jbellanca wrote:I gotta say that I completely 100^ disagree with this assessment of the game. I loved it. It's the exact same gameplay as War for Cybertron - built on the same game engine in fact, with new character models and levels but the backend's the same. If you liked WFC, you'll like DOTM. Personally, I really, really enjoyed it. Just finished it last night and got into the multiplayer a bit, which I'll probably keep playing. Going to go back to try to get all the trophies next (got the PS3 version). I definitely recommend it for any TF fan who has a PS3 or 360. Also gives a very good background story that leads right into the movie, including introducing Shockwave. If you're still not sure, go rent it from Redbox for a day and check it out - I bet you'll be hooked. I didn't have any of the issues the author had with it being awkward to find cover behind something and shooting from there... not as elegant as how Uncharted did it, but it's effective. Depending on the weapon you're using you can use the scope to zoom in for further away shots. All in all, I thought it was a really fun game. Also, I rarely used the Stealth Force mode (vehicle mode) - only when I absolutely had to - I used robot mode for 99% of the game - didn't find it sluggish or hard to control at all - actually found it to be much easier to use robot mode than stealth force. My single, only complaint about the game (lots of complaints about the review - finish the game first and rate it compared to others in its class), is in multiplayer - when playing multiplayer as an Autobot, the team death match is sometimes skewed to the Decepticons too much when there's a lot of Decepticon Seekers playing - they tend to fly around in jet mode and overpower everyone else... but that's a minor complaint.
D-340 wrote:I shared my thoughts on the game in an earlier thread, so I'm not gonna go too in depth here. You do have to finish the game here though, basing a review on the first level isn't really fair. It's a decent game, thought the campaign is WAY too short. Online is fun, though I really wish there was an Escalation mode and some co-op. The modes though are definitely more balanced than you're saying though, yeah stealth mode is probably the easiest mode to fall back on, but it's not as precise as robot mode. And try outrunning the erupting volcano in any other of Soundwave's modes but vehicle mode, it can't be done(I tried). I will say that DOTM shoulda came before WFC, as WFC just seems like it is far superior to DOTM. But hopefully some dlc comes down the pike and brings it up to par with it.
FflawSuperior wrote:I have to agree with the review, but in a different way, and disagree strongly with anyone who thinks DOTM was like WFC, or anywhere near as good. It used the same Engine, and vaguely uses similar things, but WFC and DOTM are night and day when you get down to actual gameplay, and the nuts and bolts of everything. WFC being the victor, and the far superior game in pretty much every way.
The DOTM menu's from the get-go are sticky and stuttery - There's little to no fluidity to them, when you click something: it should go. With DOTM menu's, they don't. You have to stop and wait for everything to rez, or click something a couple times until it goes.
The load screens are just as long as WFC, despite being a significantly smaller everything. Smaller maps, smaller levels, lesser graphics, etc. I don't have any issue with a load screen that's only like 10-20 seconds, but when you get unrezzed textures and tiny levels? Not worth it.
The two Jet options are awful. Flying is extremely slow and really screwy controls that don't work anywhere near as well as WFC.
Character movement speed is cut in two - Falsely extending the length of the game by who know's how long - The actual story mode is only 3-4 hours worth of gameplay. And you can max out all your characters in multiplayer in another 3-4 hours easily.
Character variety is nil. And no initial DLC either, so you're stuck with (more or less) one option per class per side. Even WFC gave like 2 options per class, but DOTM throws those models out the window and leaves you with one.
The HUD is ruined. You can't see it half the time, and abilities take 30-120 seconds to be useable - Which is nearly impossible in Multiplayer for most people. The HUD doesn't make much sense either, and the way it's so tiny and out of the way is eye-straining and irritating.
Movement speed, aarrrg @_x All modes are slow as heck for almost every class, except warrior? The giant tank moves REALLY fast, for some reason. Jets are the slowest to move, for some reason.
The weapons suck now. They're all weakened, and horribly inaccurate now. The crosshairs are inaccurate as well, they don't reflect the actual shooting at all.
Weapon-specific weaponry is bull, and character-specific abilities are stupid, when you give nearly no options for character variety. You can't pick up weapons, so you're stuck with one specific weapon for every character, and can't change that main weapon - Only the secondary, but those options are just as bad. Soundwave's soundgun thing does almost no damage, starscream's generic rocket launcher is barely worthwhile.
The "upgrade" system was dumbed down completely to the point it doesn't even make sense. Your FIRST upgrade is "Roll out" which increases Ram damage...This is your first option when you are A JET. Jet's DON'T DO DAMAGE when ramming AT ALL. WFC you had class-specific abilities, but apparently that was "too complex" so we're going to give everyone generic upgrades that barely help? Anyone can get a character to max level in an hour easily, so they're even more meaningless.
DOTM has degraded graphics, noticeable amount of buggy things, a weak and insultingly short campaign, compacted with a dumbed-down multiplayer mode that lacks fun or intensity. The transformations are sluggish, action is stiff and confusing (giving no sense of impact when you attack), and weapons are boring/lowered in damage.
Movement is very slow, which drags the whole game down, and combined with the poorly constructed HUD.
Tiny maps with lots of high places that are often ground-floor, but too high for any character to jump on, leaving almost everyone stuck on the ground. The maps are also boring and not rounded out fairly for both sides. You also can't double jump, which is an important factor when you realize you don't have it
I'd give DOTM a 4 or 5 out of 10, at best. Nothing is satisfactory, no sense of accomplishment, or "umf" to it. It doesn't feel all that polished. The whole package poorly structured - Yet it still costs 60$ when it's barely 30$ worth of gameplay/value.
MINDVVIPE wrote:Well, the campaign was definitely not somthing I'd bother ever playing again. The multiplayer is still fun though, and changing between all 3 forms definitely matters in multipalyer mode.
Sparkstalker wrote:I've been looking for somewhere to vent my Transformer game frustrations and here looks as good as anywhere.
Now I'm no game developer or professional tester but I can give you a perspective from a successful gamer and big TF fan. I'm sick of reading reviews and opinions from people who don't know what they are talking about because they are children or have hardly played the game!
To give you my background I'm third overall on both ROTF and DOTM ( PS3 ) which means I should know something. I also play on a 60" so if something is going on in the graphics department I can't miss it even if I try.
That out the way let clear up some of these misconceptions.
ROTF has much higher character detailing, WFC,DOTM have much more graphically intensive levels/maps. I assume this is why WFC and DOTM need 5 and 4 install gigs respectively, where as ROTF only needs 51MB?
One stand out difference between the Luxoflux and High Moon games is ROTF seems to have RAM to play with so we got characters with smoke and sparks coming out of them when they were damaged and highly interactive environments, ( anyone remember trying to walk in Sandstorm map at the beginning of a game, having to force your way through all the telegraph poles and assorted items on the ground?)
The High Moon games seem to spend all their RAM on rendering the environments which means nothing left over for interaction and slow down when to much is going on.
What I think High Moon did with DOTM was take WFC and rewrite part of it to allow for the pure vehicular mode which unfortunately seems to have made the whole game highly unstable. Crashes in game but most of the time mine crashes in or between menus. Gameplay wise its a bit more balanced then WFC( scout is now the fav instead of leader) but the game crashes ALMOST EVERY HOUR.
On top of that, connection issues between players can manifest themselves in game in a variety of amusing and non-amusing ways. I once spawned at the beginning of a match as a hunter stuck in hover/robot mode ground level, no weapons, can't transform but had infinite grenades!
I don't know how the two games ( ROTF, DOTM ) netcodes differ but you would very rarely encounter players in ROTF with lag and if you did it was normally because they were doing it on purpose and it would just be the usual disappear, reappear as they moved but in WFC and DOTM lag makes the game fall apart for some reason.
Gearbox recently stated they were originally trying to use the Unreal engine for the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines but ditched it as they said it just didn't cut it in this day and age. So basically DOTM runs on a dodgy version of a game engine that is no longer considered good enough by other companies.
Now you can't fully blame High Moon, I believe full blame lies with Activision, here's why. My friend read out to me over PSN a corporate message from Activision which stated that the TF games to follow ROTF were to be made to be more easily played and accessible to the masses, ( read simpler ). So thats what we got. Games that are aimed at kiddies and those who can't tell the difference between a good game and a bad one.
It is nothing short of offensive the difference in game size, re playability and complexity between ROTF and DOTM.
But I'm sure its all a deliberate part of their corporate plan to put TF's in the same money making one a year COD formula and to make games that people bore of easily so they rush out to buy the next one hoping it will be better.
I see they are releasing DOTM DLC, but no patch to fix basic things like Starscreams weapon glitch and the fact that I can only get on the servers if I sign out of psn, load the game then sign on. DOTM and WFC are the only games that dick me round like this. WFC didn't start off like that but somewhere along its history I started not being able to get on the WFC servers unless I signed off, gave it a minute then signed on again. I thought games had to meet Sonys quality control before they could be released? Someone is not doing their job. I won't be buying another game from High Moon and I may well tell Activision to kiss my ass if they don't fix their mess.
but the actual substance of the game dynamics were pretty lackluster.
Sparkstalker wrote:but the actual substance of the game dynamics were pretty lackluster.
How do you figure that? The actual gameplay substance is much more complex then DOTM and more then most people ever get around to mastering. eg
DOTM= 1 type of melee, single hit.
ROTF= 3 types of melee, single hit, 3 hit combo and charged up melee
Advanced melee equals 4, plus ground pound which you can do from vehicle mode or
robot gives a grand total of 6 melee options.
That is the tip of the iceberg. No offence but you clearly don't know what your talking about. In fact the opposite is true. "Substance of game dynamics" is exactly what ROTF has over DOTM, WFC.
ROTF is a fine swiss watch wrapped in a brown paper bag, where as DOTM is your polished turd. Looks good (if your standing still) but underneath is a dumbed down, simple game that can't even do that properly. Its a bit of fun but doesn't make up for what its lacking.
DOTM and WFC have little depth in gameplay (at least WFC is stable), hence why they have given you levels to go up, to give you a reason to play, then a reason to stop playing when you max out. Back in the day we would play video games because they were fun not for false rewards. They are basically drip feeding you a game that is still smaller in every aspect even when you max out. Wake up and smell the coffee.
I watched 99% of ROTF players come and go without working out how to play anything but the cheapest of characters, (Prime, Flight Meg, Jazz) because with those characters there is nothing to work out. You just stand and shoot. I think alot of people really didn't figure on the game having much depth, (or they are just stupid) so they didn't look, hence they didn't see. Still to this day I'm the only one I've seen to work out how to play Soundwave and Powered up Prime properly and there is still room for improvement in my game. That aint right! Thats not the fault of the game, its the fault of the snail brain masses that decided to walk a easier path.
I guess games with replayability are wasted these days since people don't seem to have any attention span or the smarts to see whats right in front of them.
As a heavy gamer, TF fan, and someone whos actually given both games a chance I can safely say that DOTM can only be recommended to casual gamers and children. Where as with ROTF's single player campaign leaderboards and complex multiplayer you could live on it for many years and still be able to to improve how well you play. More options then most peoples brains can comprehend which equals a game that will stand the test of time.
In fact I would be willing to bet there are still more people in ROTF multiplayer then WFC.
I've had my fill of DOTM, not prepared to risk an epileptic attack trying to watch that glitchy rubbish anymore, not to mention the fear that the constant crashing will one day brick my system. After a many hour gaming session on DOTM with Starscream I felt physically sick/nausious from the jerky graphics. I have logged over 900hrs on Revenge and have never experienced any side effects.
One difference between the games is ROTF is more about how well you can aim. Where as in DOTM aiming has only a very small part to play in your success. Auto aim and all, a blind man could score in DOTM. People don't like to lose. Thats going to earn DOTM brownie points in alot of peoples books. A game they can't miss in. Doesn't make it a good game just means the game companies are pandering to masses of spoilt little brats who can't handle losing. Why do you think DOTM suffers from 'host migration'? It's not accidental. It's so those who can't handle losing can quit out and reshuffle the players until they have shed players challenging/beating them ( people like me! ) Like I said its geared towards little kids.
I really wish I could get in contact with someone who was involved with making the ROTF game, I wanna shake their hands! How many employees of Luxoflux were re-employed within Activision? There must be someone out there!
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