Game Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon PS3

Following last year's top Transformers game this time around they just do not hit the same overall gaming quality and intense action that would have made Dark of the Moon a better than average offering.

Ratings:

Graphics & Audio: 17/25,

Gameplay: 14/25,

Creativity 14/25,

Fun 14/25

Total: 59/100

Average is a subjective and personal opinion when it comes to rating products or video games, for many a decent enough or average rating may not be fifty percent. I feel for a rating system average or good enough to be enjoyed and played more than once for films and games is around 60 to 70 percent.

When you take into account things like graphics, video and audio quality you add to a score without really ensuring the product is good enough to be enjoyed and played over and over again. So when I give a product an average score of fifty according to a zero to 100 percent rating that is not your average decent or good product.

A decent product is more the 60 to 70 percent and when things get pretty good or better a recommendation becomes a given, but not here and not for this round of Transformers releases. Transformers Dark of the Moon on the PS3 is just an average game no matter how you rate things and the only redeeming value beyond the same old gameplay is the better graphics and possibly the new character mode.

In Transformers: Dark of the Moon we have the usual good guys, Autobots, versus bad guys, Decepticons, starting with Bumblebee scouting out the bad guys. You play fairly faithfully to the movie's plot fighting the same type of fight all the transformers games have had but with variations that alter this game.

You have three modes for each character with the best being the new one, Stealth Force, while Robot and vehicle mode are the more familiar gameplay styles. Stealth varies from vehicle with weapons protruding from your vehicle in Stealth Force mode for a much more powerful vehicle form.

You literally have guns and rockets jutting out from various points of your vehicle whether it's an airplane, helicopter or more land bound vehicle. Stealth Force is also the most deadly and defensible form so most of your gaming will be using this mode with you jumping to others at times only to perform specific objectives.

While I like the mode it does have its drawbacks and making one mode more powerful than others makes the game tilted toward one mode and gameplay style. You use the Stealth mode much more often which takes away from the other game modes and the general gameplay overall.

The plot of the game follows the film, Autobots are trying to stop a new attack against Earth with the Autobots first searching out the bad guys. The plot for both the game and movie is pretty much a no brainer, Transformers seems to have run out of innovative story lines other than good guy versus bad guy with some outstanding visuals.

While the plot is unimaginative the gameplay follows along this line even with a slightly new mode for each character using familiar events throughout the game. You start as Bumblebee and unlock more characters to fight with in the third person action game that feels walled in most of the time.

Levels are smaller for the most part than War for Cybertron was but even the wide open areas you need to traverse are closed in with walls of some sort. You have three familiar gameplay moments that repeat throughout the levels, your general fight a few enemies, waves of enemies and a boss fight at the end of levels.

Each level repeats this familiar recipe again and again for a too familiar style that does get boring quickly even with a new mode and some decent graphics. The games graphics and audio are good with the effects and lighting being worthy of note but audio is pretty common place for this game type.

There are two modes of gameplay with an online multiplayer along with the single player campaign but finding others interested enough will be a challenge. The online multiplayer is the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch and conquest gameplay modes that are very familiar and is probably the only shining moment in Dark of the Moon.

The multiplayer is about the same as the previous games but with the added Stealth Force mode that is the usual mode you play in unless you want to do a little evasive tactics to move where the Stealth mode cannot. The Multiplayer is pretty good but again in a been there done that way so the game does not make a very good one overall.

Actors from the film provide their voice talents but the games graphics and especially some new lighting and great animation effects for the robots make the game good looking. The audio is your standard voice clips and canned sentences at the appropriate moments along with cut scene intermissions to help the story along.

Value will depend on how long you can put up with the repetitive gameplay and if you enjoy the multiplayer routine but even then the game is a bit too familiar. Dark of the Moon is way too mediocre to count as a purchase and a rental is for those who are fans of the franchise.

Overall Transformers Dark of the Moon for the PS3 is alright but not imaginative or unique enough to stand out from a crowd of similar third person action games even if you enjoy the robot themed films and games of the past. Dark of the Moon takes average to a familiar level with a game that plays very much like the previous game even with some not so subtle improvments.

Transformers Dark of the Moon Website

High Moon Studios Website