Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Decepticons Edition (DS) Review
Posted by Jordan Williams on 08.03.2009
You want to wish so bad that there was more than meets the eye. Instead we get
Title: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Decepticons Edition
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Genre: Action
Players: 1 w/ 1-4 Wi-Fi Support
Rated: E 10+
Note: Pictures from both the Deceptions and Autobot versions of the game are shown. Outside of a different second screen color, there are no graphical changes between the two.
You know, earlier this year when Wolverine launched on consoles, a lot of people were finally saying that the end of the bad movie tie-in game era has finally started. I personally had been saying that two years ago when the Transformers movie tie-in game was launched for the DS. The game had a GTA-like full 3D open world, full voice acting, a nice mixture of action and stealth, and even a pretty decent online mode. I felt that the bad movie tie-in game was finally murdered and laid to rest.
And then they decided to ruin all they had worked up to with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the Nintendo DS. Much like the movie, tons of people went into this game with the expectations they had for the previous and they were nothing short of let down. With that being said there were still a few people (myself included) that liked the second movie, but no matter how much I try to spin it in my own head, the movie tie-in game is a complete and utter flop.
The game takes place somewhere between the first and second movie before moving right into the second movies plot, seeing as the version I reviewed is the Decepticon version, I was at least lucky enough to get a whole new perspective on the storyline through the eyes of the enemy. Still didn't help the game that much, though.
Graphics
The graphics for the game are decent, but come off as a bit blocky. The robots themselves are animated well and they are detailed enough to know who is who, but the actual vehicles in the game are downright atrocious. All of the cars, no matter what size or make look like blocks just slapped together. I spent the majority of my game as a heavy class SUV but I could never tell what the hell type of SUV it was. It was nothing but a greenish brown block that just slid around the equally blocky in game world. Textures are very blurry if they are even existent. In this game you do travel the world a lot, while they do try to make it seem like you are in various hotspots around the globe, all of the levels end up looking like the same tired cityscapes and military bases you'd find in any game. The only difference is that once in awhile they will throw in some cultural twinge to let you know that you are fighting robots in Spain instead of Italy.
Speaking on things around you, it seems that the whole game has a very rushed and cheap feel to it as you spend most of the game fighting trucks and turrets that shoot nothing but triangle shaped rockets at you. We all know the DS is no graphics powerhouse, but it has been proven time and time again that it can turn out VERY impressive graphics in both 2D and 3D and this game barely manage to push the envelope. It even stutters when there is a ton of action on screen.
Gameplay
While the original Transformers game was more of an open world sandbox title, this is strictly paint by numbers "Complete this objective" affair. You will take your decepticon to various locales around the world and complete the same few missions over and over. You will either infiltrate a military base, race against someone, or try to destroy as many things as possible in the allotted time. No matter the mission, however, the controls are so simplistic and downright broken that you can beat any mission outside of the race ones by jumping around like a loon and hammering on the attack button.
And yes, the controls are that broken. You have a basic attack button that almost doubles as a ranged attack button whenever you hold down the target toggle. You also have a useless 'grab' button that does nothing outside of a few objectives. Hell, in this game you rarely spend enough time 'transformed' for even your vehicle mode to be of use. This is probably a good thing because the vehicle controls are down right HORRID. You will find yourself running into walls, plants, trees, and telephone poles before you even make it to your objective.
Scrapped from this version of the game is the ability to scan new vehicles and take on new disguises. So if you were like me and loved the fact that at any moment you could scan a school bus and turn into the mighty EDUCATOR then you will be sad to know this. At the start of the game you are given a choice of what character class you want to be. Light, Medium, and Heavy. You will then be stuck as the car that fits the best. During some missions you do take control of over named Deceptions like StarScream and Grindor, but for the most part it will be you are your Genericon running all over the place.
To somehow make up for the lack of external customization they game now offers a sort of weapon upgrades internally. These additions do help the game a bit, but they don't necessarily make the game and easier or harder. It's very possible to go through the game with no resistance without the weapon upgrades.
It looks like they decided to trade one style of gameplay with another for this game and it just doesn’t work out. The action is ramped up a bit more but at the expense of the open world gameplay the original had as well as the actual 'disguise' part of robots in disguise. The game just ends up another paint-by-numbers platform shooter.
Sound
When Transformers game out two years ago, having full voice acting in a DS game as a big deal. Now...not so much. While there is still a fair amount of voice acting (with SoundWave's REAL voice, to boot!) that is where the good sound design ends. The music is very bland and repetitive, and the sound effects sound like they are straight out of an SNES Contra rip off.
Most of the robots sound like their big screen counterparts with the exception of Bumblebee, who for some unknown reason differs from his movie counterpart in that he can talk, and has somewhat of a very heroic voice. Hearing him say "I'm going to destroy you, Decepticreep!" in a faux Superman style is a bit off putting at first...actually. No. It's always going to be off-putting. I am all for them giving BB a voice (despite the fact that the movie won't) but he ends up sounding more like The Crimson Chin than a robot.
Fun Factor
Now I have bashed this game pretty hard, but I will admit that is fun. The levels are easy for the most part which allows you to just run around and unleash fresh hell on the evil Autobots and their human companions. The racing IS fun once you manage to get down the horrible controls. There is even an online death match mode that you and your friends can take part in. While it is a bit hard to get going due to the lack of players, once you actually get into a match you will find that it's surprisingly balanced and might be the highpoint of the game. Even with its shortcomings there is no denying that playing as a giant robot hell-bent on destruction is still fun.
Lasting Appeal
The game doesn’t have much of a replay value considering that the main storyline runs a decent course. You are open to retry levels with special added objectives for medals, but in the end they don't really do anything more than give you more energon (currency) to outfit your Genericon with better weapons. Returning from the first game is the online campaign mode similar to Battle for the AllSpark in which every day you access a server to download and daily special level. You compete on this level for the best time and upload your scores to the leaderboard to help the Deceptions or the Autobots take off a chunk of the world. But once again it seems the Autobots GREATLY outnumber the Deceptions, so don't expect a win for the red and purple anytime soon. But it’s still worth a try to see how you stack up against players around the world.
The 411
While the first Transformers game for DS was a lot better than expected, it seems that this one is more of a rush job to try to capitalize on the (huge) bank that the movie has made. It's a shame because the original game was a great starting point to making some good, but this takes two GIANT steps back and just further cements the fact that unless developers stop being lazy and take a note from the Wolverine playbook, you are never going to get a decent or compelling movie tie-in game.
Graphics
5.5
For being giant robots, they actually look exteremely small on screen and everything is gernally just very blocky and jagged.
Gameplay
5.0
The first few levels are very fun, but thin controls and uneven difficulty make the game a chore.
Sound
6.5
The voice clips are clea and great, it's everything else that sounds like crap.
Lasting Appeal
5.0
The Online Battle mode will keep you entertained, and if you can find anyone the DeathMatch mode is suprisingly fun.
Fun Factor
5.0
Yeah, it's fun and all. But once it becomes locked it you start to notice how samey it is.
