Getting ready to play the Wii game

Nintendo Wii
I hope the other guys don’t bag on this version too much, because I don’t feel that it was set up to get a fair shake. Due to space limitations, I had to stand closer to the sensor than was probably good, and there was inexplicably no sound on the Wii version. This led to embarrassment for me (I have a Wii) and I sucked at the Wii version. I’m talking sucked hardcore, like an industrial vacuum with Cybertronian technology in the engine. I was having a lot of trouble with the camera until I was told how to re-center it (the minus button) and stepped back a bit so that I stopped messing up the sensor. The Wii version had us playing as Starscream terrorizing a military airfield after choosing his alternate mode. I tried to play a mission where I had to destroy satellite dishes that were jamming my radar and Decepticon communications, but I failed when time ran out. I just couldn’t find that last set of dishes.

The Wii controls have you using the wiimote and nunchuk attachment. The analog on the nunchuk controls your basic movement, and the wiimote controls your targeting reticule. In flight as Starscream, the target reticule controls what direction you fly while the analog stick controls speed. Melee attacks are performed by waggling the wiimote, and light or heavy ranged attacks are performed by the A or B buttons. You can lock onto enemies with a button on the nunchuk. Stuff like transforming or boosting in vehicle mode are controlled by the digital cross pad, and I found it kind of hard to access at first. The Wii controls do work, and the reticule was nice and responsive, but I would personally prefer one of the high-def versions.

Joe and I play the PS3 version

PS3
Here we got to play as Barricade at nighttime (with sound) and it appeared to be the Decepticon version of the Bumblebee hub that was demoed for us earlier. This was my first time experiencing the game with a more conventional controller, but I still had some problems getting used to the controls. The PS3’s Sixaxis controls do come into play, but only as aerial characters like Starscream, so I didn’t experience any of it as Barricade. I spent a lot of time in the suburbs destroying houses and tossing cop cars at other cop cars. I did try to complete a mission wherein I had to beat up Bumblebee. Let me tell you, he’s not the wimp he was in the G1 cartoon. I got my butt kicked by that yellow punk no less than four times. This was actually not a great mission for me to demo though, because it was really repetitive. You would put up your shields when Bumblebee charged his blast attack, move in, block again, and then beat him till he fell down. Repeat those steps until he runs away, then you chase him and do it all over again. There was no variety and Bumblebee literally had no other attacks in that battle. I’m not saying all the battles are like that, but that one was really weaksauce. It felt weird blowing stuff up without the controller vibrating, but that’s not an issue with the game. I also asked the guys if they would be supporting trophies for the PS3 Home system. The response was that it’s really too early to do anything for that, so don’t expect Sony’s answer to achievements on the PS3 version.

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