Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is going to be one of the biggest films of the year, and as you would expect, Activision has a set of video game tie-ins ready to go. There are Transformers games for almost every system on the market, but we’ve chosen to focus on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC incarnation developed by Luxoflux. Transformers is the sort of thing one would think would translate perfectly into video game form, but the franchise’s history has been spotty at best. Revenge of the Fallen is a vast improvement on the 2007 Transformers movie’s game, though given how much of a mess it was, it would be near impossible not to make a better game the second time around. However, like the movie of the same name, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is practically all eye candy and action with little real substance.

Revenge of the Fallen picks up about two years after the defeat of Megatron at the end of the first movie. The Autobots and the American and British militaries have formed an organisation called NEST, dedicated to fighting the remaining Decepticon menace on Earth. The remaining Decepticons are trying to find the location of their fallen leader Megatron and various shards of the AllSpark so that they can revive him. The game is particularly light on story however – beyond the opening cut-scene and a few text briefings, there is nothing to put missions into context, drive the story on or give the player incentive to fight. It is enough to make the level of story in the film seem significant.


Players get to choose whether to play as the Autobots or Decepticons at the start of the game; it does not exactly have a dramatic effect on the overall gameplay, but as one would expect, each side’s respective soldiers’ abilities vary quite a bit. The open world structure of the original movie game has been altered; you have free movement around the game world in a mission, but your objectives are sorted out before you go out into the field. There is quite a bit of flexibility in the order in which missions can be taken, so if you get stuck, you simply move onto another. Many missions let you choose which Transformer you want to play as, which is a nice change of pace from the original game where players had no say. Representing the Autobots are Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Breakaway, Protectobot, and Ratchet, while Megatron, Starscream, Demolishor, Devestator, The Fallen, Grindor, Sideways and Long Haul are fighting under the Decepticon banner. There are a few key omissions from the film, but Activision is promising more bots through paid downloadable content at a later date, and a number of other Transformers make non-playable appearances in the campaign.

Revenge of the Fallen’s gameplay takes the form of your typical third person shooter, albeit with the ability to transform at will. Transformers’ abilities are broken down into three specific modes; the standard robot mode for your melee combat, weapon mode for gun-based combat and vehicle mode to transform into your robot’s other form. The way Luxoflux has integrated this system is a bit screwy, as to be able to fire your weapons or transform, you need to be holding down one of the triggers. The main issue with this is that in vehicle mode, the accelerator is the same button as the one you need to hold down to stay in vehicle form, so you can’t just sit idle while in that state. Melee combat is almost entirely useless as well, as any Transformer you attack with your fists simply transforms and drives off after first contact. It takes a little bit to get accustomed to the control system, but once you have got the basics down, combat can actually pretty fun, at least for a while.


For a mission-based game, Revenge of the Fallen does not incorporate much in the way of variety. The vast majority of the game’s missions simply require the player to run into an area and kill everything, a task made even easier by the fact that the enemy AI has the collective intellect equivalent to that of a pair of socks. Often you’ll find the AI sitting with its back to you, making no attempt to get away or return fire. When perched atop a building, most AI soldiers simply zone out until you get within a metre of them, so they can be picked off with minimal effort. It doesn’t just apply to enemy AI either; your teammates are quite thick and have a tendency to lose sight of what they’re meant to be doing. The game has a tendency to glitch on occasion when updating mission objectives, preventing further progress. In these instances, you just have to start the mission over and hope everything goes smoothly.

Each of the two main campaigns is quite short and easy; death is a rare occurrence and players are only likely to ever have to repeat a mission in the event of a glitch. Those players seeking something that remotely resembles challenge will want to check out Revenge of the Fallen’s online multiplayer mode. It is comprised of the usual selection of multiplayer game types; Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (in this case, the AllSpark) and Control Points, along with a mode called One Shall Stand where each team’s objective is to take out the other’s leader. It is not going to set your world on fire, but it does at least demonstrate that the core action of the game can be quite fun when the player is being tested – something the single player aspect fails to do.


The latest Transformers movie is yet another special effects extravaganza which generally works in the game’s favour, with the game development team benefitting from the work of the movie’s visual effects teams. As such, the Transformers featured in the game look really good, with highly detailed character models and solid animation. The same cannot be said for the game’s environments, which are sparse, blocky and generally lacking in refined details - at least the explosions look good. The movie’s cast is on board to provide voice work for the game, though the original Megatron, Frank Welker, replaces Hugo Weaving in that particular role. The difference between the veteran voice over actors and screen actors really stands out – those who were involved in the original cartoon (Peter Cullen and Frank Welker) seem much more at home in their roles and do a better job of delivering their lines.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen suffers from many of the typical film tie-in problems; it’s glitch-ridden, it lacks variety and does not have nearly enough content to fill out a full length video game. It is, however, a dramatic improvement over the last Transformers game – the multiplayer side of the game demonstrates that the core action foundation of the game is sound, but the execution is off. The game is entertaining enough for a brief rental, but does not provide enough long term value for a full purchase. There is a lot of potential for future improvement though - if Luxoflux can deliver a game with fewer bugs, more challenging AI and more meaningful mission content for the inevitable third Transformers tie-in, they might have a quality game on their hands.