Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not a subtle game, and it was never trying to be. The 2009 third-person shooter shipped on June 23 in the United States, a day later in Australia, and on June 26 in Europe, and it arrived on nearly every platform a player could own: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS.
That is a lot of console for one license. The results vary wildly depending on which disc you bought, and that split is the real story of this release.
Luxoflux Builds the Version That Matters
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions came from Luxoflux, and Beenox ported that work to Microsoft Windows. The Autobot and Decepticon campaigns are here, and they cross over on several occasions, which gives the war two sides instead of one long corridor.
The story picks up a few years after Transformers: The Game. Megatron is dead. The AllSpark has been shattered into fragments scattered across Earth. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, work with humanity to hunt down the Decepticons still active around the world. What nobody on the Autobot side knows is that the Fallen, a former Prime and the first Decepticon, has returned and is helping the Decepticons resurrect Megatron.
That is a clean setup for a shooter, and it justifies the roster. Optimus Prime, Iron Hide, Jetfire and Bumblebee carry the Autobot side. Starscream, Sideways and Megatron carry the Decepticon side. Sideways is new here, and he gets one of the game’s better set pieces: a fixed driving sequence through the Shanghai tunnels.
Transformation as a Weapon, Not a Button
The boldest decision in Revenge of the Fallen is what it does with transformation. You cannot transform whenever you want. The game locks that behind special attacks in robot mode, fixed alternate modes, and special moves that hand out alternate abilities in both robot and vehicle form.
The clearest example is Starscream. Transform while flying and he can fly backwards as a robot to take out enemies behind the protagonist. It is a strange, specific trick, and it works because the game commits to it rather than treating transformation as a travel button.
For multiplayer, at any point during a single-player campaign a friend can join in as a “Remote Weapon System”
The multiplayer hook is the Remote Weapon System. A friend can drop into a single-player campaign at any point, shoot enemies, raise a shield to defend, and move energon between both players. It is drop-in co-op with a job description, and it turns a solo campaign into something you can hand to someone else on the couch.
Krome Studios Takes the Weaker Hardware
The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions were developed by Krome Studios. The PlayStation Portable version came from Savage Entertainment. All versions were published by Activision, and all loosely follow the plot of the film they adapt.
The PlayStation 2 and Wii builds run a single campaign that alternates between the two factions, rather than the split structure of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC releases. That is a real loss. The crossover between the Autobot and Decepticon campaigns is the most interesting thing the Luxoflux version does, and the weaker hardware does not get it.
The PlayStation Portable version is a separate build with its own developer. The source material does not describe how it plays.
The cutscenes carry the storyline and let the player transition from one character to the next without friction. That is a small piece of housekeeping that a lot of licensed games get wrong, and this one gets it right.
The Nintendo DS version is listed among the platforms, and the source gives no developer for it. It sits outside the builds described above.
A Movie Tie-In That Actually Tries
Here is the part worth saying plainly. Most film games from this era were made to be bought, not played. Revenge of the Fallen was made to be played, at least on the platforms that got the full build.
The split campaign is the proof. Giving players a Decepticon path alongside the Autobot one means the developers had to build missions where you are the problem, not the solution. That is more work than a tie-in usually gets, and it is why the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions hold up better than their reputation suggests.
The transformation restriction is the riskier call, and it mostly pays off. Limiting a signature ability to specific attacks and modes sounds like a limitation. In practice it forces the combat to stay grounded in robot mode, where the shooting has to carry its own weight. The Starscream backwards-flight move is the kind of detail that only shows up when someone has actually thought about how a flying Decepticon would fight.
The Remote Weapon System deserves credit too. Drop-in co-op that lets a second player shoot, shield, and pass energon is a small design, but it respects the person holding the second controller instead of giving them a spectator seat.
Where the Game Loses Its Footing
The platform spread is the problem. Shipping on seven systems in 2009 meant somebody got the short version, and here it was the Wii and PlayStation 2 owners. A single alternating campaign is a lesser product than two interlocking ones, and no amount of branding fixes that.
The fixed transformation modes are also a double-edged design. The Shanghai tunnel run as Sideways is a highlight. It is also a reminder that the game decides when you get to be a vehicle, not you. Players who came for the fantasy of shifting at will will find the leash short.
And the story is a film plot. The Fallen wants to activate an ancient machine that would give the Decepticons enough Energon to defeat the Autobots, destroying the Sun and all life on Earth in the process. That is a comic book escalation, and the game plays it straight, which is the correct choice and also a limiting one.
None of this sinks the game. It just means the ceiling is set by the license, not by the developers’ ambition.
What the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Earn
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the rare licensed shooter that understands its own material. The Autobot and Decepticon campaigns give the conflict two sides. The transformation attacks give the combat a signature. The Remote Weapon System gives a friend something real to do. On PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, that adds up to a game that earns its place in the tie-in pile.
On Wii and PlayStation 2, it does not. The single alternating campaign strips out the best structural idea in the game, and the smaller screens cannot sell the scale the source material demands.
The published critical score for the game is 9.3 out of 10, an IGDB critic aggregate drawn from seven outlets. It is not a platform-specific figure, and this paper would not pretend otherwise.
Key Facts
- Release date: June 23, 2009 (US), one day later in Australia, June 26 (Europe)
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS
- Developers: Luxoflux (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), Beenox (PC port), Krome Studios (PlayStation 2, Wii), Savage Entertainment (PlayStation Portable)
- Publisher: Activision
- Genre: Third-person shooter, action, science fiction
- Modes: Single player, multiplayer
- Published critical score: 9.3/10 (IGDB critic aggregate, 7 outlets)
- Sequel: Transformers: Dark of the Moon, June 2011
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