear, but certainly not open-ended.