Can Platinum Games outshine High Moon Studios?! Transformers: Devastation Review!!

Developer(s) PlatinumGames
Publisher(s) Activision
Distributor(s) Hasbro Gaming
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release date(s) October 6, 2015

Transformers has been entertaining fans for thirty years. Our first experience with the shape shifting robot depends upon when we were born. For those gamers born after 9/11, this may be unfamiliar territory. If your earliest memory is witnessing the collapse of the Berlin Wall then get ready to return to your childhood. Transformers Devastation is the latest action title in the long running Hasbro franchise. The game is a throwback to the original cartoon series even though it is based on the Transformers: Generations lines. Fans will be immediately enthralled by the classic 80s look and feel the game has. But don’t let the Saturday morning vibe fool you. This is Platinum Games we’re talking about. The same company behind Bayonetta so the action is going to be crazy. The story goes that Megatron has made deal with an entity living below the Earth’s surface. This entity, along with the Decepticons, has driven out the humans living in the city. Megatron then ordered his Decepticons to build powerful jet engines and attached them to the sky scrapers. The Autobots, led by Optimus prime, race to stop this threat.

As expected from Platinum Games, Transformers Devastation features fast paced action. You play as one of five Autobots as you fight your way through Megatron’s forces. Optimus and Bumblebee are still staples in the game. They are joined by engineer Wheeljack, weapons specialist Sideswipe and Dinobot leader Grimlock. You take control of each of these Autobots, performing fast combos that begins the combo with melee attacks and ends it with a vehicle form finisher. Optimus hacks at the Vehicons with his energy ax and finishes with a cloud clearing spin out with his trailer. Sideswipe blasts enemies with volleys of missiles and boosts across long distances in his sports car form. And Grimlock does what he does best—stomping Decepticons in his T-rex form and spewing fire to melt some metal.

More than just an engineer and scientist, Wheeljack shows the Cons what he is made of

The graphics in Transformers Devastation are amazing. It looks like you’re actually playing along with the characters from the series like you’re a part of the cartoon. Cel shading may be outdated but for here it actually works wonderfully. The vibrant colors truly bring out the 1980s experience of the original Transformers series. Controls are just as precise as High Moon Studios Transformers series if not similar. You can move your bot left or right and rotate the camera to look around the environment. On screen pick up items are also a part of the series as well. You will find a cachet of hidden weapons or Energon cubes to help you in battle. Vince DiCola composer behind “Transformers: The Movie”, returns to compose music for the Transformers game bringing with him his signature style. And that wonderful transformation noise that we’re all so familiar with. It sounds so beautiful to hear that sound once again and to hear Frank Welker voice Soundwave through the vocoder as we all remember. Voice actors from the original series reunite to reprise their beloved roles including Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Frank Welker (Megatron, Soundwave), Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee), Michael Bell (Sideswipe, Scrapper), and Gregg Berger (Grimlock, Long Haul).

Overall Transformers Devastation is a welcome sight compared to the last outing, Transformers Rise of the Dark Spark. This game will surely bring joy to Transformers fans both young and old. This is the Transformers game longtime fans wanted and new fans will certainly enjoy. High Moon Studios set the bar with their Transformers Cybertron games. Now it looks as if Platinum Games had delivered an even more intense battle between the robots in disguise.

Transformers Devastation gets 4 out of 5!!