Parents' Guide to Transformers Bumblebee Overdrive

While it's designed in the style of an old school arcade game, there's nothing dated about this newest Transformers game. In Transformers Bumblebee Overdrive, everyone's favorite yellow Autobot once again has to take on those Decepticon jerks. Except this time, he's kickin' it old school. While constantly moving up the screen, Bumblebee tries to avoid driving into obstacles or his fellow motorists, while knocking bad guys off the road. Then, when he reaches the Decepticons' base, he transforms from a VW Beetle to a bot, and uses his gun like he's in a classic arcade shoot 'em up to bust up the joint and stop the bad guys.

All of this is done with simple touch controls and one finger; you don't even have to pull the trigger, because 'Bee just fires away. But while this may play like a mash-up of some old school games, it never feels old. The roads are not only full of interesting obstacles and hazards, as are the Decepticons' bases, but they seem to be randomly generated as well, which gives this a lot more variety than anything you might have played in the '80s. But, like most old school arcade games, it's the same basic actions over and over from mission to mission. Still, whether you're a fan of the new movie or old enough to remember the original cartoon, you'll have some fun times with Transformers Bumblebee Overdrive.