Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Definately more than meets the eye...

by pdiogo629

This Review's Trust Rating: 0 0

July 8, 2009 - Ever since the announcement that the PSP Version of "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" would be an arcade-style game, some people have been having some doubts about the potential of this game. That's common-place with the PSP versions of many games, such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, Star Wars The Clone Wars Republic Heroes, and many more. And since the release of this game, people have been, literally on every site, criticizing the fact that this is a top-down shooter, that the graphics are bad, that the gameplay is very simple, and many more, being the most frequent complaints directed to the fact that you can't execute the trademark Transformer/Veichle transformation at will. Well, I've been playing this game for a while now, and I can say, based on my own experience, that while most of those facts can be considered true (based on a gamer's own experience and preferences), this game didn't deserve such a low score by IGN's reviewer.

This game tells the story relatively well. There aren't many cutscenes: There are an Intro cutscene, a cutscene whenever you begin a new chapter in the Autobots/Decepticons campaign, and a final cutscene for each campaign. The story progresses via a dialogue before and after you complete a certain level
that briefs you on the objectives of the level, their effects on the campaign, and that lets you know a little bit of a certain character's psychological traits, if you care to do the analysis. The cutscenes furfill their purpose, and the dialogues are a quick way for you to understand the story as it progresses.

During the gameplay, the easiest thing you could do is to start a non-stop shooting spree. But as you progress, you come to realize that, in order to beat a certain level, you have to utilize every advantage that your Transformer has. For example, there is a level, in a more advaned stage of the game, in which you must protect Bumblebee until he reaches a certain place. You can choose Ironhide, Ratchet or Sideswipe. When you reach this point, you'll already know that firepower is Ironhide's main ability (the ability to have Infinite Secondary Ammo for some time), regeneration is Ratchet's ability and the ability to fire in every direction is Sideswipe's. But here, you may want to pick Sideswipe, not because of his ability, but because his dodging is much more faster that any of the other Autobots, which will allow you to, if needed, spread out to destroy an enemy or get energy or health, and immediately regroup with Bumblebee. Then again, the gameplay, although reduced to shooting during a first impression, will change if you can (and are willing to) adapt to the game.
Also, you can transform into veichle mode by using a Transformer's Signature move, and although this isn't much, it's still a very good effect during gameplay. Worth noting is the already mentioned fact that, before each level, you're allowed to select a Transformer of your choosing, instead of having to play with a pre-set character, as it was in the first Transformers game. And the bugs mentioned at IGN's reviews rarely happen, being that the Health picking bug only happens when an Health Item is standing in the same place as an Energon Item, so don't worry about it. At least, for a week and a half playing the game, thse bugs never happened to me.

The graphics are not as bad as some people believe. Of course that the top-down view can't give a Transformer as much detail as the PS3/X-Box 360 versions, but it is, by no means, a poorly developed version as far as graphics are concerned. The graphics are similar to the Marvel Ultimate Alliance PSP version whose graphics are very good for an handheld version as far as I'm concerned. The sound is also very good, whether music-wise ou voice-wise, although I must mention that, while you're playing in a level, there rarely is voice-acting, leaving you to read the subtitles, except when you have a battle against a boss, during which you can hear the voice actings.

But one thing that will, if you're a Transformers fan, most likely compell you to buy this game are the Extras. You can unlock them if you can get enough gold medals (which aren't hard to get in certain levels, but somewhat hard to in others). There are three kinds of extras, being them Comic Books art and the movie's Concept Art, but these kinds of extras are frequently in many other video games. But the third kind is something that, in my gaming experience, I've never seen before: If you get a minimum of 12 gold medals, you can unlock three episodes of the original Transformers cartoon! If memory serves me well, and if I'm not mistaken, this fact wasn't mentioned in IGN's review, which I find both curious and suggestive, leaving me to wonder about the review's legitimacy (bear in mind what I said about the difficulty of earning medals and how many you need to unlock the first episode, and you'll see what I mean).

All in all, this game is not the PSP game of the year, and some people may not even consider this game to be a good one, but it'll definately, in my estimation, furfill a Transformers fan's expectations. If you don't feel like buying this game, try renting it or see if a friend has it and ask him to play, simply because you don't have to trust me, but you may pass a game that you might like just by listening to other people's rants, or IGN's sometimes controvertial reviews.