Transformers Age of Extinction Mobile Game Review

Game Discontinued on Mobile

This Game has now been discountinued on mobile. Try one of our other Transformer Games Available Here for mobile.

Needs More of Bay's Touch

It is hard to not be disappointed with Transformers: Age of Extinction since it has all the basic elements of what is supposed to be a pretty fun game to play. Putting aside all the silliness of the live-action look for Optimus Prime and the rest of Cybertron's refugees, the game had the freedom to get away from all the things that made the films ridiculous to watch. However, the game distanced itself a little too much –what made the movies good was also not in the game. And by that, we meant the great camera work.

What is Transformers: Age of Extinction?

TF: AoE is an endless runner mobile game that tries to simulate the events of the live action Transformers film. Of course, the story is just an approximation –which is good since the actual on-film narrative is not worth knowing, at all. This means that the players get to focus on the important part of the app: the gameplay.

The game is played from behind-the-person/Autobot view, and you have the ability to strafe left or right, shoot, perform a melee attack, jump, or transform into a fast moving vehicle. Obstacles and hostiles will be coming at you and you will have to avoid or eliminate them in order to stay alive. Whenever you kill Decepticon units, they will drop energon which can then be used for upgrading your units.

Players are given a choice of Autobots to play as, ranging from Optimus Prime, to Bumblebee, to the newly introduced and G1 favorite Grimlock, and other characters (Ironhide, Hound, Sideswipe, Jazz, and more). There are four main stages in the game and there are plenty of events that feature a variety of bosses that allows players to earn special items if they rank high enough during the event.

While Others Stand, This One Falls

The biggest problem with TF:AoE mobile is that it lacks one key factor that makes all other endless runners so successful: addictiveness. The game is lacking in the sense of satisfaction that you can get for getting good runs. And this is entirely due to the fact that it is blandly delivered. Giant robot enemies die with a whimper, the backgrounds are dull, and the way the Autobots move is so generic that you hardly feel the force and power of being able to control giant robots that transform into vehicles. And speaking of vehicles, the 3D models for the cars are badly proportioned that it feels like the Autobots are losing a lot of mass when they transform. It does not help too that the energon costs for stuff is pretty high which makes grinding such a tedious and boring chore. Sadly, this game could have used the Michael Bay touch.

Why More Bayformers?

Michael Bay gets a lot of flak for the way he pretty much ruins the whole Transformers series with his live action, human-character-centric films. But regardless of how the story pans out, the director is undoubtedly famous for his ability to deliver epic cinematography and a literal orgy of explosions shot on film. Bay's approach to camera angles, panning, framing, and overall scene composition is epic. This is what Transformers: Age of Extinction should have had –and they needed it in spades.

Sure, it was hard to tell what the giant robots were doing whenever they get into a melee scuffle (Bay hasn't shot a decent fist-fight, ever). But he can work with projectile based combat (and the explosions those tend to cause) pretty well. He also like blowing up large buildings and causing massive urban destruction: two major things that need to happen in the game's environments. The point here is that we are already looking at a game that is based on a terrible CGI film and since it is already taking a lot of the movie's worst features (the main plot, the robot designs, etc) they might as well adapt the features that made the film successful.

The Verdict: Made for Event Hogs

It would be hard to say that this game would be a great fit for fans of the original animated series or even fans of the live action movies, but Transformers: Age of Extinction sure has a lot to offer for players who like the concept of online rankings. The monthly/bi-monthly events of the game offer a lot in terms of rewards and impressive prizes. If you are a highly competitive player, you might enjoy this game more than the fans it was supposed to target.

Rating: 79/100