Transformers: Devastation Review

I’ve never played a Transformers game before, so I didn’t know what to expect when I started Transformers: Devastation. The last game I played that was similar to this one was Beast Wars on the PlayStation 1. That game wasn’t excellent, even though I loved that TV series as a child. In recent years, I’ve been interested in the Transformers games that have been coming out, but I never got to try any of them, so I didn’t know what to expect coming into this one. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found, even if it was repetitive.

Just Like The Animated Series

Transformers: Devastation is a fresh take on the 80s cartoon series and movie. I felt like I was playing out the cartoon as I started to go through the game. Devastation throws you into action with a big battle against the gigantic Devastator. The biggest positive that Transformers: Devastation has going for it is the presentation aspect. The cell-shaded graphics bring you back to the 80s, and the effects bring everything together. Although the Transformers look spectacular, the settings leave much to be desired. It gets to the point where you wouldn’t know one spot from another if you didn’t have a mini-map. Seeing how much the game world was neglected, despite the characters and cars looking so vibrant and colorful, disappointed me. There were far too many duplicate areas for a game this size.

Combat

The combat system is straightforward: four weapon slots, a block button, and two melee buttons (quick and power). A special button is also built up with special attacks against enemies, and a vehicle attack is available after several successive strikes. I had an easy enough time figuring out the best strategies to defeat my various foes. The key was using various combos and strikes to throw off your enemy. The bosses and even regular enemies are no slouches and prove difficult if you don’t use all of your moves and weapons effectively. You’ll be defeated quickly if you try to go in with an all-offense mentality.

Weapon Upgrades

Platinum Games decided to put a weapon upgrade system in Devastation to create some variety in the battles and give players a way to get an edge over the enemies. Usually, I would enjoy an upgrade system, but I didn’t feel like the weapons were as diverse as they could be. At one point, I had six steel swords that were generally the same, except some were at higher levels than others. On the other hand, they did incorporate elemental effects into some of the weapons, with features like fire and lightning making each weapon more punishing than its original form. Tech is another valuable addition to the game; however, it’s somewhat random based on what you acquire. You will randomly find and obtain different buffs for different abilities. Sometimes, you’ll get a 100% boost for defense; other times, you’ll get a 30% boost for item drops. It’s a random system that would be better if there were more rhyme or reason to what you get. You can buy weapons and tech, making strategizing much more manageable, so it’s not all that bad.

Gameplay

In any mission, you can use any of the five playable Autobots (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Sideswipe, and Wheeljack). These Autobots possess unique abilities, moves, and specialties that distinguish them. Bumblebee is a speedier bot, but he’s not as powerful as, say, Optimus, who is the opposite. Each character is original enough to make it worthwhile to play with to see how the experience changes. Each character can switch from vehicle to bot form seamlessly, and it’s entertaining to watch them drive into a Decepticon, morph into a bot, and start battling immediately, all in one fell swoop. The driving missions were somewhat tedious to complete. I overtook the boss countless times and started getting confused about where he was because he’d take a different route or be so much slower that I’d have to return to attack him.

Final Thoughts

Transformers: Devastation is a great game that could have been an incredible game with a bit more polish. The presentation, from the character models to the original voice actors reprising their roles, brought this game together. The game loses points for its lifeless game world, which appears to have been created by repeatedly clicking ‘copy and paste’. Devastation is a great starting point for what could be a brand-new series of Transformers games from Activision.