The Transformers
Earth has been invaded by extraterrestrial shapechanging robots which have made our planet their battleground. The struggle between the good Autobots and the evil Decepticons centers around energy as the objective is to collect four pieces of the Energon Cube and getting them back to the Autobot base. The Decepticons will do their best to get in the way and use the cubes to their own nefarious means. You as the player control five Autobots that can either be in robot or vehicle form. You move around the platforms searching for the cubes. While in robot form you can either walk or fly, but while in vehicle form you drive around the platforms. Defensa-Pod can be used to switch between Autobots. Once all the cubes are collected the game repeats at a higher difficulty. Each Autobot has shields that deplete when shot at or hit by an enemy Decepticon, when all the Autobots are destroyed, it is Game Over.
| Released | 1985 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Denton Designs |
| Publisher | Ocean Software |
Platforms & ports
Screenshots
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Video
History
The Transformers is a platform shoot 'em up game based on the Transformers franchise. It was written by Denton Designs and released by Ocean Software for the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers in 1986.
Gameplay
In the game, the Autobots are searching for four parts of an energon cube which have been scattered around a city, which consists of a number of platforms and ladders. The Decepticons are also seeking the energon cube, and will destroy the Autobots in order to retrieve it.
The player controls five Autobots: Optimus Prime, Hound, Jazz, Mirage and Bumblebee, one at a time. When not in use, the Autobots hide in Defensa-Pods; while inside these pods they cannot be harmed, and slowly recharge their energy. The Decepticons are represented by Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Buzzsaw, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Ravage, Frenzy and Rumble. The Decepticons can regenerate and do not transform.
Each Autobot has three attributes (Shields, Power and Weapons) with each character having them in different distributions (Optimus Prime has a high Power rating, average Shields and low Weapons, while Mirage has a high Weapons rating but lower Power and Shields).
Each character can transform between their vehicle and robot forms by facing forward and pressing the fire button. Unlike the cartoon, all the Autobots can fly while in robot form, although they travel faster by using their vehicle modes. Driving off the end of platforms or into stationary objects will cause the character to die.
Reception
The game's received mixed reviews - Sinclair User gave the game 4 stars out of five, while Your Sinclair gave it 6/10 and Crash gave it 60%.
Max Phillips from Your Sinclair said the game was "slick but nothing new, the keyboard controls are awful and the cassette inlay is diabolical" while John Gilbert of Sinclair User said "Transformers is a game where a high score is all-important, and I am sure that once you have found the energy cube you will still enjoy a scrap with the Decepticons".
When asked, in an interview with Julian Rignall of Crash, which of their games they were least pleased with, Ally Noble, one of the developers of The Transformers admitted that it was "definitely Transformers... it's really a personal thing, we all like different products, but I think Transformers was an embarrassment".
Adapted from Wikipedia , licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may have been shortened.