Transformers

By Kristan Reed Published 15 March, 2004

A good game in disguise? Kristan tackles Atari's surprise PS2 mech smash.

I was never into Robots as a teen. Transformers well and truly passed me by the first time around, and have already had to put up with astonished gasps around the office when I admitted I'd never seen the movie [astonished gasp! -Tom]. I'm not sure what it was about Transformers. I recall finding the theme tune fantastically annoying for a start (but I'm over that now) and had, at the age of 13, already grown out of cartoons about improbable superheroes - even if they could turn from a stompy robot into a truck when they felt like it. 18 years on, you'd think that I couldn't possibly find the enthusiasm to play a nostalgia-fuelled videogame, when I didn't even care about the subject matter in the first place. Wrong.

Sometimes this job forces you to face your prejudices head on in a way you never do as a punter, and for once I'm totally surprised and blown away by what Melbourne House has achieved. 18 years ago this veteran developer was making text adventure interpretations of Tolkien and Doyle novels, now it's finding new and interesting ways to make a big stompy robot game that quite frankly takes the piss in terms of visceral ambition and crafted execution.

Optimism time

'Transformers' Screenshot 1

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Set in the oddly near-present day 2010, "the war for supremacy between the Autobots and Decepticons continues". Just as well, that, because it means that you get to take control of one of three Autobots (Optimus Prime, Hot Shot and Red Alert) and basically wreak havoc through eight sprawling landscapes.

After six solid years of being the gaming equivalent of Fois Gras, hooked up to the PR machine and force-fed a diet of sickly PR hyperbole, our immunity levels to infectious superlatives like "intense destruction", "white knuckle action" and "adrenaline fuelled" have become "quite literally awesome". But, for once, every one of these made-up (but crushingly accurate) superlatives only just touch on the child-like fear and awe that Transformers inspired during some of the more hectic sections of this crazy, mentalist game.

Choosing your Autobot depends on your preference for defence, attack, speed or power capabilities. Optimus Prime holds the aces in terms of attack and power, Red Alert excels in defence, while Hot Shot can outrun anything with his speed. After that, you're dropped into one of the game's exceptionally detailed battlegrounds and tasked with neutralising everything in sight.

A mini con adventure

'Transformers' Screenshot 2

Along the way, each area contains a number of Data Cons to collect as well as Mini Cons. The latter serve as permanent or swappable upgrades to your Autobot, which are assigned to the shoulder buttons and used against the many adversaries. The former provide intelligence on your surroundings, while the regular save points that crop up also act as portals to enable you to dive back into the main menu and tweak options, such as which Mini Cons you want equipped or even which Autobot you want in action at the time.

From the five (of the eight) levels I've played so far, it's certainly one of the most exciting console games in prospect for the entire year. Control-wise, it's instantly accessible, with a solid, convincing feel - so important in a game that could have so easily become yet another clunky, dull mechalike.

For example, the transformations are handled with exceptional fluidity. With a stab of the triangle button your bot glides gracefully into vehicle mode - and instantly feels satisfyingly 'right' with a convincing weight, yet a smooth controllability that makes getting around a joy for the most part.

One area that does irk slightly is the rather limp jump ability, which will find you regularly unable to traverse seemingly manageable ledges without first gaining the necessary inertia - and on the hilly Amazon and Antarctica levels this can be a real hassle as you clump around rather haplessly. Then again, car transporters - Autobots or otherwise - probably do have trouble jumping in general.

Blazing a trail

'Transformers' Screenshot 3

But where the game will undoubtedly score points with players is in the combat department, which although highly repetitive at times, conveys an immensely satisfying sense of fierce, futuristic battle, with enemies always providing a harsh but fair contest - forcing you to go to war with intelligence and tactics rather than merely all guns blazing. Combat essentially draws on the Halo school of dual weapons (although you can always return to a portal and swap weapons if you're unhappy with what you've got), but expands upon the principle with a series of other optional and swappable shields and enhancements.

Mapped to R1, the rather useless Blaster comes as standard, but you'll quickly be rewarded for exploration and persistence with many others, including the Spark Jump arc gun, the Skirmish heavy blaster, Aurora heavy ribbon beam and so on, while R2 gives you the chance to utilise dozens of enhancements such as the Lookout sniper rifle, Rangefinder range enhancer, Lock On homing missile (a personal favourite) and tons more.

On L1the game gives you the choice of things like Safeguard armour, Slipstream glide wings (useful for flying to far off islands etc), while L2 offers the Deflector shield, Hawkeye energon vision (heat seeking enemy detector) and a slew of others yet to be discovered. Half the fun, in fact, isn't racing to the finish line, but seeking out hidden goodies. Some, though, plainly can't be accessed until you've got a power up from a later level, which gives further replay value and presumably comes in handy later on too.

How did they do that?

'Transformers' Screenshot 4

But all this would mean very little if it weren't for the impressive power of Melbourne House's game engine which seems capable of rendering an almost impossible degree of scenic detail at vast distances, not to mention immensely impressive character models - some of which truly have to be seen to be believed. The end of the Antarctica level, for example, just has to go down as one of the most impressive moments in gaming history and had the entire Eurogamer office transfixed and making peculiarly endearing noises at the spectacle. I'm happy to report that playing it was just as fun, and frankly I'm almost annoyed that I have to cease my gaming to report on my findings!

But it's not just about the odd flashy boss monster. Just general ambling about feels fun, taking in truly spectacular Amazonian scenes from a hilltop, with trees and land marks trailing off into the horizon with barely a hint of slowdown. Just as impressive are the wince inducing moment when defeated mechanical foes explode in a gob-smacking hail of metallic shards, sparks, flame and smoke. You really don't have to be a Transformers aficionado, Mech fanboy or even remotely interested in robots to appreciate that this is entertainment of the highest quality. Maybe its even the best use of a cartoon licence ever in that it will not only have the hardcore in fits of ecstasy, but bring on board an entire new generation of converts eager to fill in the knowledge gaps of all things Transformers. At the very least they'll be having a blast on surely one of the most accessible and enjoyable attempts at this thus-far niche genre of Mech combat.

Reviews may have appeared elsewhere, but be aware that this was not finished code. Movie interludes lacked sound, and a few technical glitches and bugs were apparent in our preview build as you'd expect, but the second we get a review build we'll be eager to play the game inside out and bring a full assessment of what is clearly the surprise package of the year so far. It's been criticised for being a little on the short side, but don't let that detract from what is indisputably one of the most impressive action shooters we've seen - ever. Pre-ordering is a moral obligation and we're hoping next months OPSM2 demo does it justice.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (59) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Singularity #1 8 years ago

    Wow, two thumbs up so far, then.

    But does it have the awesome transforming noise? Or motorbikes?

    \o)

  • pjmaybe #2 8 years ago

    It NEEDS that noise.

    It also needs the funky tune.

    Peej

  • Splog #3 8 years ago

    what the hell? I'm not gonne be able to go Blaster?? I was looking forward to spending hours with Blaster in his turbo-mega-ultra-tape-recorder mode.

    "I've got you now Optimus Prime!..what the...oh dear god, it's Blaster...and he's playing...The Darkness! oh the horrendous novelty glam rock. make it stop!"

    dear christ i've got to get out more.

  • templar-wizard #4 8 years ago

    sweet rael.

    what a write up. although not Classic TF, my interest is peaked in ths one...

  • Singularity #5 8 years ago

    The website is cool too - and it has the noise!

    Chu-chu-chu-chu-chu-cha-cha

  • BravoGolf #6 8 years ago

    :)

  • Killerbee #7 8 years ago

    Excellent.

    Transformers are teh r0X0r5!

    Shame there aren't a few more playable characters. Some of the triple-changer 'bots would be cool, like Sandstorm who was the dune buggy / helicopter / bot one. Bit orangey.

    Plus we need Wrek-Gar for teh m0t0rb1k35!!!!

  • Tiger_Walts #8 8 years ago

    I had Sandstorm, he rocked!

  • blablabla #9 8 years ago

    A multiplayer/combino-bot transformer battle would be cool.

    Oh, and M0t0rb1k35.

  • ralphwolfenstein #10 8 years ago

    Xbox as well did you say?

  • pjmaybe #11 8 years ago

    Just how cool would a "Battlefield 1942" style transformers game be...!

    Peej

  • KraftWerk #12 8 years ago

    :)

  • ruttyboy #13 8 years ago

    Well, that's done it, gonna have to buy a PS2 now! I was doing so well resisting too...

  • eviltobz  #14 8 years ago

    it all sounds rather cool and somewhat tempting, but what many of the comments and even kristan's introduction fail to realise is that this isn't the 20 year old transformers, its based on the new transformers armada series which is completely and utterly different. it uses some old character names such as optimus, megatron etc, but they are different characters, sometimes radically so (laserbeak is an autobot!?!?!) so the full on nostalgia thing is not really going to come into play. shame :(

    still looks good though :)

  • Cacophanus #15 8 years ago

    So you slammed Armored Core 3 but venerate this generic piece of trash? At least From Software created a game franchise off their own back, Armada is just a damn cash cow!

  • beep #16 8 years ago

    Wouldn't it be great if you could unlock the REAL Optimus Prime in all his generation one glory!!! Same applies to other familiar named, shittily revamped armada bots.

  • UncleLou #17 8 years ago

    I have hardly ever before read such an enthusiastic preview on EG! Shame that the Transformers franchise means absolutely nothing to me (I am not having a go at Transformers here, mind, I just never played with/watched/whatever-else-you-could-do-with-them them) .

  • ruttyboy #18 8 years ago

    "Armada is just a damn cash cow!"

    Bovinus Prime?
    Daisy-tron?

  • renzo #19 8 years ago

    When is this due to be released in PAL-land then?

  • crashVoodoo #20 8 years ago

    ooooh i feel like crackin out me toys and playin fer real ... and i'm 26 .. ;-/

    on a side note ...

    /me wonders how much all this crap is worth ? gen 1 opti-prim in all his *die-cast metal* glory ... oh yeah

    <a href=http://cs.georgefox.edu/~aliljen/transformers/tra nsformers.html></a>
    Edited by 2 at 15/03/04 @ 11:14

  • eviltobz  #21 8 years ago

    not as much as a couple of years ago as they have done re-releases of some of the toys. and there's an uber prime that was released recently that was based on the comics/tv series and is absolutely amazing. sorry :)

  • pjmaybe #22 8 years ago

    "/me wonders how much all this crap is worth ? gen 1 opti-prim in all his *die-cast metal* glory ... oh yeah"

    Was wondering that meself. Still have Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ultra Magnus (no, don't laugh!) and Galvatron - all 1st gen, all spankingly well kept. No boxes though but hell, you gotta play with the things haven't ya!

    Peej

  • Cyhwuhx #23 8 years ago

    .::: Eh Kristan? You sure about the Xbox-version? It was made very clear there would only be a PS2 version during the Atari presentation in the Netherlands.

    Not that I would mind two versions of the game... :) It is perhaps the biggest wet Transformer dream this side of The Movie.

  • eviltobz  #24 8 years ago

    galvatron is the only one of them that hasn't been reissued recently peej, but look on ebay, theres always plenty of transformers on there and it'll give you an idea of how much they go for. i'd probably offer you a tenner for galvy meself.

  • crashVoodoo #25 8 years ago

    Quote - Peej - *Was wondering that meself. Still have Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ultra Magnus (no, don't laugh!) and Galvatron - all 1st gen, all spankingly well kept. No boxes though but hell, you gotta play with the things haven't ya!*

    i had galvatron too but it got smashed when i twatted my best mate round the head with it. Still got megatron tho, shoulder stock and all. a gun as a toy .. who'da thunk it.

    When i was younger i had all the dino bots along my window-sill (grimlock, snarl, slag, swoop err ...) now they're in their boxes in the attic along with a few others - some decepticon planes, i know one is starscream but i dont know the others. i also got an ambulance one.

    there were 2 autobot cars that were very simlar a red and a yellow one i got the red one but dont ask me what its called and something that looked like a porsche (i think).

  • crashVoodoo #26 8 years ago

    quote - eviltobz - "not as much as a couple of years ago as they have done re-releases of some of the toys. and there's an uber prime that was released recently that was based on the comics/tv series and is absolutely amazing. sorry :)"

    well the new ones are made of plastic (cheaper see) but these old uns are die-cast metal and heavy ... especially when u hit mates with 'em ;)

  • mingster #27 8 years ago

    Melbourne House! Are they still around? I thought they became OCEAN software.
    But it all sounds very retro, Atari-Melbourne House- and Transformers good combination for us aged gamers.

  • Rahul #28 8 years ago

    If anyone hasn't checked out the (stunning and awesomely designed) website for this, http://www.atari.c om/transformers/ - you can see trailers and crap, anyway. Man I love that site design.

  • krudster #29 8 years ago

    No Xbox version chaps, that was a slip of Mug's keyboard while I was out....sorry!

  • Dabs #30 8 years ago

    So you should be Mug! I'd just bought an XBox an' everything in preparation! Now you've made me look a fool.

  • pjmaybe #31 8 years ago

    Weren't Melbourne House responsible for the uber-mega-game star Horace (as in "goes ski-ing", "meets the spiders", "has sex with a nymphomaniac starlet to boost her career";)

    Peej

  • Cyhwuhx #32 8 years ago

    .::: Hmm darn, ah well at least the PS2 version is already beyond good. :) Already tried the Tractor Beam? :D

  • IronGiant #33 8 years ago

    ah yes and also Way Of The Exploding Fist!!! then Fighting Warrior which wasn't upto much..

  • eviltobz  #34 8 years ago

    just had a bit of a gawp at the vids on rahul's link and i have to say that they have left me feeling a little bit moist. definitely gonna be picking up the opsm2 with the demo on the front.

    and crashVoodoo, i'm not sure how plasticky the reissued optimus is, but they are aimed more at the collector than just cheap toys for kids now, so there may be a good chunk of metal in there. there certainly is in the ultra-mega-uber prime. either way though, the reissues have drastically reduced the asking price for an original optimus. its only going to appeal to a small group of die-hard purists who must have the originals rather than all the people who want to relive their childhood like me, but aren't to bothered as long as it looks the same and transforms the same.

  • Tiger_Walts #35 8 years ago

    I used to get the comic when I was a nipper, I still think that Goldbug is the coolest, the Deceptacons that turned into the fighter jets were cool too though.

  • Killerbee #36 8 years ago

    I still think that Goldbug is the coolest

    Not Bumblebee? Goldbug was a later update also based on the Veedub Beetle, but Bumblebee was the original and, imho, best.

    :)

  • Daryoon #37 8 years ago

    Can we have a game of movie now? Complete with Stan Bush/Vince Dicola soundtrack?

  • ralphwolfenstein #38 8 years ago

    Melboune house also did the fantstic looking Le Mans on Dreamcast... Sounds like they've stretched the PS2 as well

  • eviltobz  #39 8 years ago

    great post there daryoon. good to see mention of stan the man. those 4 scenes set to the touch and dare always give me goosepimples with excitement :)

  • Killerbee #40 8 years ago

    Complete with Stan Bush/Vince Dicola soundtrack?

    Great soundtrack. Everyone should own a copy.

  • eviltobz  #41 8 years ago

    one of my wrestling mates comes out to the touch. best entrance music ever.

  • Singularity #42 8 years ago

    one of my wrestling mates comes out to the touch.

    Then perhaps he shouldn't be a wrestler. ;)

  • Killerbee #43 8 years ago

    one of my wrestling mates comes out to the touch. best entrance music ever.

    That sentence works for me on so many levels.

    :)

  • eviltobz  #44 8 years ago

    double ddts singularity and killerbee

  • ruttyboy #45 8 years ago

    Double Dolby Digital Theatre Sound? Eh?

  • eviltobz  #46 8 years ago

    thats the one. when they hear it properly they won't be laughing :)

  • Singularity #47 8 years ago

    Reverses double ddt into a super swinging suplex back-drop piledriver.

    /Dusts off hands

    ;)

  • Kiigan #48 8 years ago

    Sounds amazing. If they would only make one with "classic" Transformers, my life would be complete.

  • Singularity #49 8 years ago

    I'm sure I read a review of a crappy original Transformers game in Edge a few months back. It was a mindless, generic shooter, so if we have to go all Armada to get some quality Optimus, then so be it.

  • Cacophanus #50 8 years ago

    Er...Takara released a "classic" Transormers game last year (developed by Winkysoft):

    http://www.takara-game.ne.jp/gameinfo/charactor/ transformer.html

  • crashVoodoo #51 8 years ago

    Winkysoft ... OMG LOL

  • Daryoon #52 8 years ago

    I'll just close my eyes and pretend mini cons don't exist. "Oh no, they haven't destoyed my fav childhood tv show by making it into another stupid pokemon ripp off it's just a weapons upgrade!"

    Headmasters anyone? It's not like this is the first time Transformers has used a 'gimmick', nor with it be the last. Don't forget that the show didn't begin or end with the Optimus Prime you're familiar with, the series has been running practically non-stop for years in Japan, usually with a new incarnation each season.

  • Daryoon #53 8 years ago

    Eh, but Transformers has been animated in Japan since the beginning, and the kids aren't a new thing either, it's just that this is the first time an originally Japanese TF series has been dubbed (well okay, Robots in Disguise/Car Robots was the first, but that had kids too). And iirc, Armarda itself is getting on a bit now.

    And it was always blatently obvious that the show was designed to sell toys. Even more so in the movie...

  • 3william56 #54 8 years ago

    Damn - either someone has been passing happy pills around the EG office, the desolation in the release schedules has driven them all bonkers, or Melbourne House has beaten the Curse Of Licensed Games and is about to pull off a stormer.

    I had this one down as a sure-fire crapola cash-in like, well, pretty much every licensed game ever (particularly those based on older or less well known licenses /glares at Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo/).

    Sod if it's "classic" Optimus vs. Optimus Nouveau. If this is as top a game as the man says, who cares? Manic destruction with big stompy robots transforming into cars, accessible controls and (er) the right feel? Where do I sign?

  • krudster #55 8 years ago

    /Pass another happy pill will you old chap?

  • Singularity #56 8 years ago

    Optimus Nouveau. Heh. :)

  • BLACKSHEEP #57 8 years ago

    If this is a hit which by looks it should be then Sony will press hard for an online follow-up. Now that would be awesome!!!!!

  • Cyhwuhx #58 8 years ago

    .::: Online is the top-priority on Melbourne House's list for Transformers 2.

  • #59 8 years ago

    hm. they should do the fast cash-in route with this engine thing and remake it with new missions, graphics, models whenever that new transformers movie is supposed to come out.. if it works now that will be wonderful ... also make decepticons playable.. oooh.. help me, I pissed me pants

  • eviltobz  #60 8 years ago

    you & me both vermy. you & me both

    /looks for a change of trousers