Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Rating:

Reviewed by:
Gerasimos Manolatos

Price: $29.99–$59.99

The Skinny: The battle for Earth continues when the Decepticons seek to resurrect the remains of The Fallen, a treacherous member of the original Primes who wants to sap all of the bot juice from the planet. You can play on the side of the Autobots and provide the citizens of the world a stay of execution or lead the Decepticons with prospects of world domination. Either way, Megan Fox makes an appearance, and that already puts the game ahead of the curve.

The Good: If you ever muttered the phrase "When I grow up, I want to be a Transformer!" you'll finally get the chance to do just that. (We've scrubbed away all memory of the pile of crap made for the first film.) T: RofF combines the essence of what it takes to be a Transformer—be large, have cool guns, blow stuff up—into one tight package without sacrificing any of the mythology. (In other words, you won't find any metalheads transforming into super sexy college co-eds found in the movie.) The story pretty much follows the movie's major plot points, pushing you from one scene to the next while unlocking side quests that flesh out each encounter a bit more. For example, you'll engage in a naval battle on a main quest mission, but then be able to eliminate hostile Decepticons in the area in a second mission. However, there are a few large deviations, especially near the end of the game, that warrants some headscratching. (Then again, Michael Bay's plot wasn't exactly Shakespearean in nature either.)

The Bad: In the movie, you'll find slick maneuvers and eye-popping fight scenes. In the game, not so much. Sure, they may be alien beep-boopers, but the developers could have done a bit more to not make the Transformers move, well, like robots. The special effects present in the game aren't impressive and when it's time to actually roll out into a mission, the graphics are bad enough that you'll have to be reminded you're not playing on a PS2. (To be fair, the menus are pretty slick and showcase the bots quite well.) We also didn't like the one-off mission of saving Megan Fox. You'd think Activision would put one of the hottest females on Earth a bit more front and center to gloss over the game's inadequacies, but that, unfortunately, doesn't happen.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: You'll be able to unlock four episodes of the G1 Transformers cartoon series by completing certain achievements. Only thing is they come in YouTube quality. Really?

Buy, Rent, or Disembowel: Considering it took us about three hours to complete the Autobots campaign and about the same amount for Decepticons, you're going to want to give this one a rent over the weekend. Of course, you can always buy it just to experience Megan Fox calling for your help over and over again.