The 5 Transformers Games To Play Before Devastation's Release
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 1:53 pm
There's a long history of Transformers video games, and with the upcoming release of Transformers: Devastation from Activision and development team Platinum Games, we wanted to take a look back at some of the games you should play if you're wanting a Transformers fix on your console right now. The rankings here are mostly just my own opinion, of course, but there is some extra input from other members of the staff here as well. If your favorite didn't make the list, let us know by replying to this topic and chatting with your fellow Seibertronians!
Without further adieu, let's get to the list.
Some folks may be surprised to see a movie tie-in title on this list at all. With the first two movie tie-in games for 2007's Transformers and 2009's Revenge of the Fallen being not terrible, but also not great, it made sense that not a lot of fans gave this game much of a look. While it was certainly a bit of a let down after War for Cybertron, this effort from High Moon Studios still retained a lot of the fun gameplay elements found in WFC.
Transformation remained important in this game, as characters' vehicle modes were given special "Stealth Force" modes to tie in with the weaponized designs in the movie, as well as with the almost M.A.S.K. like toy sub-line of the same name.
The story presented in the game is a bit of a departure from standard movie game re-telling fare. Rather than give you a plot you already know, this serves as a very serviceable official prologue to the events of the movie. In fact, some elements of the movie itself manage to come off making more sense after playing the game.
While this one isn't going to garner a lot of replay, it's worth taking a look at if you're a fan of the movies. It's certainly the game on this list that likely least deserves inclusion, but hey, that's why it's number five!
Another easy to overlook media tie in comes in at number 4. Transformers: Prime has a pretty vast extended universe, and this game only adds more layers to it. Featuring a story that runs (supposedly) concurrent to the events of Season 2 of the show, the game has Team Prime battling Decepticons across the globe, trying to stop the ever-present menace of Dark Energon.
The gameplay itself isn't on any elite level, but it's a pretty fun romp with some clever combat mechanisms hiding just under the surface. The game isn't a graphical powerhouse, but the Wii U version offers up some delightful visuals regardless and quite honestly, the backgrounds in this game are often more interesting and alive than many of those found in the TV show itself.
To be honest, this one really adds one killer thing to the Prime universe: Thunderwing.
Just as with television leaving out the great characters and events in the Prime comics, it also leaves out any mention of this guy, and that's a real shame. Prime fans everywhere should give this one a run through, though with a pretty short story mode and only limited multi-player, just don't expect it to last long.
2010's War for Cybertron was High Moon Studios' first effort with the Transformers brand license, and what a debut it was! Kicking off the new "Aligned Continuity" with a story set at the beginning of the Autobot vs. Decepticon war was this robust cover shooter. Incredible visuals, great voice acting, and a rich story awaited players everywhere.
Possibly the most notable contribution the game gave to the brand was a re-kindling of credibility for Transformers, as a franchise/brand, to produce an environment for great gaming experiences. The sprawling landscapes of Cybertron really come to life in the game, and for the first time I felt some real scope in regards to just how darn big this planet would have to be. The tone hits perfectly, lending great immersion into the games world.
It's hard to come up with much negative to say about this one, but since that feels necessary to only place it third on our list, I will say that there are times the difficulty felt a bit high. That's not a bad thing necessarily, it just felt like there were a few too many ambushes by a few too many enemies once in a while. The sequel took a few steps to correct this, but not entirely.
That said, this is one that not only Transformers fans, but most gamers, should give a go at if it has not been experienced.
It'd have to take a pretty special game to unseat one of High Moon's more recent two headlining efforts on this list, and there is one game that not only myself, but much of the staff, remember quite fondly. 2004's simply named Transformers is based in the Armada franchise, though it doesn't canonically tie in with either the TV show or comic series. From publisher Atari and developers Melbourne House, this third person shooter let gamers control their favorite Armada Autobots in a quest to collect Mini-cons and stop the Decepticons.
This game was hard, didn't have a lot of playable characters, and while the graphics were phenomenal for the time, they certainly look dated today. It was, however, extremely fun, and gave fans some moments where our toys suddenly seemed even more out of scale than they already were.
There's another very important reason to praise this game. At the time, Transformers videogames were considered to be among the very worst examples of franchise tie-in games ever. The positive reception and sales of this game made it possible for more to follow later on, and that's probably the biggest accomplishment of the game. Too bad the Cybertron inspired sequel got canceled.
This one's pretty much automatic.
The sequel to the already great War for Cybertron was followed up two years later by another stellar effort from High Moon Studios with 2012's Fall of Cybertron. Picking up some time after the events of the first game, this one follows the end of the war all the way to the departure of the Autobots on the Ark.
With improved graphics, stellar gameplay, and a multiplayer mode that remains active to this day, Fall of Cybertron is hands down the best Transformers videogame ever created, and should be on any fans "must-play" list. I can watch the E3 trailer from before this games' release and still get hyped to this day.
Combine into Bruticus, stomp around as Grimlock, or scorch the earth with Metroplex - this game has it all. If you're reading this article and you haven't played this game, do yourself a favor and go do so. Right freaking now.
We hope you enjoyed this look back. Don't forget that Activision's Transformers: Devastation comes out soon on October 6th for virtually every platform on the planet, and you can pre-order your copy today. Where will that game fit in with the other Transformers gaming efforts of the past? We'll know very soon, and it certainly looks quite promising!
Without further adieu, let's get to the list.
Some folks may be surprised to see a movie tie-in title on this list at all. With the first two movie tie-in games for 2007's Transformers and 2009's Revenge of the Fallen being not terrible, but also not great, it made sense that not a lot of fans gave this game much of a look. While it was certainly a bit of a let down after War for Cybertron, this effort from High Moon Studios still retained a lot of the fun gameplay elements found in WFC.
Transformation remained important in this game, as characters' vehicle modes were given special "Stealth Force" modes to tie in with the weaponized designs in the movie, as well as with the almost M.A.S.K. like toy sub-line of the same name.
The story presented in the game is a bit of a departure from standard movie game re-telling fare. Rather than give you a plot you already know, this serves as a very serviceable official prologue to the events of the movie. In fact, some elements of the movie itself manage to come off making more sense after playing the game.
While this one isn't going to garner a lot of replay, it's worth taking a look at if you're a fan of the movies. It's certainly the game on this list that likely least deserves inclusion, but hey, that's why it's number five!
Another easy to overlook media tie in comes in at number 4. Transformers: Prime has a pretty vast extended universe, and this game only adds more layers to it. Featuring a story that runs (supposedly) concurrent to the events of Season 2 of the show, the game has Team Prime battling Decepticons across the globe, trying to stop the ever-present menace of Dark Energon.
The gameplay itself isn't on any elite level, but it's a pretty fun romp with some clever combat mechanisms hiding just under the surface. The game isn't a graphical powerhouse, but the Wii U version offers up some delightful visuals regardless and quite honestly, the backgrounds in this game are often more interesting and alive than many of those found in the TV show itself.
To be honest, this one really adds one killer thing to the Prime universe: Thunderwing.
Just as with television leaving out the great characters and events in the Prime comics, it also leaves out any mention of this guy, and that's a real shame. Prime fans everywhere should give this one a run through, though with a pretty short story mode and only limited multi-player, just don't expect it to last long.
2010's War for Cybertron was High Moon Studios' first effort with the Transformers brand license, and what a debut it was! Kicking off the new "Aligned Continuity" with a story set at the beginning of the Autobot vs. Decepticon war was this robust cover shooter. Incredible visuals, great voice acting, and a rich story awaited players everywhere.
Possibly the most notable contribution the game gave to the brand was a re-kindling of credibility for Transformers, as a franchise/brand, to produce an environment for great gaming experiences. The sprawling landscapes of Cybertron really come to life in the game, and for the first time I felt some real scope in regards to just how darn big this planet would have to be. The tone hits perfectly, lending great immersion into the games world.
It's hard to come up with much negative to say about this one, but since that feels necessary to only place it third on our list, I will say that there are times the difficulty felt a bit high. That's not a bad thing necessarily, it just felt like there were a few too many ambushes by a few too many enemies once in a while. The sequel took a few steps to correct this, but not entirely.
That said, this is one that not only Transformers fans, but most gamers, should give a go at if it has not been experienced.
It'd have to take a pretty special game to unseat one of High Moon's more recent two headlining efforts on this list, and there is one game that not only myself, but much of the staff, remember quite fondly. 2004's simply named Transformers is based in the Armada franchise, though it doesn't canonically tie in with either the TV show or comic series. From publisher Atari and developers Melbourne House, this third person shooter let gamers control their favorite Armada Autobots in a quest to collect Mini-cons and stop the Decepticons.
This game was hard, didn't have a lot of playable characters, and while the graphics were phenomenal for the time, they certainly look dated today. It was, however, extremely fun, and gave fans some moments where our toys suddenly seemed even more out of scale than they already were.
There's another very important reason to praise this game. At the time, Transformers videogames were considered to be among the very worst examples of franchise tie-in games ever. The positive reception and sales of this game made it possible for more to follow later on, and that's probably the biggest accomplishment of the game. Too bad the Cybertron inspired sequel got canceled.
This one's pretty much automatic.
The sequel to the already great War for Cybertron was followed up two years later by another stellar effort from High Moon Studios with 2012's Fall of Cybertron. Picking up some time after the events of the first game, this one follows the end of the war all the way to the departure of the Autobots on the Ark.
With improved graphics, stellar gameplay, and a multiplayer mode that remains active to this day, Fall of Cybertron is hands down the best Transformers videogame ever created, and should be on any fans "must-play" list. I can watch the E3 trailer from before this games' release and still get hyped to this day.
Combine into Bruticus, stomp around as Grimlock, or scorch the earth with Metroplex - this game has it all. If you're reading this article and you haven't played this game, do yourself a favor and go do so. Right freaking now.
We hope you enjoyed this look back. Don't forget that Activision's Transformers: Devastation comes out soon on October 6th for virtually every platform on the planet, and you can pre-order your copy today. Where will that game fit in with the other Transformers gaming efforts of the past? We'll know very soon, and it certainly looks quite promising!