Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen loosely follows the plot of the film, the Autobots are accepted into the world and are fighting pockets of Decepticon resistance, only to hear whispers of a strange Fallen and also the return of Megatron.

 

 

The main single player mode has sensibly been split into two chapters, the Autobots and the Decepticons. Each one has you fighting the opposing side over large battlegrounds. You are first put through a tutorial which is essential as the controls are fiddly as hell and take ages to get to grips with, my main gripe is having a multi function R2 trigger which can be used to transform, accelerate or fire when L2 is pressed, making for some particularly messy fights. The games 14 zones will take you all over the world like Shanghai which is a dark and tightly built city with towerblocks and neon lights everywhere, enabling you to climb buildings and jump the rooftops looking for enemies and Cairo, a dusty city with sand storms whipping all over the place and deserted ruins.

 

Each mission is initially playable by a set selection of characters and each Transformer has their own unique look and weapons, Ironhide is the heavy weapons guy with cannons and grenades, Ratchet can heal characters, Prime has a shield, duel wield rifles and chargeable blaster and Breakaway has a zoom function sniper rifle. The look and movement of each one is superb, with the animation really making it feel like you are controlling a huge lumbering robot. Away from the Transformers themselves the overall presentation sadly is a bit weak as there are no real cutscenes, you are shown a military screen of information on the new areas you open up and a short speech from the Transformers themselves, mostly slagging off your accuracy but no FMV or movie clips. For a film license this feels a bit weird and really is lacking in the final polish. Even on completion of the game (the last level is a bit of a let down) you are just shown credits which you can't skip and these go on for far to long with one short song being played over and over again.

 

Since the game is ultimately a 3rd person shooter it can get a bit samey so to keep interest the game has a few different mission styles, you have the normal locate and destroy and boss battles plus protection missions, repairing satellite dishes and collecting and rescuing humans. Though you have an Autobot and Decepticon side to each mission they do essentially play exactly the same. The game also has an upgrade system for the team, these are simple things like more health, more powerful melee and faster special charge which you can spend dropped energon from defeated enemies on.

 

Being a Transformers game you would expect lots of transforming, sadly not, for a majority of the game you will play in robot form, only driving to safety to recharge your shields once in a while. The best level of the game is the aircraft carrier level, where you fly as Breakaway from ship to ship repairing AA guns and taking part in dogfights. There is also a shocking omission from this game, the transform noise, it's just not there. It should be one of the most important things in the game as fans still get tingles every time they hear it, even Michael Bays attempt works really well but they are just completely omitted.

 

 

The first campaign will take about 4 hours with the second part a lot shorter as by then you are used to the controls and what to expect, there is however some pretty cool reasons to return to replay missions. Each campaign has things to unlock meaning that you need to perform a set amount of feats like spending energon, killing in certain ways or just completing missions. Some of these are just the poor cutscenes as mentioned earlier but you also have six Transformers G1 episodes plus a cool Ironhide G1 colour scheme for your characters online.

 

Away from the single player there is also an online mode. Whilst the modes are not groundbreaking they do offer a Transformers twist like Capture the Spark and One Shall Stand where you must protect Prime and defeat Megatron or vice-versa. Each of the characters from the single player mode are effectively their own class with Breakaway as the sniper and Ratchet as a medic, but they are huge robots which make it pretty cool. Online mode will only last a while as it sadly does not have the staying power of most shooters but whilst the film is out enjoy playing against other people rather than the lame computer controlled characters in single player.

 

I went in playing Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen not really expecting great things (especially after the first game) and whilst it won't set the gaming world on fire it is a good film license with plenty of action and some great looking HD Transformers.