Transformers: A Hidden Gem in Disguise.
How I came to discover this is really funny since I just came across a video where Sonic Frontiers’s boss theme songs played in other final bosses where I saw Break through it All playing in the space fight between Optimus Prime vs Megatron. The action combat looked really cool, so it came to surprise me that Platinum Games actually worked on it and they work on a lot of licensed games. Finally playing it for myself and man it does not disappoint.
This game looks really pretty, adopting the comics art style with some gorgeous cel-shading, really selling the feeling of playing a comic book with how faithful the characters look to the original cartoon. I say this but I don’t actually know much about the Transformers franchise besides the Michael Bay movies and Transformers Animated by Derrick J Wyatt, but I’d say this is a welcome addition to more Transformers media. Though very simple, the narrative serves well to platform the cool action gameplay with a surprisingly interesting narrative idea of conflict between Optimus Prime and Megatron’s ideal for Cybertron. It’s actually quite compelling to hear their dialogue on Optimus believing to adapt with humans on Earth while Megatron wants to claim the world for Cybertronians. Reminds me a lot of Xavier and Magneto’s conflict with how Mutants should live though very contextually different. This story really isn’t complex enough that I wouldn’t fault anyone to just outright skip the cutscenes, but I appreciate that they still wrote something worth telling for a video game showing the passion the team must have for this project.
Why anyone would play this though is for its very simple combat scheme being only relegated to 2 buttons with a dodge mechanic in its shoulder button. This sounds incredibly simple, but somehow the game manages to really flesh this out with the different types of damage and projectiles creating an interesting challenge in maneuvering over fights. Not to mention, it just looks cool as hell since the combat always looks very active yet clear. However, sometimes the camera can get annoying with it being completely manual to control which makes it difficult for certain sequences if an object is blocking the character you’re controlling. Speaking of which, the game itself lets you play as five different characters for the main campaign and they all feel very unique despite having the same loadouts and weapons, with characters like Bumblebee being agile or someone heavy but a good damage dealer like the Dinobot dude. Biggest issue to all this is just the fact that the bosses get really damage spongy on normal and above, while the AI becomes a tad too easy on lower difficulties meaning that there might not be a sweet spot for many players.
Platinum Games really put they’re all into making the game as fun as they could make it. Despite being a licensed game, this could easily be put into competition with a lot of action hack-and-slash games with how robust the overall experience is. It's a short game though, so I’d best recommend it if you just want a quick game to enjoy some Transformers action without anything too complex, story or gameplay wise. I assume this game is for kids after all, but nonetheless definitely made with respect to both the audience and the franchise its using in mind.
How I came to discover this is really funny since I just came across a video where Sonic Frontiers’s boss theme songs played in other final bosses where I saw Break through it All playing in the space fight between Optimus Prime vs Megatron. The action combat looked really cool, so it came to surprise me that Platinum Games actually worked on it and they work on a lot of licensed games. Finally playing it for myself and man it does not disappoint.
This game looks really pretty, adopting the comics art style with some gorgeous cel-shading, really selling the feeling of playing a comic book with how faithful the characters look to the original cartoon. I say this but I don’t actually know much about the Transformers franchise besides the Michael Bay movies and Transformers Animated by Derrick J Wyatt, but I’d say this is a welcome addition to more Transformers media. Though very simple, the narrative serves well to platform the cool action gameplay with a surprisingly interesting narrative idea of conflict between Optimus Prime and Megatron’s ideal for Cybertron. It’s actually quite compelling to hear their dialogue on Optimus believing to adapt with humans on Earth while Megatron wants to claim the world for Cybertronians. Reminds me a lot of Xavier and Magneto’s conflict with how Mutants should live though very contextually different. This story really isn’t complex enough that I wouldn’t fault anyone to just outright skip the cutscenes, but I appreciate that they still wrote something worth telling for a video game showing the passion the team must have for this project.
Why anyone would play this though is for its very simple combat scheme being only relegated to 2 buttons with a dodge mechanic in its shoulder button. This sounds incredibly simple, but somehow the game manages to really flesh this out with the different types of damage and projectiles creating an interesting challenge in maneuvering over fights. Not to mention, it just looks cool as hell since the combat always looks very active yet clear. However, sometimes the camera can get annoying with it being completely manual to control which makes it difficult for certain sequences if an object is blocking the character you’re controlling. Speaking of which, the game itself lets you play as five different characters for the main campaign and they all feel very unique despite having the same loadouts and weapons, with characters like Bumblebee being agile or someone heavy but a good damage dealer like the Dinobot dude. Biggest issue to all this is just the fact that the bosses get really damage spongy on normal and above, while the AI becomes a tad too easy on lower difficulties meaning that there might not be a sweet spot for many players.
Platinum Games really put they’re all into making the game as fun as they could make it. Despite being a licensed game, this could easily be put into competition with a lot of action hack-and-slash games with how robust the overall experience is. It's a short game though, so I’d best recommend it if you just want a quick game to enjoy some Transformers action without anything too complex, story or gameplay wise. I assume this game is for kids after all, but nonetheless definitely made with respect to both the audience and the franchise its using in mind.