Publisher: Activision
Developer: Traveller’s Tales
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Iatomasi

Lately, it seems every big Hollywood movie gets the “video game” treatment. Nine times out of ten, those “movie games” are pretty awful. Transformers is one of those nine.

When you start Transformers, you’re given the opportunity to choose your side: Autobot or Decepticon. The Autobot side of the story features Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz and a few other playable Transformers fighting to save the world. The Decepticon side features Megatron, Starscream, Barricade and others fighting to destroy it. Along with different missions, each side gets unique bonuses, including a Heroism bonus for the Autobots, achieved by saving people and buildings, and a Destruction bonus for the Decepticons, achieved by destroying everything in your path.

The game is set in a few different landscapes, some of which include a city, a desert and the inside of Hoover Dam. When you’re not in a mission, you can freely roam around the area you’re in, either by running around or driving, in a manner similar to Grand Theft Auto. While running around the area, there’s very little to do, aside from collecting “Energons” which can be used to access mini-games scattered around the map.

Several of the game’s 32 missions (16 for each side) are timed. For example, you might be given 45 seconds to catch a runaway Decepticon or 90 seconds to avoid getting blown to smithereens. Some of the timed missions are a piece of cake, and the fact that they were timed never played a factor. Others were tedious, taking something that should be fun and turning it into a frantic mess of explosions and restarts.

Aside from the abundance of timed missions, there are also several assignments in which you’re asked to run around and smash things. Because these tasks have one general objective — find something and make it hurt — they’re the most fun. Whether you’re ripping through private property or fighting a boss, these missions let you have fun with your Transformer. Instead of worrying about making it to the next checkpoint in time, the only thing on your mind is how to administer the correct amount of pain to Barricade’s face.