Beast Wars: Transformers (PlayStation)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.0 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Josh Smith
• Reviewed on: 02/24/1998
• Updated on: 04/28/2000
• Released on: 12/05/1997
• Originally published on GameSpot: Beast Wars: Transformers (PlayStation) Review

Beast Wars is an imperfect but fun over-the-shoulder shooter - along the lines of Alone in the Dark, MDK, or Broken Helix. The game is an official Transformers license, with eight initial characters to choose from, including Megatron, Optimus Primal, and Dinobot, and more to unlock along the way. For those not familiar with the Beast Wars version of the Transformers series, here's the fundamental concept: One minute they're robotic killing machines, then at the touch of a button their heads flip around, their arms go all crazy, and all of a sudden they're tarantulas or dinosaurs or gorillas. It's insane.

In the PlayStation adaptation, the beast form isn't so powerful. It's only in robotic form that you can shoot cannons, missiles, and... more guns. However, you're trapped on a world with all this exposed radioactive material, called energon, that's highly volatile, not to mention deadly to you as long as you remain in robot form. In addition to the usual health meter, you've got an energon resistance meter, that continually ticks down as long as you remain in your more powerful incarnation. Once it's entirely depleted, you start taking damage, fast. In beast form, however, not only are you immune to the ill effects of the stuff, your resistance meter regenerates. So plan on spending a lot of time running around as a monstrous yet surprisingly innocuous beast - that's right, even Dinobot in his mighty-looking T-Rex form can't even bite enemy droids, forcing him to run into packs of opposition forces and take a little damage during the time it takes to transform. While this process does have a certain Power-of-Greyskull charm initially, taking damage every time you want to deal it out gets old fast.

Beast Wars' targeting is terrible. Rather than just shooting straight ahead, the game has an automatic targeting system that frequently locks on the wrong enemy or falls off the right one. You can turn targeting off in the game options menu, but that just gets rid of the sight. Vertical targeting is so bad, it's as though your enemies are playing in 3D, but you're not. When you're being shot at from overhead, if you miss your initial opportunity to take out the pesky flyer, you're out of luck. Using the L1 button to move the camera, you can certainly look up, but the CPU may or may not allow you to lock onto an overhead target after its first pass. Targeting issues can sometimes be avoided by backing up whenever you're in combat - oddly, this seems to "trick" most enemies into your sights properly - but if you miss more than a couple of opportunities to take out flying opponents, plan on taking a lot of damage before you're given another chance to shoot back, as the enemy makes pass after pass at you with no chance of reciprocation.

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