Transformers: Devastation (PS4) – our childhood in playable form

The creators of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising take on the robots in disguise, in one of the most unique action games of the year.

If you give a game a good review and it’s revealed you’re a fan of that franchise, or anything else to do with it, then there’s always calls of bias from those that don’t want to accept your verdict. Equally, if you don’t end up liking a game then some will complain that the review should’ve been carried out by someone with an existing affinity for the concept. In short you can’t win. But as a Transformer fan who ranks Platinum Games as one of the best developers working today, it feels like the jackpot has already been won with this game.



Being a Transformer fan though you tend to end up disliking more about the franchise than you enjoy, since it’s split into a myriad different continuities – all with very different takes on the characters. Although hating the Michael Bay films, while loving the animated movie, is usually a unifying sentiment there’s little else fans ever agree on. As British fans we grew up loving the UK comics and toys and considered the cartoon, which was clearly aimed at a slightly younger audience, disappointingly childish.

Americans and Japanese though tend to consider the cartoon by far the most important aspect of the franchise, and its influence on Devastation will be obvious to all. But It’s impossible to be churlish about that fact, because this is one of the impressive attempts at replicating the look and feel of an animated show that we’ve ever seen. Despite what seems to be a modest budget Platinum has done amazing work with the character models in particular, such that every screenshot looks like an animation cel.


Although director Kenji Saito’s biggest project for Platinum was Metal Gear Rising he also worked as lead software engineer on Bayonetta, the developer’s most famous franchise. And it’s that game which has the most obvious influence on Devastation, with a similar melee combat system and disregard for the laws of physics. As such, you control one of five ground-based Autobots (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Wheeljack, and Grimlock) who are armed with an ever increasing array of melee and ranged weapons.

The combos are shared between each character, and much less numerous than Bayonetta, but each character has their own distinctive abilities. Bumblebee can slip under enemies and attack them from behind, Wheeljack has a shield, Optimus Prime can whack them with his truck trailer, Sideswipe has a teleport style dash move, and Grimlock controls more like a wrestler. They all have special moves that take a while to charge too, which include various missile strikes and other more powerful attacks.

And of course there’s the fact that you can transform, which in melee combat is used as a finishing move at the end of a combo – as you attack in a flurry of punches or sword attacks before transforming into a car and accelerating in mid-air to smack your enemy in the face with you fender.

There’s also an equivalent to Bayonetta’s slow motion Witch Time and a small number of extra moves that can be bought when back at home base, which tend to be more difficult to pull off and include things such as reversals and parries. But there’s no pretending that the melee combat is anywhere near as technical as Bayonetta or other similar games, and certainly on normal difficulty almost all battles can be beaten with the same small sequence of moves.



It never stops the game being any less fun though and the way the transformations allow you to simply disengage from a fight and start burning round the area looking for health power-ups, and taking pot shots with your ranged weapons, is great. The vehicle controls are excellent, even though each fight area is quite small, and the camera is one of the best we’ve ever seen. There’s no lock-on, or any need for it, and although you have to keep manual control it almost always seems to be pointing the right way if you let go, and even ensuring a suitably cinematic view of the action.

Transformers: Devastation (PS4) – Optimus Prime landing on you must hurt

The boss battles are, as you’d expect from Platinum, excellent and importantly they go a long to making proper use of the Transformers concept. Regardless of being fans we’ve always maintained that characters that can instantly convert between humanoid and vehicle form are a perfect conceit for video games, but it’s been a technical challenge for previous consoles and even the otherwise good Fall Of Cybertron almost always presented enemies only in one form or the other.

In Devastation though even no-name cannon fodder will transform at will, using different tactics and abilities in each mode. And this continues into some of the more unique encounters too. A little over half the game is spent in what might generously be described as an open world Earth city. Don’t start thinking of GTA, as it’s more a sequence of small arenas linked by narrow streets, but if you’re not currently in a fight you can go wherever you want and there are a couple of great chase sequences.


One has you racing a ground-based Deception, where you desperately try to keep up and then launch yourself at him so he’ll transform and have a sword fight with you. Or there’s a great 2D chase on a bridge, with a transformer that turns into both a tank and jet fighter – which ends in what is one of the game’s best fights in a 3D arena on the other side.

The game’s only major weakness are the repetition of the moves in normal difficulty (you do have to be more inventive in hard mode, but it’s difficult enough that it’s not advisable to start there) and the weird upgrade system. Characters and weapons earn experience as you use them, but the benefit this brings is never very obvious. Defeating enemies or finding loot caches will shower you in extra weapons but these are mostly useless until you start synthesising them together to make stronger ones.

Transformers: Devastation (PS4) – even some of the generic enemies are huge

But this process is so time-consuming, and its effects so vague, that it becomes a real chore to sort through, especially as there quickly ends up being dozens upon dozens of near identical looking weapons. It also breaks down the distinction between characters and you start sharing most of the same weapons between them. A system of ability buffs is equally flawed in that to create them you have to play a mini-game to stop a cursor at the right time to make them more effective, which is also something we’d just rather not bother with.


When first previewing Devastation we described it as the dream Transformers game, but of course it’s not. The dream Transformers game would have a world map at least the size of GTA, the combat of both Gears Of War and Bayonetta, and a decent story with proper characterisation (Devastation is mostly cartoon-pandering fluff, although Bumblebee gets some funny lines and there’s a small attempt to create a moral quandary over the source of the game’s planet-destroying plot).

For budgetary reasons alone that’s probably never going to happen but the work Platinum has done here is hugely impressive given the limitations. And although they’re in well deserved trouble at the moment for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 we also congratulate Activision for actually supporting a mid-budget, medium-sized project like this – and even knocking £10 or so off the price as a result.

You don’t need to be a Transformers fan at all to appreciate Devastation. No matter what its origins this is a fantastic action adventure, with great combat and fun visuals. Bayonetta has clearly been an influence but that’s only one element in a game that transforms freely from melee fighter to racing game to platformer and back again. It is, in short, more than meets the eye.

Transformers: Devastation In Short: The best Transformers game so far but, more importantly, a hugely entertaining and original action game that is one of the most uniquely entertaining releases of the year. Pros: The action is well up to Platinum’s usual standards, with some great boss battles and missions, that really make the most out of the transformation gimmick. Great visuals and presentation. Cons: The melee combat doesn’t have quite the variety of Bayonetta et al. and the upgrade system for weapons and abilities is convoluted and unsatisfying. Score: 8/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and PC

Price: £39.99

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Platinum Games

Release Date: 9th October 2015

Age Rating: 12

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