So it’s been a few months since the game came out and with the recent DVD release of the actual movie, we felt now was as good a time as any to dig out Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Game to review. Yeah, the review is delayed a bit, but that’s just the way it is sometimes. While the movie certainly wasn’t our favorite (enough already Michael Bay…we get it…you’re the king of action…) it wasn’t bad. Does the game hold up?
As a general rule of thumb, we tend to avoid games with more than one colon in the title. It’s just one of life’s little rules around the GEV offices, like don’t trust a guy with a mustache. Still, the game has some merits worth mentioning and has some entertainment value. From the outset, it’s obvious the game is geared towards a casual audience. With relatively simple mechanics, parents will be able to play with their children if they’d like and kids won’t feel overly frustrated. The excellent War for Cybertron wasn’t this way and at times felt alienating for it’s target audience.
Dark of the Moon offers players a little customization.
In the same respect, War for Cybertron often felt Turok-esque in that it’s level dragged on forever. Call it poor pacing, or a somewhat convoluted story, the end result left us feeling antsy and disinterested at times. Dark of the Moon doesn’t suffer from this as the levels are quick hitting and fast paced. From a story telling perspective the game is solid enough and keeps the pace in a way that keeps players involved while offering up decent variety.
This isn’t too say the game is technically better than War for Cybertron, though. One of the sacrifices games frequently make by being accessible for a younger audience is in difficulty. Dark of the Moon is one of the easiest games of the year. Experienced gamers will likely be able to get through the entire thing in a weekend, with achievement and trophy hunters picking up almost, if not all, of the games respective achievements or trophies in one playthrough.
Repetitive gameplay also bogs things down at times, which again is a symptom of simplistic gameplay geared towards a younger audience. Boss fights can be interesting and present a little bit of a challenge. Still, they are easily solved and once gamers have the patterns of attack figured out, they’ll have no problems blowing through them quickly.
Bumblebee taking us on a backlot tour of the set...
From a technical standpoint, Dark of the Moon is obviously a multisystem port. One handhelds and the Wii, it’s graphically on par with the rest of the market. On the PS3 and the 360 though, the game is a step behind as visually it looks like a late entry on last gen systems with lots of jaggies, poor draw distances and flat repetitive graphics.
We’d have liked to see more tie in with the actual movie the game is based on. If movie games are going to continue to be released on a timeline that coincides with a film’s theatrical release, companies at least owe gamers more tie in with the actual movie. As it is, Dark of the Moon feels like a stand alone game that was still held within the constraints of a timed release.
Dark of the Moon isn’t a bad game in any sense. It’s not broken, it provides some quality entertainment, and fits it’s market well. Still, as we saw with War for Cybertron, we know how good a Transformers game can and should be. It’s difficult not to judge Dark of the Moon against it’s brethren but ultimately it has to be done to gauge just how good of a game it is. Those looking for Transformers action who haven’t played War for Cybertron should look there. Gamers who have already played that will find some value here, just don’t expect more than meets the eye.
Overall Rating: 5/10
