Almost all movie-to-video-games translations are not worth the cost of entry. This is mostly due to rush development times and studios making the product go live before it is ready. Once in a blue moon there is a game that gets released that is just as good as the movie. Unfortunately Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not one of those games. Even though this game has a good foundation, it is hampered by poor presentation, weird control scheme, and lack of mission variety.

There are two single-player campaigns in this game: Decepticon or Autobot, and it is based loosely off the plot of the movie. The first mission of either campaign is a huge tutorial that shows players what the controls are and how to pull off advanced moves that will cause the most damage to enemy units. After players complete this tutorial, they will be sent to the "mission control area" where they can tackle many different missions, including a few bonus objectives.

The main problem with the missions is the complete lack of variety. Each mission is about destroying a certain enemy, protecting an ally until they reach a certain point on the map, or defend/attack a certain point on the map. After completely half the mission's players will have played about every mission scenario available in the game. This is a missed opportunity for the developers to really create some ingenious missions, but instead we are left with objectives players will get to perform many times over.

The graphics for this game are a mixed bag. The developers really got a nice level of detail for each of the robot mode. What boosts this even further is the animation for each robot, especially when it is transforming. The issue with all of this is the environments that players are thrown into are very sparse of life and do not have the same level of detail. It is understandable that the characters would have more detail than the environments, but it is a huge jump between the two.

The musical score for this game is really good. Player will love hearing some of the tunes as they are blasting various enemy units on the screen. The sound effects are also nicely done, from the explosions to hearing the vehicles rev-up during the game. The voice work is decent, but it is nothing to get excited about, this is especially true since some of the cast from the movie did not reprise their role for the video-game.

The AI in this game is not very bright. Many times players might be chasing an enemy down the road, and then it will decide to climb up a building to shoot players from afar (even though it is in mid chase). The issue is that while an enemy (or a player) is climbing a building they cannot attack of defend; they are basically a sitting duck. Another issue is that it does not like to defend itself very well. Unlike most games when the AI is getting shot at it tends to move out of the way to avoid getting to much damage. In this game the enemies prefers to get shot up while it tries to line up their shots, even at close range, it will still try to shoot players instead of using the melee skills it has available.

The developers implemented a very confusing control scheme for this game, and players will still struggle with it even when they are close to beating the game. One of the main issues is the right trigger button. This button is used for transforming between robot and vehicle form, accelerating (while in vehicle form), and firing weapons (in robot form). This is extremely confusing, especially when players get in a middle of a fight. Players will stay in the robot form by default, in order to change to vehicle mode they need to press and hold the right trigger button, which also makes them automatically accelerate. If players let go of the right trigger button, they will automatically transform back into robot form. This is not an ideal situation, as it puts a lot of (finger) pressure to hold the button down, and becomes confusing when chasing three enemies down and trying to shoot them at the same time. To add to the confusion, pressing X while in vehicle mode will fire the machine gun they have loaded, but the X button while in robot form is the melee button.

Even though the controls are extremely confusing some of the moves players can perform are great to see in action. For instance players can be in vehicle mode, jump in the air in mid-transformation and fire weapons on an enemy. No matter how many times players might perform this particular move, it never gets old. Each robot has several ways to attack an enemy: melee attacks (which can be linked together to create a destructive combo), two different long weapons, and a special move. While most gamers might prefer to use the long weapon weapons against their opponents, the best way to defeat them is using the melee attacks. This becomes even more obvious later on in the game when players upgrade the melee attacks, because it can cause massive damage in a short time.

One of the biggest issues players will have with this game is the lack of presentation. When players load the game for the first time they will be treated to a set of cut scenes that look like it is came straight from the movie. This will get players very excited to play the game and look forward to more as the game goes on. Unfortunately, this is about the only cut scene players will get the entire game. The story is told by use of a holographic map and voiceovers telling gamers the next mission and their assignment.

This is very disappointing as the intro movie really sets the game up for something great. Players will not want to hear how the story progresses, they will want to see it. The movie is all about action, and this is what players expect to see. Instead players are left in the dust thinking about what could have been.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is rated teen.

Gameplay: 6.5
The controls scheme is very odd and hard to get adjusted to, even after beating the game. The missions are also very repetitive and get stale quickly.

Graphics: 6.8
The Transformers are really detailed, and the animation is great. The bland environments really bring the score down.

Sound: 6.1
The musical score is pretty good, but players will either love or hate the voiceovers.

Difficulty: Easy
The game is really easy, especially with the dumb-down AI.

Concept: 6.0
Following the movie storyline is great, but better presentation is definitely needed.

Multiplayer: 6.6
Thankfully there is an online mode which freshens up this game somewhat. There are several different modes to choose from: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, One Shall Stand, Control Points, and Battle for the Shards (capture the flag). These modes really help freshen up the game, but even then players are stuck with the weird control scheme.

Overall: 6.7
Just like all movie-to-video-game conversions, this game has potential but falls flat at the end. With a little more development time, better controls, and additional mission objectives, this game would have been a force to be reckoned with. This is a weekend rental game only.