TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition

作为steam唯二还在售卖的变形金刚游戏 这游戏最多值20（key也就这个价格）15年左右的手游水准

依托

As someone who never really had much experience in the Transformers franchise besides seeing the first Michael Bay film and owning some of the toys as a kid I figured maybe its about time to sit down and try to take it in. Since I'm more of a gamer than a show watcher I hopped right onto Steam and picked up 2023's Transformers: Earthspark - Expedition by Tessera Studios. This one presents itself as an action adventure game where you play as the fan favorite Autobot named Bumblebee while trying to thwart an evil cyborg named Mandroid from doing his misdeeds. Gameplay wise I'd say this one is interesting in that its maps are open world, however very lite. Kinda like an Assassins Creed-lite. The map has a main objective, and several side objectives. Main thing is to thwart Mandroids control over the map by stopping the mining machines, second to defeating his camps. After that you've got glyphs and cards to collect, as well as short minigame type missions given to us by the Terrans. There's a few of these, races, enemy beat'emups, platformer obstacle courses... they are all timed and will grant gold, silver or bronze rewards depending on how well you do. The rewards go directly into Bumblebees upgrade system, which we'll talk about in a moment. Before that, lets talk more about the general gameplay. Completing any of these actions around the map goes toward an overall progress bar that represents the status of Mandroids control. After we fill it up enough the main portion of the mining facility will open up which transitions us into a more linear underground level with an appropriate boss fight at the end. After beating the boss you pickup the Energon which grants a new ability that will be used to unlock further sections of the maps. An extra speed boost while in car mode, a grappling hook or a special laser shot which knocks down fortified gates. While most of the gameplay is in the combat itself there is a small minor in platforming. You'll have to jump around a few platforms here and there, however minimal. I also would like to point out that despite the ability to turn into a car, and there being a racing time trial challenge, the car mode is significantly lacking in things like the ability to properly brake and drift. It doesn't feel too good. The combat is button mashy. You get a punch, a kick and a shoot. The shooting does more stun damage than hit point damage while punching and kicking is the opposite. You can make combos by hitting the buttons in various combinations. On top of that when you do attack it'll slowly charge a much more powerful single use attack. I think there was ample opportunity to do more with the combat here. The combo list is pretty small, there aren't things like directional attacks or a hard/light punch if you hold the button down longer. There also is a dodge but no block, and no special attacks when jumping. There are a couple healing kits to use, as well as kits for shield and attack however those last two didn't feel like they did much. I think using the shield kit should of provided invulnerability instead of damage mitigation as knockbacks are always annoying. Enemy wise, the bosses do have their own mechanics which make up the best fights in the game however the vast majority of the time it feels a bit brainless. There are several different types of enemies, bots that hit or shoot, or have shields. Even dudes with crazy boomerangs, however mostly you'll just become overwhelmed and pattern your button pushes into a dodge behind enemy group, attack combo attack combo attack combo, dodge and repeat. I dunno, it just didn't do much for me. Objectively wasn't broken as much as just boring and unsatisfying. Upgrade wise, we'll have to return to the GHOST base to see which flavors these come in. Mainly we've got additional attack combos, the coolest ones turn Bumblebee into the car midfight. We also can change the special power attack as there are a variety of these. Finally there are also more traditional style RPG level up traits. Passives like additional HP or making your inflicted stuns last longer. There's also the cosmetic of the nitro boost trail and the car horn honk, if you're keen to change those. Final thoughts? As someone not attached to the Transformers fandom I don't think this one really did anything to entice me into the franchise. It felt really reminiscent of those bare minimum 2000's movie tie-in games that littered every game shelf. This one is very clearly designed for younger kids but even then I'm not sure how much they'd enjoy it. I was really disappointed that Bumblebee was the only playable character as I always thought a big part of the franchise popularity was in its strong design and use of many different characters. A real missed opportunity for the IP since the open world setup would of been really fantastic for inclusion of several different playable Autobots and Decepticons. I beat this one in just under 6 hours, and I wouldn't recommend it at full price, if you've got a kid that love the Transformers grab this one for'em during a sale. full review available on video here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt0-U3KAkIw