• By MILES THORPE
• 2theadvocate.com staff
• Published: Aug 19, 2009

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Following in the wake of many summer blockbuster films, movie tie-in video games tend to lurk. While the first “Transformers: The Game” wasn’t all that bad, the sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is just too clunky for its own good.

The game follows its movie parent as expected, with small additions that allow for a bit longer playtime than the actual movie. An example would be, after chasing down some rogue robots in Shanghai, you are tasked with helping the military rebuild some satellite arrays to get communications back online.

For each level you progress through, you have a very limited choice in which Autobot or Decepticon you can use. There are two plot paths, much like the first game, and because the game doesn’t allow you to stick with certain robots that you may favor, you have to relearn each of their weapon styles and control schemes.

This is frustrating and destroyed much of the enjoyment of the game for me. After getting used to and performing well with Ironside’s massive cannons, I had to play a few maps as another Autobot, like Ratchet, who’s combat skills aren’t nearly as interesting.

The controls for the game are also hard to manage. The biggest issue I had was changing into vehicle mode. This requires holding down the right trigger to shift into the robots given vehicle, except if you let go of the trigger, it changes back into a robot. What that leaves you with is very little control over the actual vehicle, since as soon as you transform you are constantly moving. Easing back on the trigger button does slow the vehicle down, but simply driving around or flying is extremely cumbersome because of having to hold that button the entire time.

On top of the right trigger there are ‘combo’ styles you can perform requiring you to hold the trigger down to be in vehicle mode, drive with the left stick, press and hold one of the action buttons then release the trigger. That’s just too much for most people.

Graphically the game looks good except for a lot of empty areas on the play maps. Not many ambient things going on like cars or airplanes or even people. The robots are well-detailed and have plenty of shine to them.

Sound quality was good, with many of the actors doing the voiceovers for their given characters. Lots of explosions and ‘swoosh’ sounds ring out while playing and all sounded good. The music felt generic and didn’t really make much of an impact.

As the summer winds down and the big action movies have come and gone, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” does nothing to prolong that awe of what the movie achieved. Many feel that the motion picture sequel was too big and too long, well to those people I suggest playing the game, as it was too restricted and too short with a lot less substance.