It’s a small wonder then that I was even able to stand after attending the Activision unveiling of Transformers: The Game. Based on the potentially blockbusting Michael Bay film due for release this summer, developer Travellers Tales is taking the helm to produce a free-roaming action-adventure title, drawing heavy influence from the plot of the movie over the course of seven individually contained environments. Looking at the modern Transformer striding around the screen, it’ll appeal to the kids for sure, but what about us 20-something old-timers weaned on the original series? We’re assured that the Transformers ‘G1’ (First Generation) crowd will be well catered for, although the developers refuse to be drawn on exactly what that will entail. Given the look of glee on the face of the production team and the PR people when confronted with the question, I’m fairly confident it’ll be enough to satiate the most hardened of fans. Roll on the summer.
The game itself seems to be heading down a path that’s at once very similar and yet totally at odds with the movie. Looking at the trailer, it’s clear that Travellers Tales would have been presented with a number of tough choices to best approach the subject matter, given that the screenplay focuses heavily on the human elements of the story. However, observing a war between two huge armies of robots from a ground-level humanistic perspective would be a tough challenge for even the most creative of teams (Kojima Productions aside), but you get the feeling that particular premise could make an intriguing prospect at some point; ‘S.O.S’ combined with ‘Earth Defence Force’, with the fairly colourful addition of planes that can turn into walking-talking death machines at a moments notice? Sold. Of course the alternative to all that is to simply let you get behind the controls of one of the metal titans themselves and blow up everything in sight. Mission accomplished.
Everything in the Transformers world seems to be deformable in some sense, and destruction appears to be your modus operandi. Buildings, pylons, trees, cars, nuclear power stations, they all crumble under fire from your 30-foot avatar. Watching the action unfold seems like a breath of fresh air compared to every mech game with missiles that hit walls and leave no trace, or gunfire that only affects your enemies. Damage spreads between buildings, with the potential to set up a nice chain reaction in the process. Keep hammering civilian structures however and the police will be none too happy, chasing you down after a set number of ‘wanted’ level increments, gradually escalating in presence and force up to the mysterious ‘Sector Seven’ units. Whilst the basic police response pales in comparison to your massive amount of ordinance, they look annoying enough to make you want to avoid contact.
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Given the source material it’d be more than a little strange to allow players to partake in a genocide mission playing as Optimus Prime or any of his cronies, and this ties in to another big feature of the game design; the ability to choose to play as either the Decepticons or the Autobots, and the morality meter used throughout. This on-screen indicator swings either way according to your actions (blowing stuff up, performing stunts etc) and awards the player with a basic points total at the end of each stage. Whether this system allows you to unlock new content or is simply a high-score mechanism is yet to be confirmed.
Its an interesting approach to let users play out the other side of the battle, and presumably a lot of leg work will have to be put in here to provide an alternative narrative to the movie without seeming far-fetched and out of place. (Are giant robots ever out of place?) It’s definitely good to have the freedom of choice though, as let’s face it; the Decepticons are just way more interesting, as evil characters generally are. Personally I can’t wait to powerslam Ironhide and friends into the dust.
As you would expect, the physics engine will play a big part in the final title, with almost all of the environmental objects able to be manipulated by the steel behemoths at will (including sections of disembowelled opposition Transformers). Added to this is the complexity of providing a full vehicular simulation, necessary to take into account each transformer in its alternative guise as a car, plane, helicopter or whatever else. Whilst the developers are still rather cagey about showing any of the flying mechanics, we were promised there won’t be any artificial level restrictions in place to restrict the player. Now if only we could plug in the Steel Battalion controller, racing wheel and a flight stick at the same time. Next-gen indeed.
Somewhat crucially, the actual transformations on show were slickly handled and visually satisfying, if a little too speedy at times. It wasn’t clear just how much progression will depend on the manipulation between forms, as no specific puzzles were shown to us, but you’d have to assume that Travellers Tales will be incorporating this as a core mechanic.
In retrospect, we came away from the presentation generally positive about the title, without being overwhelmed. The world itself is rich with destructible elements but short on incidental detail that sets the best of the genre apart, whilst the visual style is clean and precise but also a little bland and lacking in personality at this point. Replayability should be ensured with a structure lifted almost directly from Lego Star Wars, allowing the player to go back and perfect any mission with alternative characters. Co-op play and online features are yet to be confirmed but you’d have to think this will be a certainty given the developer responsible.
Unfortunately we were unable to see the game really stretched in the current build, and the developer was keen to point out that the physics in place at the moment are from a previous PS2 version, not the fully developed incarnation that will ship with the final release on PS3 and 360. As so much of the believability of a mech game depends on conveying a sense of weight when interacting with the environment, the jury will have to be out on this one for the time being. However, Travellers Tales have a recent back catalogue of excellence with licensed content and on that basis alone it’s a safe bet that the missing elements will be tied together before the summer touchdown. If that happens, we’ll have our second decent Transformers title of recent times, who’d have thought it eh?
Hopefully we can get more playtime in before the final product is transformed and rolled out this coming June.
