GAME review - Devastation

[GoktimusPrime]

As someone who's really not much of a gamer, I find this rather long! I spent nearly 2 hours on it tonight, and I'm still on "Chapter 1" (just finished deactivating those three generators as Sideswipe). I'm playing it on Scout level of difficulty, and it's so far pretty good for me (cos I just suck at games ). I personally like being able to bash 'bots about without getting killed all the time, although WFC and FOC did have a more epic story feel to it. Those games felt more like world builders, trying to expand on the G1 universe (despite Hasbro officially shoehorning it into the Aligned Continuity Family ), whereas Devastation's more like, Ah ha! The Decepticons have unleashed a Deus ex machina upon the Earth! Autobots, roll to the rescue! It's nice and simple and pretty straightforward. And I don't mean this as a criticism, I don't think one style is better or worse than the other, they're just different.

Okay, so having easier game play for noobs like me makes it more fun because I don't have to keep re-attempting the same crap over and over and over and over and over and over again cos I keep failing/dying. However, Devastation does have noticeably more down time than WFC/FOC, which was better at keeping you at your toes. The deliberately cartoony graphics is visually fantastic, but not as jaw-droppingly incredible as the graphics on WFC/FOC. But again, this is a deliberate aesthetic style which makes you feel like you're in the G1 cartoon, and it does succeed in doing this. Devastation really does draw on the lighter, brighter and simpler world of the G1 cartoon series -- so if you're a fan of the G1 show, you're going to love the visual style of this game.

I like how the game quickly allows you to switch between characters too, so that you don't stagnate for too long as the same character and grow sick of them (again, cos it takes someone like me so long to get through stuff ). The attacks are very much like a typical Japanese arcade game like Street Fighter, only that it incorporates the vehicle mode as a special attack. Sideswipe's vehicle attack is actually a 'jackknife' similar to Guile's somersault kick! This and other features in the game really do encourage the player to mix in robot and vehicle mode constantly throughout play, which I think is excellent. In other TF games, I feel that I sometimes spend too long without transforming, or rather, I only transform between modes when I want to use specific features from them. Here, you can quickly "jump" to robot mode while driving in order t dodge obstacles, or quickly convert to vehicle mode to assist in your robot attack or to perform a ground slam. I really do appreciate how this element of the game play helps to reinforce to players that these are Transformers. We're not just playing with a bunch of robots or cars who may transform once in a while -- they are regularly switching between car and robot! And I suspect that there may be more to this story than meets the eye. I've already been underground where they've noticed a different smaller caste of Insecticons. Intriguing!

I'm glad that Megatron is a tank, similar to his Combiner Wars toy. Cos he'd be a really lame game boss if he were just a small gun, unless there were another Decepticon to hold him and... nah, the tank is much more menacing/challenging as a boss character in his own right.

The only other gripe I have so far is that some of the environments can get repetitive at times, making it easier to get lost in the city. Although this is reminiscent of the 'repeating backgrounds' that we so often see in the G1 cartoon.

A few 'Easter Eggs' that I've noticed so far:
* Some of the cars look like they're from the 80s. Could it be that this game is actually set in 1985?
* KREMZEEK!

But the one thing that I truly love about this game is how the screen characters look like the toys! This game makes really want to play with my toys! And indeed, after my first try, I just had to shut down my game so that I could do exactly that! I'm really loving how this game complements the toys so well. Even the Battlechargers are kinda Bumblebee-esque and the Seekers resemble the CHUGUR Seekers, most noticeably on the missile launchers. It's as if the game developers are dropping a less than subtle hint for Hasbro to retool these existing moulds in order to release them as toys.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I'm going to hold off voting in the poll until I complete the game. I am up to chasing Megatron who has taken off in the back of Long Haul. Currently I am enjoying it though it's a tad hectic for my tastes, not that much of a gamer these days.

I will give a MASSIVE positive to this game though - my young lad LOVES watching me play it! I thought I would only get to play it after he goes to bed. I thought he would yell because I switched off his cartoons, or would be trying to drag me outside or would keep trying to grab the controller. Nope - he plunked himself in my lap in the beanbag - yelled "Yay - Transformers!" and proceeded to watch away, with the odd exclaimation of "Car! Dinosaur! Robot! Hi Bumblebee!".

This gives the game a big tick from me!

[kup]

Although the visuals are awesome and chances are that I will buy this game, my concerns about it appear to have been warranted. This is just a button mashing japanese bet'emup game where you run around pressing buttons that do flashy moves then it's 'rinse and repeat' for the next level.

I am dissapointed as I would have wanting something more epic but to each their own.

[FruitBuyer]

Although the visuals are awesome and chances are that I will buy this game, my concerns about it appear to have been warranted. This is just a button mashing japanese bet'emup game where you run around pressing buttons that do flashy moves then it's 'rinse and repeat' for the next level.

I am dissapointed as I would have wanting something more epic but to each their own.

You really live up to your avatar's old-timer thinking and ignorance. You probably think games like Street Fight is just 'button-mashing' as well.

[CBratron]

But the one thing that I truly love about this game is how the screen characters look like the toys! This game makes really want to play with my toys! And indeed, after my first try, I just had to shut down my game so that I could do exactly that! I'm really loving how this game complements the toys so well. Even the Battlechargers are kinda Bumblebee-esque and the Seekers resemble the CHUGUR Seekers, most noticeably on the missile launchers. It's as if the game developers are dropping a less than subtle hint for Hasbro to retool these existing moulds in order to release them as toys.

I might just steal that idea for a few custom jobs.

[kup]

You really live up to your avatar's old-timer thinking and ignorance. You probably think games like Street Fight is just 'button-mashing' as well.

You are calling me ignorant about games? You are the one comfusing a fighting game to a beat'em up

[FruitBuyer]

That's not the point I'm making with my analogy at all.

[kup]

That's not the point I'm making with my analogy at all.

Well I just showed you that I clearly know the difference so what's your point?

[primetime]

This is just a button mashing japanese bet'emup game where you run around pressing buttons that do flashy moves then it's 'rinse and repeat' for the next level.

I'm with Kup - I came to the same conclusion within just a few minutes of playing the game. This game is definitely NOT in the same league as the previous War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron!

Ah well too bad at least we get a G1 Transformers game on PC in these modern times anyway ...