At long last Activision and Hasbro finally, get it right. No cheaply tossed-together movie-based Transformers game with abysmal combat and dollar-store-style graphics. Introducing Transformers Devastation. This a real Transformers game based on the old cartoon that so many people love, including me. With the classic Megatron, Optimus Prime, and all the rest of the Autobots and 
Decepticons, the story follows the Autobots as they fight to stop Megatron and his plot to terraform planet Earth into a new Cybertron.
As always, Optimus fights alongside his friends for the sake of humanity and is willing to throw down his life when necessary. Now as far as combat goes, it feels a bit sluggish at times but is easily adaptable, as it is in previous Transformers games where you mainly just had to point and shoot and hope you don’t die. This iteration has been given an upgrade where you can now freely counter enemy movements, as well as a dodge.
Another upgrade to the combat system is that you can now buy a movie list that is universal for all playable characters (Optimus, Bumble Bee, Grimlock, etc.). There’s also an upgrade system in the game where each weapon can be leveled up to increase its strength. There are also completely new weapons with which to equip your Autobots. However, I do have to say I wish this was a little more thought out, as the system for upgrading weapons seems to be a bit more effort than it’s worth. Even after fully upgrading the weapons you will always find better ones after clearing a stage, and they can also be fully upgraded to be really good.
Another thing you can do to make combat easier now is to add upgrade chips to your Autobots. These have various abilities, such as increasing your character’s stats, overall health, how much experience or Energon you can collect, and so on. However these upgrade chips are more of a gamble, as a lot of the ones you get have to be made by Wheeljack, and their effects are completely random.
The story has been really enjoyable, and I feel like I’ve been thrown back in time playing through this game. With just how many classic Transformers have shown up, and with their original voice actors reprising their roles for this game, I’ve found it incredibly reminiscent. Yes, there are still a lot of issues that need fixing if they ever plan to make a sequel (or another Transformers game in general). But Activision has done well to fix a lot of the previous issues and is finally on the right track to making an even better Transformers title.
Final thoughts regarding Transformers Devastation? I wish I could interact with the world more, instead of just traveling around a location. It would be nice to have a completely open world where we can fly around, climb buildings and fight thereon. But for a game franchise that has been pretty bad until now, it’s okay to take baby steps.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!