Let’s face it; there are really only three options after seeing Michael Bay’s latest flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. You can curse Michael for single-handedly destroying your childhood and become and a Transformers Canon snob. You can embrace the film and love it, poor plotting, under-developed characters, overlong story and all. Or you can simply accept it for the CG/explosion-fest popcorn flick that it is and politely choose to disagree with Mr. Bay’s directorial choices. NOT seeing the film was apparently not an option however, as Revenge of the Fallen has dominated the North American box office for two weeks straight despite being universally panned by critics everywhere (as of this writing, the film has an positive aggregate score of only 19% on Rotten Tomatoes). Sometimes, even if something is truly, truly bad, people will still see it simply just to see how bad it really is.

So where does that leave the game based on the movie? Well, fortunately for fans of the Michael Bay films as well as Transformers fans in general, this version of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not a as bad as its movie counterpart. But is it worth investing $60 in? Keep reading to find out.

Gameplay:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (a.k.a. Transformers 2) strips away much of the fat of the Michael Bay film and gets right down to the action, which will please devoted fans. As with the first game, players can choose to start an Autobot or Decepticon campaign. While the two campaigns take place simultaneously and cross over frequently, each campaign is seen exclusively from the point of view of that respective faction, meaning that players will need to play both sides in order to get the whole story, which is loosely based on the plot of the film. Regardless of which side you play, however, the core gameplay of Transformers 2 is as follows: Select a robot and proceed to a waypoint on the battlefield. Destroy all enemy robots in the area. Proceed to the next waypoint, engage more enemy robots and destroy all of them. Then wash, rinse and repeat until you have satisfied the conditions for completing the level, at which point you are rewarded with a medal ranking and a supply of Energon based on your performance, which can be used to upgrade your team’s overall abilities. Of course, additional tasks are thrown in to mix things up a bit, such as repairing communication satellites at each waypoint after the area has been cleared of enemies, destroying key buildings or structures, or rescuing/capturing humans who are key to the success of your faction’s overall mission and taking them to safety, but for the most part, all of the missions adhere to the above formula. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If the longevity of the Transformers brand as a toy product, animated series, comic book and film franchise as proven anything over the past 25 years, it is that the premise of giant transforming robots running around doing battle with other giant transforming robots is inherently fun, and developer Luxoflux has been smart enough to not try and fix what isn’t broken.

Instead, Luxoflux has attempted to create added variety in each mission through secondary and tertiary layers of in-game challenges that will most undoubtedly tempt completionists to come back and revisit levels, but for reasons that will soon become apparent, these efforts may cause less-dedicated players to toss their controllers aside in frustration. The most straightforward of the challenges is the “Skill Shot” challenge, where 5 Autobot or Decepticon icons are scattered throughout the level in each mission of the game. The icons are hidden in plain sight on the sides of buildings, atop smokestacks and other hard to miss places (unless your back is to them or you just happen to be on the wrong side of a building). Each time you shoot or pass through one of these icons, ten seconds are added to your clock (the dreaded clock will be discussed shortly) and hitting all five icons in a level will add bonus Energon points to your final score and unlock that level for “Free Roam” exploration.

Then there are the “Secondary Objectives” for each mission. Secondary Objectives are not mandatory for completion of a mission, but you are expected to complete them nonetheless, as you will soon have drilled repeatedly into your head by Optimus Prime and the other Autobots during the War Room debriefings if you choose to play the Autobot campaign first (The Decepticons are far more focused on destruction and don’t complain as much about missed goals as long as numerous Autobots and humans perish). The benefit to completing the Secondary Objectives is a bigger Energon bonus, which leads to bigger and faster upgrades for your team, but these objectives are usually arbitrary in nature and rarely make any real sense (particularly for the Autobots). Why should Optimus Prime care if you killed ten Decepticons with an Advanced Ground and Pound attack? And why should Megatron or Starscream care if you destroyed 20 parked cars? Fortunately, each mission’s two Secondary Objectives can be easily viewed at any time simply by pressing START, so players can easily be reminded of them and choose (or not choose) to take on these challenges before completing a level.

Finally, “Unlockables” are a third level of accumulative goals that unlock easter eggs such as G1 (Generation One) colour palettes for select characters, full episodes from the original G1 animated series, original concept art, and more. Both the Autobot and Decepticon campaign have their own distinct set of Secondary Objectives and Unlockables, so dedicated players will have plenty to keep themselves busy.

And then there is the clock. Each individual mission is governed by a timer which awards a ranking based on how quickly the mission is completed; Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze. If a mission is not completed within the time limit for a Bronze medal, no medal is awarded and the score will not be posted to the online leaderboards. While online rankings will likely not matter to some players, not being awarded a medal and then having to sit through a tongue-lashing from Optimus and the other Autobots about taking far too long, racking up far too many civilian casualties and not accomplishing Secondary Objectives will definitely vex most people, especially when a large part of their failure will definitely be attributed to fighting with the game’s less than stellar control scheme.

But before that, the good: One thing that Transformers 2 does get right is the spontaneity of actually transforming. All Autobots and Decepticons can quickly transform into their respective vehicle forms at any time (even in mid-jump or mid-air) by holding down the Right Trigger, and will automatically change back into their natural, humanoid forms when RT is released. Also, holding down the Melee/Vehicle Weapon Fire (X), Jump/Boost (A) or the Climb/Overturn button (B) just before letting go of the Right Trigger will execute special attack moves such as Advance Melee, Super Jumps and powerful Ground and Pound moves. When timed and performed correctly, the rush attacks and ground pound moves result in very cool-looking slow motion finishers that will literally rip your enemy to pieces.

Unfortunately, the simple yet enjoyable gameplay on offer in Transformers 2 is nearly ruined by the very same mechanic that makes transforming work so well. The biggest problem with the control scheme is that RT must be held down in order to maintain you chosen robot’s vehicle state, rather than just acting as a single-press, activation button. This adds an unwelcome, Jack-in-the-Box-like tension to driving or piloting your robot in vehicle mode, since unintentionally releasing the trigger at any time will cause your robot to “spring” back into humanoid mode, often killing any forward momentum you may have built up while taking a hard turn. Making things worse is that as with most racing games, RT also serves as the accelerator/throttle. The combination is utterly and completely counter-intuitive, as just about every player’s first instinct will be to keep RT held down fully (in effect, flooring the gas pedal) in order to ensure they remain in vehicle state while rushing to waypoints, chasing down enemies and fleeing from firefights, resulting in constant, full-speed crashes into buildings and obstacles. Of course, players can slightly release RT to slow down and still remain in vehicle state, but in the mayhem of battle, panic eventually sets in and such half-measures go right out the window. Even stranger decisions by Luxoflux compound the problem further. For example, braking has been assigned to the Left Bumper instead of the Left Trigger, which makes no logical sense given how many successful racing games on the Xbox 360 have used LT and RT for Braking/Reversing and Accelerating, respectively. Likewise, the handbrake has been assigned to LT, another counter-intuitive choice, and regrettably there is no option in the game to re-map any of the buttons.

Last but not least, the camera can be your worst enemy during transformations because it not only defaults to the direction that your chosen robot is facing and/or moving, it also points your vehicle in that direction. For example, if you are backing away from an enemy while firing at him and transform while still moving backward, you’ll transform with the back of your vehicle facing (and thus exposed to) the enemy you were just shooting at, instead of your vehicle facing forward, which would have put you in the perfect position for a Vehicle Strike or Advanced Melee charge. Likewise, if you are striking an enemy with a melee attack and want to quickly follow it up with an advanced attack from vehicle form, but your character model happens to turn away from the enemy at the moment of transformation for any reason, you’ll transform and shoot off at a perpendicular tangent and not only miss the opening, but also expose your back to your opponent. Finally, the Advanced Melee attack, one of the most important attacks in the game, is largely unreliable for flying characters because they require you to attack enemies head on, which is much harder to do from the air as you often must descend at an angle to get close to enemies. Attacks that are not directly head on will usually go right over the target’s head and once again expose your back to them, which begs the question: Why weren’t the flying characters given a downward melee attack?

Combine the multiple objectives, the ever-present timer and the annoying controls with enemy AI that puts up little resistance in a straight up fight but runs and evades like a fox when you need to hunt enemies down quickly (just try to tail an Autobot when they start weaving in and out of narrow, downtown alleyways) and you have a recipe for frustration that only the most determined players (or game reviewers) will be willing to put up with. Given Luxoflux’s pedigree for both action and driving games (such as Vigilante 8 and True Crime L.A.), it’s disappointing that they would allow so many poor decisions get in the way of the fun.

Graphics:

The production values of Transformers 2 are fairly decent and the game does an excellent job of representing the Autobots and Decepticons with its in-game 3-D models. The nameless rank-and-file Autobots and Decepticons that you will find yourself fighting most of the time look generic and non-descript, but they blow up spectacularly when you reduce them to scrap metal with an Advanced Melee attack or a well-placed missile. The cutscenes are the real graphical treats, however, as certain missions will pit you against major characters from the opposing faction, and successful completion of these missions always results in a satisfying defeat or “deactivation” cutscene. No robot’s death in the Transformers’ universe is truly permanent, but most fans will have to admit that it is a rare experience in a Transformers video game to go up against a hero character like Ironhide, Bumblebee or Optimus and actually “destroy” them, and all their dramatic final moments are particularly well done. The Autobot campaign is also home to two large boss battles that have no equivalent in the Decepticon campaign, and both of them sport impressive effects and a dwarfing sense of scale. Another nice touch is how the CG Briefing cutscenes are handled for each faction. The Autobots, who are working with the special branch of the American military called NEST, have a clean, computerized interface, while the Decepticons, who are in hiding as they gather their forces and plan their attacks, are hacking into this interface and thus have a rougher, glitchy version of what the Autobots have.

The biggest visual sore point with the game is the in-game HUD, where there is simply far too much going on. Not only do you have the clock, your health bar, your overdrive bar (a sort of rage meter you can use to deal extra damage when filled), your main objectives and your radar to deal with, but you also have an intrusive information ticker that scrolls at the bottom of the screen kindly reminding you of things you might have forgotten, like those blasted Secondary Objectives that Optimus keeps wagging his tongue about. Enough already! Finally, the human character models (particularly Sam and Mikela) could look and animate far better, but most of the time they are far too small to be of much consequence in the game (and incredibly easy to step on).

Sound:

Sound is one area where Transformers 2 definitely delivers. Naturally, all the bombastic sound effects that you would expect from a game involving giant, battling robots are all there; thundering footsteps, explosions, the sound of metal smashing and creaking against metal and the numerous weapon sounds give weight and presence to the game’s robot characters. The game’s soundtrack effectively evokes the tone of the Michael Bay films, but is equally forgettable. Nevertheless, what will surprise most players and please many fans is the quality of voice acting. Several of the actors from the Transformers films and TV shows have once again reprised their roles for the game, including Peter Cullen (Optimus), Mark Ryan (Bumblebee) Jess Harnell (Ironhide), Charlie Adler (Starscream), and the voice of the original Megatron, Frank Welker. And with the exception of Megan Fox and Shia LaBoeuf, none of the actors phoned in their performances (a rarity in movie-to-game adaptations). Cullen is deliciously over the top in his delivery, particularly when his voice punctuates a between-the-eyes Decepticon kill with a resounding “Headshot!”, or when he encourages you during one of the many mission briefings to seek out and destroy as many Decepticons as possible, all the while his voice dripping with a thinly concealed bloodlust that would have been unimaginable in the animated series. And speaking of bloodlust, no one should purchase or rent this game without playing the Decepticon Campaign at least once, as the voice work is well worth the extra time spent. Just like in the original series, Megatron, Starscream, Grindor, Sideways and Long Haul angrily trade barbs back and forth in the Decepticon War Room and scream death threats to both their enemies and each other in the field with such ferocity that one cannot help but chuckle and wonder if the voice actors were aiming to strain their vocal cords. Clearly, Cullen, Welker and company were thinking of the fans when they came to the soundstage.

Longevity:

Players can expect to spend about three hours on each single-player campaign, and far, far longer if they aim to complete every objective, unlock every Unlockable and (gulp) achieve Platinum times on every mission. Just remember to bring A LOT of patience. Die-hard fans can look forward to even more entertainment in the form of several classic G1 episodes hidden in the game as well, and once certain character-specific unlockables have been achieved, players can revisit just about every mission with characters that were unavailable for use in that level previously. Transformers 2 also offers a surprisingly robust online multiplayer mode with the usual suspect gametypes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Capture and Hold, and VIP, providing many hours of additional replay value for those who simply cannot get enough of the game. For those who can, however, there are so many other, better multiplayer alternatives out there on the Xbox 360 platform that Transformers 2’s online mode is unlikely to keep one’s attention for more than a few evenings.

Overall:

Transformers 2 is undoubtedly a game aimed squarely at pleasing both fans of the films as well as the original series, and Luxoflux’s effort to deliver a solid game experience nearly succeeds, but an inexplicably clumsy control scheme and questionable gameplay mechanics such as the always-on timer and meaningless secondary objectives hinder a great deal of the enjoyment that the game has to offer. The game is still enjoyable if one has the patience, and provides more entertainment in its two campaigns, online multiplayer modes and unlockable extras than both the Michael Bay films and the previous Transformers game combined, but there is still not enough to warrant more than a rental if you are only a casual Transformers fan. Try before you buy.