Video game reviews: Transformers (Wii)

From the block buster hit Transformers: The Movie, Activision brings Transformers: The Game to the Nintendo Wii, as well as other platforms. A war rages on earth between the Autobots and Decepticons, a battle between good and evil. Allowing you the gamer to decide which side you wish to fight for. Which ever side you swear your allegiance to you be put into essentially an open world. Where you can roam the surrounding area or accept mission objectives. Do not mistake Transformers version of a free roaming environment with the likes of Grand Theft Auto. Your progression through out the game is extremely linear. You will be assigned one new mission upon completion of the previous one. Although, most of the surrounding environment is interactive, allowing you pick and hurl items around. There is little satisfaction to be had with terrorizing the local inhabitants.

This all fails in comparison with the weak control system of the game. Transformers is a third person shooter using the analog stick on your nunchuck moves you bot around,

and the IR is used to aim. This is where most of my grumbling comes from in this game. Often, if an enemy is behind you it will take sometime before you will be able to turn a full 180 degrees and return fire. A major problem for a game brings plenty and fast action.

Transformers also proved to be a very shallow game. Missions eventually become boring and repetitive, shoot this blow up that. All without ever really changing how you have to play the game. A few things like bonus content or trying to find 100 energon cubes, provides a little more depth to the game. However, with the problems in controls and a lack luster story line, the same old recover the “Allspark” “protect the world” theme. I could only imagine why anyone would want to play this game other than to just beat it and be done with it.

Game Play Score: 6/10

Controls ruin what could have been a very enjoyable game. IR controls are very sluggish in responding to movement

Graphics Score: 7/10

The game looks pretty good in 480p with 16:9 wide-screen. Cinematic look great and the open worlds look pretty decent.

Audio Score: 6/10

Boring music from the movie and no use of the Wii Remote speaker makes the audio experience a dud.

Creativity/Innovation Score: 5/10

Transformers makes little use of the Wii controls. Waggle to throw a punch, point to shoot. both feel unresponsive and have been done better by other games.

Replay Value Score: 5/10

Bonus content, pictures and images of old transformers, does not make up for a lousy battles/missions that become boring and repetitive real fast.

Final Score: 5/10

A playable and passable game but I would not recommended it to anyone other than those die hard fans of the Transformers series.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 47

Personally, I feel that Transformers are really just a Big Boys kind of a film. It has all the classic elements of what hard-core action packed movies that men love should.

While there is no need for me to illustrate the plot behind Transformers, I’m sure everyone knows what it is about (males and females alike, the ladies probably heard the story many times over from their male fanatics). But maybe you’re thinking about catching this movie and you’re not sure if it’s actually worth the ticket. Well, my advice, if you like ACTION and military power, and you just can’t seem to get tired of the all-traditional good versus evil plot, then Transformers is your movie, baby!

However, you want to be prepared to get your reading glasses ready because the movie not only requires you to read subtitles of the dialogues of the Decepticon (pardon my spelling if it is wrong!)FAST, you also have to have a sharp eye to figure out which Transformer is fighting which throughout the movie.

Unfortunately, I was caught unaware, and I spent half the time trying to figure out which machine was fighting which.

Nonetheless, as I have mentioned, this is an All Boys movie. There’s two residual hot chicks (one’s a blonde and the other’s a brunette, so take your pick), there’s a lot of firearms and missles flying around, sufficient blood and gore (it is a children flick after all, so definitely no SAW sequels materials) and basically being able to relive your childhood dream of seeing the robots in disguise.

My rating: 3 out of 5 Popcorns!

Lorries In The Limelight

What do you think of when you picture a lorry? Perhaps one of these lorries from popular culture. They might not wear giant sunglasses or have punch-ups with the paparazzi, but that doesn’t make these superstars any less well known.

From the Coca Cola Christmas haulage truck from the TV ad to the mysterious characters of the tongue twister ‘Red Lorry Yellow Lorry‘, here is a reminder of some of the most famous trucks, lorries and general haulage vehicles of all time.

1) Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Originally a British tongue twister, you may be interested to know that ‘Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’ is also a rock band that was formed in Leeds in 1981. Whilst there are no known lorry or lorries attached to the phrase, this is certainly a famous lorry concept which is entrenched in the British psyche. Red lorry yellow lorry red lorry yellow lorry … It’s even hard to type!

2) Long-distance Clara’s juggernaught

As the song goes,

Long Distance Clara, shifts the gears

Long Distance Clara, she safely steers

Long Distance Clara, slams on the brakes

Long Distance Clara, accelerates

Long Distance Clara driving round the bend

Hot dinner waiting at her journeys end

Long Distance Clara, driving down the road

Always on time and never late

- Part of the theme tune to the adorable pre-school cartoon ‘Pigeon Street’.

3) Fire Engines

Ok, so we don’t really call them ‘lorries’, but we sometimes call them ‘trucks’, and that’s really what they are. The real hero in the world of over-sized vehicles, this red bundle of bravery is like a giant red angel, transporting fire-fighters to the scene of the blaze and providing them selflessly with access to the burning building with its trusty ladder, water with its hose and a whole host of other equipment for battling the flames.

4) Coca Cola Christmas Truck

You remember the ad with all those beautiful Christmas – themed haulage trucks? Perhaps this will jog your memory:

‘Holidays are coming, holidays are coming

Tis the season

Watch out, look around

Something’s coming, coming to town

Do do do do do

Always Coca Cola.

Something magic, in the night

Can’t you see it, shining bright!

La la la la la la la la la la

Holiday refreshment’s what we bring

Tis the season, it’s always the real thing!

Always Coca Cola!’

- A heart-warming Christmas treat which almost makes up for a million rotting teeth.

5) Optimus Prime and the Transformers Movie

The basis of the film is as follows: a long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, an alien civil war was being waged between the two races of robots – the noble hero Autobots led by the wise Optimus Prime, and the devious evil Decepticons commanded by the dreaded Megatron – for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. For some reason, the Autobots and the evil Decepticons are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations, but tend to spend their time masquerading as enormous haulage trucks when inhabiting the Earth.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 14

More than meets the eye is right! Transformers the movie has shocked everyone. The moment it was announced that there would be a Transformers live action movie, it was met with a mixed bag of reactions. The first was excitement that such an awesome franchise would be coming to the silver screen, then there was confusion on how it would look as a live action film, lastly it was fear that it would have the potential to be bad if it weren’t done correctly. After all this was an 80’s cartoon and comic book with a very successful line of toys and other paraphernalia and here it is 2007 where many have forgotten or are unfamiliar with the franchise. There was a lot of room for error. Enter Michael Bay.

Michael Bay, a Transformers fan himself, knew what it would take to make this movie a success. On top of all that he had a personal interest to see Optimus Prime live again. Many fans of the Transformers may remember shedding a tear or two when Optimus died in the original Transformer movie. Optimus is the heart of the franchise brought to life by the outstanding voice acting of Peter Cullen who voiced the mighty Autobot leader in the original series. Bay found a way to keep the heart of the Transformers mythos and provide upgrades necessary to make this film a hit.

In the movie, it speak of an age old struggle between the Autobots led by Prime and the Decepticons led by the evil Megatron that once took place on their planet Cybertron but has now shifted to planet Earth with humanity in the middle. Whether its the Transformers fighting the other Transformers or the Transformers fighting the humans the action is intense. While most will see the movie for the Transformers, the cast is complemented and rounded off with performances by Shia Lebouf, Anthony Anderson, John Voight, John Tuturo, Meagan Fox, Tyrese and several others. The action is epic and the comedy is side splitting. So for those who feel nervous about how the movie will treat the franchise, don’t worry, thanks to Michael Bay and company, Transformer refuses to disappoint. Grab your movie ticket and roll out to see the battle for planet Earth in Transformers the movie.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 18

My husband and I took our two children to see The Transformers Movie and we absolutely loved it. It was a great film and probably the best all around movie we’ve seen together as a family in a long time. My husband and I were able to share our memories of watching the Transformer cartoons when we were younger with our children and now they love the Transformers. The movie had the best special effects I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t believe they actually filmed part of it in downtown Los Angeles. This movie had action, romance, cars, robots, aliens, and things being blown up – it really had something for everyone. Even if you aren’t familiar with the Transformers from the 80s, you could still thoroughly enjoy this movie as it didn’t need any prior knowledge of the characters to keep up with the story line. Now my kids run around pretending to be Optimus Prime and MegaTron – names they barely knew before and couldn’t relate to us about. I would give this movie a 5 out of 5. I can’t wait until it’s available on DVD – I’m going to buy it immediately.

More than meets the eye: Anticipating the release of the Transformers movie – Part 2

Having already seen the famous cartoon series and 1986 movie, there certainly are big shoes to fill. Transformers was ahead of its time as one of the most popular cartoons and action figure collections of the 1980s. The toys still are around on eBay, with a good amount of hunting. The movie is going to be a redone version of the events surrounding the transformers arrival on earth. You will see the classic members of the team like Optimus Prime and Megatron. What’s interesting is that the human character Spike, has been renamed Sam; which I feel is really, really lame. However, the trailer looked very promising. The special effects with the helicopter landing at the base and then transforming, nothing could beat that. Even better is the scene with the 2 humans standing in front of the autobots as they transform. Bottom line, fans everywhere are going to appreciate this movie for the things that its going to include and the special effects are unbelievable. I would highly recommend it!

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 8

Transformers, more then meets the eye, in my opinion is a MUST see movie. For some, it take you down memory lane to the cartoon, that we used to watch on Saturday mornings. For others, like my self, it sends a deeper message, one that drives you to see the characters in a new manor. The world we live in today is always battling, the good vs. evil. As depicted in the movie Optimus Prime and the Autobots fight for justice and the human race, where Megatron and the deceptions fight for the power and destruction of the universe. It reminds me of what Bush is doing to the American people and our nation.

As I continually watch this movie, I pick up on new meanings and topics, everything else around me goes blank and for those two hours, I forget that it is only a movie.

Even though they are autonomous microorganisms, each character has a divine purpose, to either protect or to harm those with whom they are surrounded by. Optimus Prime briefly speaks on how the world we know coming to an end if Megatron finds the Alstar, which contains the power to destroy the human race, and the universe. I find this scene to be very interesting because, as I see it, this is what is happening to us by those in power. When Jazz another autobot questions Optimus Prime about caring so much for the human race he replies by saying ” humans are a primitive race, there is goodness in them, and the only way to end the war is to destroy the cube(alstar) and bring peace to the planet, so the humans do not have to pay for our mistakes” The mistakes the government continually covers up and keeps secret to the public. The autobots want to do the “right ” thing to save the population.

In the scene where another autobot Bumble Bee, risks his own capture to save Sam, the boy who hold the key to where the cube is hidden. Bubble Bee is captured by the government, the look in the eyes and the cries for help are the most heart wrenching part of the movie, it brought tears to my eyes, and I could actually feel his pain. As Americans we are faced with the fear of destruction daily.

Toward the end when Megatron is going after Sam for the cube, Sam is holding on to a pillar at the top of a building and megatron asks Sam “what compels you boy, is it fear or courage?” I believe, for Sam, and us as Americans, it is a little of both. Fear of the Decepticons destroying his world and the courage to save his new found friends and the environment he lives in.

As you read this you may say that I’m crazy, well maybe I am but, these are my opinions, my believes, and how movies are being used to show a different side of the world we know. We have the right to choose for ourselves what to believe and I am beginning to see movies and my surroundings in a whole new light.

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 16

“Transformers” heavy on action, light on story

Longtime fans of the “Transformers” toy and cartoon series were outraged when it was announced that Michael Bay would direct the live action adaptation. Those fans had no need to worry. After seeing his vision of “Transformers,” it is obvious that no one but Bay could have made this movie work.

The cartoon series always had the simplest of plots, so animators could cut to the big fight scenes and allow kids to hurry out and make their parents buy the toys. It’s only fitting that a faithful adaptation of a cartoon would feature a thin plot heavy on action and adrenaline-pumping excitement but light on actual plot. “Transformers” fit the description of a Michael Bay film perfectly before it was even made.

Bay has a talent for crafting visually vibrant action sequences, almost always at the expense of character development (see “The Rock” for a best-case example and “Pearl Harbor” for a worst-case example). With this film, Bay gets to show off his skills at getting gigantic computer-generated robots to smash into each other. Every trick in his book-overdone explosions, heavily reliance on slow motion, quick edits-is on display here. Again, the plot in his film is a meager formality; for Bay, he earns his money on the action sequences, and with “Transformers,” he earned himself a big payday.

The plot focuses on the civil war between two races of living robots from the planet Cybertron. The beings from the planet get into a huge fight over control of a cube called the “Allspark,” which is composed of pure energy. The destructive Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) want to use it for nefarious purposes, while the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen) want its power for good.

The war causes Cybertron to be destroyed and the allspark to be thrown across the universe. The transformers track the cube to Earth. The Decepticons arrive first and attack U.S. troops stationed in Qatar in order to infiltrate military software and discover the cube’s whereabouts.

Meanwhile, a nerdy teenager named Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) discovers that the beat-up old Camaro he just bought seems to be coming to life. It is actually the Autobot Bumblebee (voiced by Mark Ryan). Bumblebee is on a mission to locate Sam, whose grandfather first encountered the cube in 1895. Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and the Autobots must now find the cube and destroy it before the

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 24

Darkness. Optimus Prime’s voice (that of the immortal Peter Cullen) echoes through space as stars fade into view. For a second, for just a second, I think things are going to be ok.

Then I start listening to the words. “Autobots… Decepticons.” Good. “Devastating war that destroyed our whole civilisation.” Great. “Allspark Cube”. Grea… Hang on.

I’m looking at a huge cube, rather remeniscent of the Borg, floating through the void. Apparently, it has the power to create mechanical life. And guess – no – just GUESS, where it’s landed. As Prime melodramatically announces, “a tiny planet, called… EARTH.”

But I’m willing to accept all this. It’s ok for blockbuster adaptations to mess with the canon a bit. But only if it’s done well. And in this movie, it really isn’t.

Now we’re in Qatar. Patriotic, heroic American soldiers are on duty in the Middle Eastern desert, clearly not unnecessarily referencing in any way any current affairs. But fine, I say, I’ll let them off, because suddenly the first Decepticon arrives in the form of an unmanned helicopter. Cue brilliant CG battle between giant stompy robot with energy weapons and the desperate soldiers.

But that’s what’s always so painful about these movie adaptations: they’re so damn pretty. Industrial Light and Magic have outdone themselves with the animation in Transformers, but it’s the WAY it’s done that bothers me.

Optimus Prime doesn’t NEED fiery decals to make him cool. Yes, he transforms into a truck cab. But he’s still cool: he’s Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. In the original, Bumblebee is a VW Bug, not a souped-up Camaro. And their FACES. They look like freaking robot gorillas. And where’s Prime’s face mask? He wears it about three times in the whole film. To console myself I took to putting my hands in front of my face, pretending to wear it myself.

But let’s get back to the story. Basically the whole plot is formed around a tenuous link to eBay, with Megatron having crashed into the Arctic hundreds of years ago and been frozen, except for a brief moment of accidentally shooting a map to the Allspark Cube onto old explorer Witwicky’s glasses (does he often do this, we are forced to wonder?), which are later being sold on the Internet by Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky. You can almost imagine the moment in the scriptwriting session when they thought up this idea:

“Hey, we could reference eBay!”

“Cool! Because, you know, people use that in real life!”

“Yeah, but this would be in

More than meets the eye: Anticipating the release of the Transformers movie – Part 9

I cannot wait. The days are dripping by far too slowly, but July 4 is getting closer. Soon I will see the live-action movie version of my favourite fantasy, and I could not be more excited.

Oh, wait, yes I could.

As some will have guessed from my posting name, I am a big fan of the Transformers. I collected the comics and played with the toys as a kid, saw them fade away as a teenager, only to welcome them back as a young adult. I loved the animated movie released in 1986 – in fact, it made me want to be a writer. I wanted to create stories that would be as imaginative and fun as that movie was for me.

Now I’m in my 30’s, but still very much a boy at heart. I’ve been following the progress of the new movie, reading posts on the official site message-boards every day. I know many of the plot points, I’ve seen all three trailers and TV spots, I saw designs and still images long before they were meant to be released to the public. I’ve joined on-line discussions, posted my own threads, and even had no less than three dreams of seeing the movie!

I’m serious. Actual dreams of going to a movie theatre and seeing the film. You don’t get more fan-obsessed than that. At least, I don’t want to meet anyone who is.

And yes, my expectations for this film are probably a little high. I can’t help it – this is, like I said, my favourite fantasy. However, I have been let down before, and I am not without my misgivings. This is a Michael Bay film, after all. I’ve enjoyed Michael Bay’s films – The Rock and The Island especially – but he does have a tendency to go over the top. And he seems to love melodrama. When he’s trying to be serious, the result is often laughable. However, he does make fun action films, with likable characters. Transformers seems like the perfect vehicle for what he does best. I can count on good fun and big booms, but likely not much depth.

I’m also worried the human characters will do most of the fighting and destroying of the enemy Transformers, the Decepticons. I don’t want that! I want the heroic Transformers, the Autobots, to take the Decepticons down. Can’t really explain this one, except to say it is a fan thing. I love the Decepticons as much as the Autobots, and want them to be unstoppable conquerors until the Autobots arrive. Having the human military defeat them would seem wrong, somehow.

The movie will be out soon, and I have little doubt I’ll enjoy it. If, however, I don’t, it won’t destroy Transformers for me. It will still be my favourite fantasy, albeit one in search of a better movie. From what I’ve seen so far, though, it looks really cool.

I can’t wait.

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