Transformers

Written by John Scalzo  on March 30, 2004

First Impressions: My PS2 transforms into a giant robot when I'm not looking

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Despite their tremendous popularity over the years, The Transformers have only been the subject of a handful of games. A quartet based on the Beast Wars incarnation, one each for the PC and N64 and two for the PSone are the only games that have seen American shores. The only game based on the original 80s cartoon was released in Japan for the NES and while I don't condone piracy, if you can find it, it's quite the experience. It's in my opinion the worst side scrolling platformer ever made, and I've played Bart vs the Space Mutants. But now, two new Transformers games will grace the PS2, a 3D brawler based on Generation One made by Takara (makers of that fine NES game) released only in Japan in November. And in the coming months, we Americans will instead be given a 3D action shooter based on the Transformers: Armada show simply called Transformers.

Every child of the 80s knows all about the storyline to The Transformers. The Autobots are the good transforming robots and the Decpeticons are the bad transforming robots. And the civil war for their home planet Cybertron has been raging on for thousands of years. The Armada series is based on an alternate timeline to the original series and details the first battles between the Autobots and the Decpticons after they come to Earth. In Armada, the fight for supremacy is over the control of Mini-Cons, small Transformers, that when connected to their big brethren, enable enhanced powers like faster speed, more powerful guns, tougher armor or any number of badass powerups.

So not surprisingly, Transformers is a mission based action shooter that deals with scouring the globe for Mini-Cons. And what a globe it is. Atari has promised huge, almost never ending worlds that will take a long time to travel through in the search for the Mini-Cons. With three playable characters: the big, powerful leader Optimus Prime; the smaller, faster Hot Shot and the all around average Red Alert this won't be a problem. Thankfully, your Autobot's ability to transform and roll out will be one button press away. Those who have played the game confirm that even when your 'bot is in vehicle mode, the levels are huge and truly show off the massive size of a Transformer.

To fill these huge levels, Megatron, the evil leader of the Decpticons, has created an army of cheap, disposable Decpticlones that aren't very powerful, but can be mass produced to create wave after wave of opposition to the Autobots. I haven't been following the new show, so I don't know if this is a development on the show or something thought up entirely by Atari. But either way, it's brilliant. Of course, the end of the level will feature a boss fight with a "real" Decepticon like Starscream, Cyclonus, or the all out battle with Megatron.

Early reports indicate that Armada will be no walk in the park. Yes, word is you won't be able to go a few feet in the park without being shot at by a never ending horde of Decepticlones. This game is supposed to be tough, with the big bots employing run and gun tactics against you that would make Patton squeal in his boots. So what's an Autobot to do? Add a Mini-Con to one of four slots that correspond with the shoulder buttons and blast away with increased offensive and offensive prowess. The in game movies floating around show the action to be fast and furious, and I have no doubt that the final game will be as well.

These movies also show that with only a few months before Transformers ships to retailers it's looking very spiffy. The huge worlds are very detailed with rubble and terrain that can be used as cover or in the case of the Antarctica level, a constant blizzard of snow covers the screen. The Transformers also come off looking spectacular and while they don't feature the original designs I grew up with, the Armada designs look amazing translated to the PS2. And even with a few months to go, the movies showed off a very impressive frame rate for such an action intensive game.