Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, developed by Luxoflux, is the latest in the movie based game genre. Giving fans of the movies and 1980’s animated series a chance to relive their childhood and take control of their favourite Autobots and Decepticons.
As with any movie based game that comes out there is a certain stigma surrounding it, and that is that the games can never live up to what they ‘could’ or ‘should’ be in the eyes of the fans. The other being that the storylines are already known and therefore have a limited playability as it has to follow a set timeline created for a standard (hour and a half) length movie.
The game adaptation of the first Transformers movie (2007) was a great let down to fans of the series, so scepticism surrounding the release of the new Revenge of the Fallen left the game developers Luxoflux delving into their creative minds to try and turn this stigma around.
To their credit, this latest game boasts massive improvements on the first game, and some new functions including Timed levels linked with Xbox live, unlockable Episodes of the Animated Series and a new Bot upgrade system has definitely improved replay-ability.
Graphically this game still feels like it needs some polishing, the level graphics are flat and although they have introduced a largely destructible environment still leaves the gamer feeling like there should be more. The Graphics on the Playable characters are vastly improved over the first game, but the NPC controlled characters are very repetitive.
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| In-Game Graphics provided by Gamespot |
One of the most impressive parts of this games development is the time that has gone into the audio and character voices, obviously a lot of grabs have been taken from the movie, but that in this instance; adds to the nostalgia of the whole experience.
The gameplay is enjoyable for the first 6-10hrs of play, where you are still learning new moves and unlocking and testing out the different bots weaponry, but after that the fighting between Bots becomes repetitive and somewhat mars the overall replay-ability of the game. I personally found that yes it can become repetitive, but it’s also limited by the gamers willingness to try new things. In any game there are set moves that you can perform this is something that is stock standard with most non RPG type games, and yes you may find it easy to defeat your enemies with the same attacks over and over, but why not try and mix it up a bit?
Each character comes with their own sets of melee attacks as well as primary and secondary weapons, which also differ when used in Vehicle mode. But at the end of the day, a punch is a punch, and there are only so many ways to throw it, so to get the most out of your Transformers gaming experience trying different combos is a must.
One of the largest improvements over the first Transformers game, is the addition of the Xbox Live function, as each level is timed and rated, so why not replay that favourite level a few times and see how high up the world rankings you can get! Not to mention being able to take your favourite Bot into an online death match, and see how well your skills really match up against live players.
Overall, I would rate this game around 2.5/5, definite room for improvement but still an enjoyable experience.
