Platinum Games – a worthy studio, from which real blockbusters can be expected. She created something outstanding more than once – Bayonetta, Metal Gear Riding: Revengeance, Vanquish, And in the future, an impressive trailers are pushed Scalebound. All these projects are designed for money Sega, Nintendo, Konami And Microsoft. But the studio has another insidious publisher – Activision, Under whose auspices there were only two games: The Legend of Korra And Transformers: Devastation.
Even in screenshots it is clear that both projects did not have a budget at all: a cheap environment, cartoon style, designed to brighten up a lack of training grounds. However, I cannot call the same “corrah” by a failure: talented Japanese can do gameplay and screwed into the action a beautiful combat system (which, however, was revealed only to the second passage, but these are details). Therefore, the new game on the old “transformers” to a certain extent encouraged: it is clear that everything will be bad, but maybe not so much that it was completely completely completely.
Transformation-Activation!
Unlike the latest games about transformers, where robots are either sketched from the movie or invented, Devastation takes old models of acidic flowers straight from the first animated series. Familiar from childhood, they were transferred to 3D with all the attention to the details, and history stubbornly pretends that we are still in the eighties, masking under the typical series of cartoon. Megatron is again chasing some steep thing, substituting under the blow of peaceful earthlings. And brave autobots break through the crowds of the Decepticons of all stripes to save the world.
What is funny, because of this structure of the autobots in the game there are only five (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sailbi, Wiljack and Dinosaurus Grimlock), but the number of bad guys strives for twenty. Here all the canonical villains in the famous role and exactly with the same voices: the soundwave, the right hand of Megatron in the form of a cassette player;forever hysterically screeching fighter Starscream;a whole portion of insecticons (those that were transformed into beetles);and so on. Even if you do not know all these names, you still pay attention to familiar pictures at a time, feeling children’s delight.
At the same time, “cannon meat” in the form of faceless robots is few. In the same “Corre”, I had to 10 to 15 times for passing the same trinity of magicians, and Devastation regularly adds enemies with the name and biography. Fortunately, the primary source with its hundreds of characters allows.
Nevertheless, bright colors, familiar heroes and waves of pleasant memories cannot hide the nightmarish shortage of the budget that oozes from everywhere. Disgusting levels with absolutely flat domain boxes, the maximum simplified models of everything around, an almost complete absence of physics and, in general, at least something optional ..
But there is a plus: to work in 60 fps, the game will even be on the microwave. Yes, and cheap does not mean inaccurate: there is no bugs or a feeling. In the end, it was possible to evaluate the cheapness in the screenshots – it is much more important that the gameplay would be good.
Transformers! More than Meets The Eye!
No genre discoveries: this is the usual Beat ‘Em Up. Heroes need to move from arena to arena, winning along the path of all enemies. From useful buttons – two types of attacks, dodging, transformation. From useless buttons – the ability to use a long -range weapon. It will have to shoot one and a half times for all five chapters in specially designed places.
Although, in general, the game tries to entertain within the framework of the available budget: it will force you to drive the streets of the city behind a departing fighter, then he will put it behind the turret. Levels are strewn with secrets, bonuses, badges and markers that open useless concept arts in the main menu. Game design, of course, is straight from the last decade, but in general it is not annoying and not bored. It could be worse. After all, this is still the action, and it is at Platinum Games It turns out with a bang.
First of all, the combat system actively uses the ability of the characters to transform: each combo brought to the end can be completed by finishing up with the transformation by knocking the enemy off their feet and winning a second in slowdown. The most important thing is that this blow can be delivered to any enemy around: for example, to beat the clumsy, and finishing off is redirected in brisk “fighters” above their heads. In addition, over time, the Superudar scale is also filled, also tied to the “second form”: for example, Optimus Prime is driving a truck along a certain radius, inflicting damage to everything in the way. There is another “Ula” filled with the amount of damage caused: this is usually a massive blow to the area.
In addition, it is periodically useful to transform and cut a circle in the arena to accelerate, use the Fast and the Fast and apply a penalty blow. At the same time, you will not get the Combo counter – it simply does not have it in the game;Only the general rating “Time/Damage” falls into reporting.
Of course, there is now fashionable mechanics of dumps, but it is realized strangely: the enemy gives a conditional signal “Attention, I’m going to attack”, and hits only after one or one and a half seconds. That is, you have to press the firing button strongly after the signal, following the animation. After the “casual” system that it gave to humanity Rocksteady With his own Batman: Arkham, It is very difficult to dodge and unusual. It is not clear whether the “bug” is or “feature”, but after a successful somersault you have a few seconds of damn useful slowdown – so I tend to the second.
All this looks surprisingly authentically original animated series, where transformers really did not hesitate to turn for any reason and, despite the dimensions, were amazingly plastic and quick.
In hand -to -hand fights, robots use weapons that falls here even more abundant than in Diablo. To rake these heaps of garbage, on the basis between the missions there is a whole mountain menu for “customization”. Weak specimens of blades and pistols should be used for “craft” and modifying more impressive tools, increasing the level, adding symbolic capabilities and increasing damage. There are not many types of cold weapons: sword, two swords, hammer, glove – it seems that it is clear what is the difference between them. It is more difficult with a “firearm”: it has to be used so rarely, but there are so many options that there is no desire to understand.
By killing enemies, the player receives conditional glasses for which you can buy weapons, “craft” modifiers and develop transformers. True, all this is done uncomfortable, so spending time on a thin “castration”, if you just decide to scratch, is useless.
Like any other game Platinum, Devastation It
requires a fairly reverent attitude and passage at least at an average level of complexity: even here hardcore awaits and call. You will have to sweat on the “bosses” (which, alas, you do not need to look for special tactics, but it doesn’t become easier to develop characters and take care that different weapons lay in different slots – just in case.
Transformers: Devastation It is conceived that a high level of complexity cannot be passed without capital fifty -hour investments, although the campaign will take no more than five hours on a lightweight. And it is strongly incomprehensible why to spend more on it. If you want masochism within the framework of a well -known license, it is better to return to a very underestimated The Legend of Korra, which really pleased with a smooth and interesting battle.
It was clear from the announcement: everything would not be too rosy with the game. The only question remained: it is very bad or you can endure the sake of childhood memories? And the answer is possible and even, perhaps, you need. At a discount, after half a year, for one evening. This is far from the worst license game of those that we saw.
Pros: pleasant complexity;many secrets;Familiar characters, voices, style.
Cons: graphics budget;simplicity of the story told;controversial combat system;Unknown mechanisms of “pumping” and development.