Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review - XBox Fan Force

Never before have I pushed the Start button with such apprehension. But, after watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I was understandably wary of the tie-in game of the same name.

First off a warning: So as not to spoil the film for any who haven’t seen it, suffice it to say that this game bears little resemblance to the movie that it’s based off of, and there are no Decpti-whores or random, racially offensive Autobots

However, after hitting Start, I was quickly awash in Transformers fanboy nirvana. Not only is the game not brought down by the movie, RotF actually transcends its cinematic roots and does what it can to bring back the old days of the Generation 1 cartoons without jarring anyone who’s used to just the two films.

Once in the game, your first decision is choosing a Faction: Autobots or Decepticons (I chose Autobots, of course). The two campaigns both play more or less the same, the only real difference being that the Autobots are trying to save the day, and the Decepticons are doing their best to stop them.

After you pick your side (you can play both) you find yourself in the war room, where you choose your missions and a Transformer to use for that mission. Initially, you’ll only have access to one or two Transformers to use for whichever mission you choose, but, if you complete the different Unlock-Challenges for each stage, you’ll be able to use any available ‘bot for the mission.

Sometimes, one Transformer is markedly better than another for a mission. If the mission calls for speed you’ll want Breakaway, if you’ll be doing a lot of fighting Optimus will be a much better bet. Each ‘bot also has different abilities and weapons, some of which are more useful than others.

The game runs you through a fairly straightforward beat-a-mission-unlock-the-next formula, but it’s the beating of the missions themselves that makes RotF a bit more interesting.

Continued after the jump.

Each kill gives you Energon, which is used to buy upgrades like higher max health or more melee damage. The more skill needed to pull off each kill the more Energon you’ll earn. So taking down a Decepticon by chasing after it in car mode, slamming into it as you transform, then finishing it off by blasting it in the face, will get you more Energon than just shooting at the Decepticon from afar.

While you can expect to cover the standard action game ‘kill everything’ missions, RotF gives players a lot of bonus objectives to complete during the missions. There are always two Bonus Objectives for, and five Skill Shot logos hidden in, each mission. The Bonus Objectives, if completed, give you 15,000 extra Energon each at the end of the mission and range from ‘kill ten enemies’ to ‘use your special ability three times.’ By shooting a Skill Shot logo you’ll get ten extra seconds added to your timer, and, if you find all five in each mission, 10,000 bonus Energon.

However, completing the bonuses often comes in at second place to the mission timer. Each mission gives you a set time in which to complete the mission, the faster you beat the mission, the more Campaign Points you’ll earn. These points are then used to unlock more missions.

As a fun little quirk of the game, once you’ve completed your mission you’ll either get mocked or praised by your fellow Transformers depending on your performance. There are also unlockables that aren’t really related to the game itself, such as a few episodes from the original cartoons.

Now on to the technical side of things: During my fifteen plus hours with the game, I never encountered a single glitch or bug, leading me to believe that this is a very stable game. The graphics are about what you’d expect these days: crisp, clean, and kind of shiny. The controls are awesome and very intuitive; after the game’s quick tutorial, you’ll be pulling off a lot of really fun moves and taking down your enemies in style. The voice acting is some of the best I’ve heard in a really long time and all the Transformers sound great, and that leads us into the really nerdy stuff.

For both the game and the movie, Peter Cullen reprised his role as Optimus Prime, and he does a great job with it. However, in yet another instance where this game outshines the film, Frank Welker is back as Megatron for the game. I know this doesn’t mean much to anyone under the age of about 25, but Frank Welker was the original voice of Megatron from the first Transformers cartoons and just like Peter Cullen as Prime, in my opinion, is the only man who should ever be allowed to touch the roll of Megatron.

I loved Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the game, however, is not the greatest game ever, the game-play itself is pretty standard, and anyone who’s even just ok at videogames can beat it easily, but really, no one is playing this game because of any of that. We play a Transformers game because it’s a Transformers game, because we enjoy the franchise, and because we love to hear Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime say, “Autobots, transform and rollout!”

But in the end, all that really matters here is that this is a very well done game and one that is really a lot of fun to play, made even more so by it being a Transformers game.