transformers- an opportunity missed (Transformers Armada (PS2))

Member Name: evertonblue2003

Product:	Transformers Armada (PS2)
Date:	08/11/04 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: keeps the name alive for a new generation, nice to know theyre thinking about us a bit, optimus prime rools

Disadvantages: rubbish gamepay, i cant be bothered to play it again, you should be ashamed of yourselves

ok. My first great love affair of my life was not with she- ra, not he man and his camp buddies, not with the thundercats and most certainly not with the go-bots. All were pretenders to the throne. The greatest animation, nay, manifestation of every young mans hopes and dreams were encapsulated in the wonder that was, is, the transformers.We the twenty-thirty somethings of today all saw the movie and loved it, otherwise you wouldnt be reading this tribute/review today with me now.We all saw the series and loved it, it was something to get up for in the morning, a pseudo religion that percolated every minute of our AM being......my God we even had to endure wackaday and Timmy Mallet to get our daily salve of the transformers led by the ultimate in sex symbols, Optimus Prime.The icon for a new generation.We had the almighty on Optimus.......Ironhide.....bumblebee....red alert....hot rod.....cup....and even the token pink female transformer who no-bloke in his right mind cares to remember the name of..., oh arcie that was it, it was a man thing, girls just didnt understand then and dont understand now.When Optimus died, I cried, every time I saw that beautifully heart wrenching scene, oh i took it personally.Megatron the anti Christ with his evil minions starscream,soundwave with his cool shoulder mounted cannon and chums etc etc... how evil they were, but oh how necessary as were there is good there is evil , or there is no story.Or fun.Maybe Im rambling , or maybe its because im passionate/obsessed.

That is the kind of person the programmers of the ps2 transformers game should have realised they are dealing with- true fans with highly critical minds, with any slight deviation from the beautiful original a heresy.The beauty of the original series was what made it for me, not the later clones which were 'anime'd up' with big eyes and jokey quirky goofey kids with political correctness seeping in -we all know what i mean, the transformers is about the struggle of good against evil with testosterone fuelled mayhem a necessity.

The game by Atari for me fails to capture the sheer magnificence of the animation of the original series which in essence is what we were all after, to be able to live the dream that we were part of that struggle.I was slightly concerned with the 7+ age rating on the box, a suggestion that the game may not be the ultimate struggle i was hoping for and unfortunately this came to pass. The game is in essence an exercise in button bashing with no leaning towards skill or guile, it is an exercise in seeing how many times you can hit the fire button before rediculously agile foes can annihalate you.there is none if the magnificence of the movie in how when a laser blast strikes a transformer, autobot or decepticon , you could almost feel the pain they felt, the shockwave of energon.in the game this is whittled down to a power bar which decreases when the laser fire happens to go near you, no glorious deaths here rather a slow wearing down of ur charges ability to continue on. The transformers are far too slick for my liking, they move too fast for their size, the originals had an air of grace about their movement, they werent whirling dirvishes, save for blur who was just annoying, they were kings. In this game they are all rush rush rush to get to the next level, the next target being purely an are you walk through rather than any magnificent battle to the death.
Another point which disapoints me is that you only ever fight as the one transformer rather than combining the strength of the might of the transformer family. they never fought on their own
one of the biggest let downs is that of the voices.had they even tried to get but a few of the original characters voices then i would have been delighted , bnut no, they use stereotypical gruff voices with no sense of caracter or anything.
essentially the transformers is a dull game and is nothing more than a progression from beginning to end, no innovation at all.It is a sadly missed opportunity- come back to me when ALL of the transformers can interact with ALL of the decepticons- that was what we liked about the original, it wasnt about 1 transformer v ersus the rest- it was about DA BOYZ fighting together for the common good.....for their survival against all odds....

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