Transformers: Devastation

There's a lime green giant standing on the other side of a tall building that he's partially ripped to pieces. Optimus Prime, using Peter Cullen's stern voice, exclaims: "Devastator!" It's about then that we realise what a treasure this is for fans of the original series (often referred to as G1) from the '80s. What follows is an epic boss fight in a main square of the city where Optimus Prime needs to fight the mighty giant, made up of no less than six different construction vehicles.

For those who are more recent fans, perhaps introduced to the franchise via Michael Bay's Transformers, it must look very strange. All the characters are extremely colourful, almost luminous. They're big and blocky, and it seems like there isn't even the slightest correlation between how big a robot is and how big the vehicle they turn into when transforming. But this is how it started, and what Platinum Games has done is to bring the old series back to life - and they have done it fantastically well.

If we lean back and squint, it's like watching a HD episode of Transformers on TV, where the old design has been made brighter and clearer, and that alone is total bliss. Even better is that Platinum Games has managed to retain all of the cheesy bits, from the fact that Optimus keeps a finger on his ear when he talks to base (and therefore suggesting that the Transformers are equipped with worse communication than a standard Bluetooth headset), through to insults like: "You're mine, Auto-jerk!".

In short, the fan service and presentation couldn't have been any better. But how is it to play then? It is, after all, a fairly important factor. Since Platinum Games is involved there's every reason to expect great things. It usually means outrageous amounts of action, squealing Japanese guitars, very tight controls, and a somewhat unpolished setup.

If we were to describe the game in one sentence, we would say that Transformers: Devastation has a lot of Bayonetta in its veins (metallic veins, that is, we're playing with robots after all). There are two buttons for melee that can be varied depending on the occasion, a button to shoot, and another to dodge. Time things right and there's a little "Bullet Time" like there is Bayonetta, where you get the chance to hand out extra helpings of damage while moving in slow-motion.

A well-executed combo can be rounded off with a quick press of RB/R1, a move which allows you to transform and attack your opponent in vehicle form, sending your opponents flying. Transforming into vehicles is an important part of Transformers: Devastation. Platinum Games has managed to add elements that are relevant, moments where it feels justified to be a vehicle. For example, we played sections where we took the role of Sideswipe in Lamborghini form, being attacked with air strikes by jets (Seekers, of course) as we drove down a long road at ridiculous speeds. Nothing gets more Transformers G1 than this.

There are satellites deployed throughout each of the levels. By shooting them a chest emerges with bonus content. However, it is seldom as simple as getting to the chest and grabbing the loot. Sometimes you have a number of objectives that need to be satisfied first, like a simple puzzle, or you might need to clear an area within a time limit. The vehicles come in handy here as well, and once again the gameplay feels suited to the duality of the characters. It's rare that you are forced to be a vehicle, and you can almost always decide yourself whether it's better to be a robot or vehicle at any given moment.

There are five Autobots to control, and they all have their own abilities that can be levelled up. To steer around little Bumblebee is a completely different experience than it is to cause mass destruction as the psychopathic Grimlock. With Bumblebee you need to try to keep the enemy at a safe distance and move around a lot, while with Grimlock there's more fun to be had just handing out pain via close combat. As you might imagine, the others sit somewhere in-between.

By finding the aforementioned chests, and defeating enemies, you will be more efficient, get better equipment, and gain more money. Additionally, there are several things hidden away that unlock stuff in the game. The levelling-up process can be accelerated by spending in-game money, which can also be used to give your Autobots perks and better equipment. You can even combine weapons to create better equipment. It's these elements that are the worst in the game, and only Wheeljack's high tech perks feels truly decent.

The system works like this: you buy a perk, but instead of just selecting something from a list, they've spiced things up by having Wheeljack create it for you. You don't get to choose what perk you want, but instead you play a mini-game. Here perfect timing gives good perks, while an unsuccessful attempt means a lesser prize (and all the while Wheeljack rejoices or complains about what he offers up). Otherwise, it takes a long time to sit and scrap twenty weapons to slowly make your favourite gun or sword better. It completely lacks depth and it's nothing more than a hassle and in the end it doesn't add anything. We would have preferred that we could choose between a number of weapons with distinct advantages and disadvantages, tools suited for different assignments, rather than the system offered here. Now there's almost an infinite amount of weapons, but we noticed little difference between them and the game is completely adapted to the weapons becoming more effective over offering variation, therefore they're never truly satisfying to use.

It took us just over five hours to play through Transformers: Devastation, and even then we were still pretty thorough. It's certainly on the short side, but luckily there is real replay value because it's fun to challenge yourself on higher difficulty levels because this is a game where we notice how we're slowly improving. Moreover, it's fun to try the different robots, explore a little, and try to find the remaining secrets that you may have missed out on. By completing the game you also get new levels of difficulty where enemies are moved around in the game (which is much more fun than just making them a little bit stronger, as is usually the case).

Another negative that we simply can't ignore is that there isn't much variation between the levels. It feels like we're playing atop completely dead scenery, and the level of detail is poor. A little more life and movement would have been appreciated. Fortunately, the robots themselves are gorgeous, nicely detailed and extremely well animated - the downside is that they stand out too much against the boring scenery, especially as the backdrops are repeated a little too frequently.

In the end Transformers: Devastation is a mixed bag. Our Transformers-loving heart was completely overwhelmed to hear the old voice actors from the original series reprising their roles, we enjoyed the music from Vince DiCola (composer for The Transformers: The Movie), and we engaged with the refreshingly straight forward story that accelerated nicely into a mighty crescendo. At the same time, you can't ignore that there are some things that aren't up to scratch, and it feels like a few too many corners have been cut during the production process. While our heart would like to give this a slightly higher score, our brains says otherwise and it ends up with the number you see below.