GAME review - Devastation

[BigTransformerTrev]

That show is still going

I don't watch it anymore but yeah. Here is their review of TF Devastation http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/vi...30.xml&item=02

For a game they seem to love they only gave it slightly above average scores

[griffin]

I caught the last five minutes of the show last night and they made a mention of the game, so I had guessed that they might have reviewed it.
I was trying to see if they had a repeat in the next day but couldn't find anything, so I'll just watch Trev's link.

[griffin]

Posts about Vintage/retro games consoles and computers have been moved to here.

[doublespy]

Came across this combo video. It's nice to see people coming up with decent combos.

[griffin]

I finished the game tonight (yeah... it took a while), after doing a chapter at a time every so often.
It certainly felt quicker than previous Transformers games, but not quick enough to feel cheated at paying forty-something dollars for it. And there are still the individual missions and replaying sections I rushed or skipped, still to do, so still plenty of play time left in it.

I played it on the easy setting first, to get a more fun initial run-through, and will try harder settings later to see just how hard it can be.

I found that it took until about the 3rd chapter for it to get interesting enough to want to keep playing it through to see where the story goes, so it was a bit "slow" to captivate me. Which I think was because the cannon fodder Decepticons in the first couple of chapters were not existing Gen1 characters. They look Gen1-ish, but it isn't until the Insecticons become the cannon-fodder opponents a few chapters in, that I really got drawn into it completely.

I liked the game, but felt it wanted you to rely on melee fighting... even though I found it a lot easier to take down most of the bosses and opponents with the sniper rifle and other guns when that one ran out of ammo. You basically start the game with a gun that has like 5 rounds, and it takes a couple of chapters to acquire decent weapons, forcing you to get into the habit of melee combat and not instinctively reach for your gun.
I think Devastator & Menasor were the only bosses I took out with melee attacks.
I'm more of a fan of shooting games, particularly for Transformers, who are supposed to be an advanced alien race who are known for their powerful weapons... why would they resort to close quarter contact and risk being blasted by their opponent.

I thought it was awesome that Rumble was the red one, just like the original toy that the Gen1 cartoon was supposed to be based on, but mistakenly got the colours mixed up with Frenzy. I saw on the credits that most of the creators behind the game were Japanese, and the Japanese market followed the original toy colours (only the recent Hasbro toy designers have been giving us blue Rumble to match the Gen1 cartoon).
I saw that the plot of the game was written by veteran Transformers writer Andy Schmit, but Hasbro America must have done the final approval, allowing Rumble to be red again.

Fingers crossed that there is another one.
At least all but Devastator & Menasor are still likely to be alive, as no one seemed to stay down after they were defeated, but those two combiners fell off the platform and there was a big explosion... which probably means they are still alive as well, as you don't see them exploding or dying.

As a fan, I give it about 8 out of 10.... but if I wasn't a fan I'd probably only give it a 6.

[CBratron]

One thing to realise about Platinum Games games is that they are time attack games where the WFC/FOC are narrative sagas. Devastation is meant to be played quickly and multiple times, improving your score with bigger combos and shorter completion times.

[griffin]

The trophies suck.
I think it was chapter 5 of the 7 chapters before I got my first trophy, and then got 2 or 3 when I finished the game.

There's about 30 trophies for this game, and other games have given me at least half of the non-multiplayer trophies during the first complete (non-multiplayer) play through it. And I like the reward of the occasional trophy popping up on the screen, and seeing the total number grow as you go through the game... it's another incentive to keep playing the game.
I'm just not excited about being forced to replay the entire game several times just to increase the number of trophies in the account... it reminds me of the game Shadows of the Colossus (I haven't played it, but read up that you have to play it about 8 times to get all the trophies).

[5FDP]

Reading all the reviews is making me want to play this. Only 5 weeks 'till Xmas (yep, I'm a big kid )

[DaptoDog]

Reading all the reviews is making me want to play this. Only 5 weeks 'till Xmas (yep, I'm a big kid )

Yeh I couldn't wait till Christmas so picked it up early. You won't be disappointed.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I liked the game, but felt it wanted you to rely on melee fighting... even though I found it a lot easier to take down most of the bosses and opponents with the sniper rifle and other guns when that one ran out of ammo. You basically start the game with a gun that has like 5 rounds, and it takes a couple of chapters to acquire decent weapons, forcing you to get into the habit of melee combat and not instinctively reach for your gun.
I think Devastator & Menasor were the only bosses I took out with melee attacks.
I'm more of a fan of shooting games, particularly for Transformers, who are supposed to be an advanced alien race who are known for their powerful weapons... why would they resort to close quarter contact and risk being blasted by their opponent.

It's part of the reason I actually like this game. While I don't like it as much as WFC/FOC I think it's a change of pace and it's interesting to do the TF's as a mellee game. And I'm finding on my 3rd runthrough I'm using more involved combos which is unleashing moves I didn't even know I had before! It's not the same old same old.

I played it on the easy setting first, to get a more fun initial run-through, and will try harder settings later to see just how hard it can be.

One of the criticisms of the game is that easy is too easy and medium and hard are way too hard. I polished off Megs at the end of the game without even paying attention on easy, when I fought him on medium I used up every health pack I had and only barely scraped through. Right now I'm playing on hard and I've had to use a half-energy pack on each fight when fighting the Constructicon pairs because my hardest hitting combos do negligible damage yet if I get a single kick in the guts from Bonecrusher it takes off a 3rd of my energy

I'm mainly still playing just because my son loves to watch me play and nags me to do so so he can sit in my lap and pick the characters. In fact he likes watching me play the game more than watching TF cartoons!