Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Wii)

Reviewed by

Chris Watters

on 06/29/2009

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Page 2

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallenscreenshot

Optimus punches his way through the streets of Shanghai.

As you progress, you'll encounter tougher foes and need to maneuver a bit more to stay healthy. You'll also come to rely more on your melee attack, which is powerful and keeps your enemies from shooting you. Dodging and punching are executed by shaking the nunchuk and remote, respectively, which makes for a lot of waggling in the latter half of the campaign. There are a number of different melee attacks and combos, but performing them all is tricky because of the not-so-great motion recognition and the ease with which enemies can interrupt your combos. This results in a lot of endurance waggling. It's an effective way to vanquish foes, but it's also boring and (eventually) painful.

Even if you take breaks often to avoid wrist pains, the campaign is over quickly. For variety's sake you can play through it cooperatively, but the second player plays as a floating attack drone with the remote only. The drone can shoot enemies and put up a shield to protect the Transformer and reflect enemy fire. This can be helpful, but it's also mildly distracting and can clutter up the screen, exacerbating the irregular and sometimes awkward camera. There is also an Arena mode in which two players (both real Transformers this time!) can fight relentless waves of enemies. As if the game needed more repetitive combat.

Revenge of the Fallen does include an unlockable episode of the original Transformers cartoon, but this is one of the few Transformer-y things the game gets right. The action seems designed around the idea that the coolest thing Transformers do is lumber around and punch other Transformers. The presentation is serviceable, but the campaign is painfully short (and kind of painful to boot). While Revenge of the Fallen isn't a criminally bad game, it definitely does a disservice to Wii owners and Transformers fans alike.