Parents' Guide to

Transformers: Devastation

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Fun, attractive, short but shockingly deep cartoon brawler.

Transformers: Devastation Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

age 6+

Based on 1 parent review

age 6+

Homage to Gen. 1 Transformers not epic, but well done and fun.

This game is simplified compared to the Transformers "Cybertron" games but the familiar voice actors from the old toons make ALOT of cameos, even where you don't exspect them to show up. Also, the beefed up fantasy toon versions of the characters are perfectly rendered and pay homage to their roots with detail and credibility. The shooting portions are a bit lackluster and the weapons aren't Call Of Duty tight and responsive, but the balance of the slow motion dodge, vehicle and transformation attacks and upgrades, make a surprisingly unique and well done action game. Bayonetta fans will feel familiar, but it adds more than enough 'vehicle to robot' smoothly interlaced combat to be it's own thing without just being a copy, paste of other brawlers. The most glaring flaw is the lack of detail in the environment and the simplistic/contrived obstacles that are placed along the way like a lifeless maze. The nice touches and personalities compensate for this alot, but it's almost painfully obviouse where the time was taken in creating the game. The game is good for a runthrough but more for nostalgia than anything else. I'd like to see this rendering of the Transformers done on a "cybertron" game scale, although, that would be hoping for a bit much for G1 fans. I wouldn't put a full price tag on this one cuz it is a bit 'kidish', but if you find it for 20 bucks or less, for old times sake, is worth the experience to see how they treated the source material.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (5 ):

Fans of the franchise -- especially the classic TV series and Hasbro's classic Generations action figures -- will no doubt fall for the charm in Activision's anime-inspired brawler. The controls are tight and responsive, the high-definition "cel-shaded" graphics make it look as if you're playing an interactive Saturday morning TV show, and the voice talent is great, which adds to the high production values. (Transformers voice actors have returned and include Dan Gilvezan as Bumblebee, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Frank Welker as MegaTron, and others.)

More importantly, the third-person fighting is surprising deep, with many moves, countermoves, combos, and special attacks to execute at the right time. Each of the noble Autobots has specific skills you'll want to unleash, and the environment must be taken into consideration on when, how, and where to do this and which weapon to use to defeat enemies and boss fighters (yes, those epic boss battles are gratifying and memorable). But on the downside, Transformers: Devastation is a relatively short game at about six hours, and many of the gameplay objectives are the same (race here, fight that). Though there hasn't been a lot of buzz about this game -- especially compared to many other blockbusters coming out this season -- Transformers: Devastation is surprisingly fun and somewhat deep, and it has high-quality visuals and sound to satiate even the most finicky fans of the franchise.

Game Details

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