Transformers

Transformers fever is cranking up nicely in time for their new blockbuster film, which has been the subject of plentiful hype and speculation since it was first announced.

Will Optimus Prime look good on the big-screen? Will one of the Transformers turn into an iPod or a PSP? And will there be a dancing scene reminiscent of that Citroen advert with the giant robo-car? Soon, all will be revealed. (Although we're guessing 'No' to that last one.)

Glu Mobile is releasing the official tie-in mobile game to the film, which has been subject to almost as much secrecy since it was first announced a few months ago.

It's likely to sell like the clappers, too, seeing as it can be summed up in a nutshell as: 'You playing Optimus Prime, blasting baddies. And yes, you can turn into a truck at will'.

But is the game any good? Well...

Before explaining why Transformers isn't the amazing mobile game it could've been, we'll outline the basics. You play as Prime, who in between platform levels takes instructions and guidance from Bumblebee, who's been niftily rendered in 3D to float on your screen while talking to you.

There is a plot, which is a bit hokum and can be summarised as 'The good-guy Autobots have to kick the robo-arse off the baddie Decepticons'. (Sadly there's no space for cameos from He-Men, Star Wars figures and the Big Yellow Teapot – but then our childhood bedroom adventures were always overly all-inclusive.)

The between-level bits are atmospheric and show high production values; it's the actual platform action is where Transformers gets a bit meh.

You can run, jump, and turn into a truck by pressing down at any point. Meanwhile, pressing '5' whips out your big gun, ready to auto-fire whenever an enemy comes into range. If that sounds a bit easy, well, you can't just keep pumping bullets ad infinitum – an energy bar rapidly decreases, and if it gets to the bottom, you have to stop to reload or recharge your weapon. But yes, it is still a bit easy, not least because while you can fire anywhere on the screen, drone enemies seem to only be able to fire ahead in a straight line.

Turning into a truck has two uses: you can ram enemies, or use it to get through spaces too low for you to walk through. As a robot, things are more traditional; when you're right next to a baddie, you can press '1' or '3' to try and sock 'em with an uppercut. On some levels, you can get help, too – for example Ironhide scoots down to punch through impassable walls for you.

Transformers isn't a bad game, by any stretch of the imagination. Controlling Prime is smooth enough, the levels look pretty good, although hardly breathtaking, and there are several boss battles to break up the basic platform levels. Glu has also used a neat branching structure to take you through the game, leaving scope to go back and retry levels you bypassed.

But it's nevertheless underwhelming. The core platform action feels repetitive and formulaic, and the game doesn't make best use of the rich Transformers universe. Armies of giant robots who transform into cars and blow the living daylights outta one another should make for a more exciting experience than a quite-good platform game.

Instead, this feels like a standard platform game with Optimus Prime slapped into it. While that might provide a quick fix for Transformers fans, it could and should have been much, much better.