I love Transformers. Since I first picked up Huffer in WHSmith’s in that wonderful summer of ’84, I’ve been hooked on the cartoons, the comics, the toys, and almost anything else that happened by that was connected to the Robots in Disguise.
I vaguely recall enjoying the old Transformers game on the Spectrum, and since discovering the joy of emulators I’ve wanted to find the game so I can play it again, along with any other TF-related games I can lay my hands on.
This game is a later effort, programmed by David Crane, and released by Activision in 1986, and up until now, I’d never even heard of it.
I love Transformers. Since I first picked up Huffer in WHSmith’s in that wonderful summer of ’84, I’ve been hooked on the cartoons, the comics, the toys, and almost anything else that happened by that was connected to the Robots in Disguise.
I vaguely recall enjoying the old Transformers game on the Spectrum, and since discovering the joy of emulators I’ve wanted to find the game so I can play it again, along with any other TF-related games I can lay my hands on.
This game is a later effort, programmed by David Crane, and released by Activision in 1986, and up until now, I’d never even heard of it.
The aim of the game is quite simple; stop the Decepticons stealing energy sources (as well as causing other miscellaneous
havoc). However, you’ll find that accomplishing the task is a far trickier prospect.
You take command of a team of eight Autobots; a rather unusual selection of characters including Cliffjumper, Hound, Pipes, Kup, Bumblebee, Blurr, and - strangest of all - both Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod (a somewhat extreme case of split personality there, I think).
It took some time to work out how the game worked without instructions. Once you’ve got the game loaded, you’re presented with a map screen with nine locations, and eight numbered boxes to the lower left (each box corresponds to one of the eight Autobots). Before you can start taking direct control, you need to deploy members of your team to the locations (press D to deploy, select the number of the Autobot you want to move, then type the first letter of the location).
At any time, you can switch to View screen mode by pressing V and then selecting an Autobot. You’ll then see things from his point of view, with a crosshairs showing where he can shoot. There’s also a Barrage mode (B), so that if you have more than one Autobot at a location, you can set up eight targets automatically for one, then go back to the map (M) and take personal control of another.
You can also see how your team members are faring by checking their status (press S then select your Autobot). This shows you their core abilities (like speed, strength, firepower) and also their energy level.
The graphics are far from great. The backgrounds are actually okay; simplistic, but you can easily tell the difference between them, and the locations they’re supposed to represent. But the character sprites are hideous, and look like they were drawn by a particularly untalented 3-year-old (I’m not sure I would have even recognized Cliffjumper if his name hadn’t been on the screen in front of me)
The sound is marginally better - the background music is a passable attempt at the cartoon theme, which links into a repetitive incidental tune; there’s not much in the way of sound effects, barring gunfire and explosions. It’s tolerable for a while, but you’ll probably want to turn the volume down eventually.
The strategic deployment is an interesting concept, but when you don’t know where your enemies will strike next, it still puts a huge emphasis on luck.
Timing is, through the entire game, crucial, and you’re at a severe disadvantage from the get-go. You can’t wait at the map screen and assume that if you’re not doing anything, then nothing’s happening. As soon as the map screen is up you need to start moving your team into position, but the Decepticons won’t wait for you - they’ll happily get on with what they’re doing. If you don’t have agents deployed at a location before the Decepticons arrive, you have to move them, then wait for them to get there. This takes time (even Blurr moves like a slug!), and all the while the Decepticons are stealing energy. Odds are you’ll switch to View screen mode just in time to see them flying away.
But even if you do get there quickly, you’ll still have trouble getting a shot in. While the crosshairs plods across the screen, the Decepticon jets dart around like gnats, and by the time you’ve got a target lock on them, they’ve moved again.
The game is a nice idea, but poorly executed in my opinion - a little more time and effort, particularly on the graphics front, would have made it a far more worthy game. As it is, you’ll have a hard time beating the game, and you’ll probably get either bored or frustrated with it before you do.
5/10
