''The Transformers'' is a platform shoot 'em up game based on the ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...

'' franchise. It was written by

Denton Designs Denton Designs was a British video game developer based in Liverpool. The company was founded in 1984 and initially specialised in developing software for the ZX Spectrum home computer. Amongst the founders were developers who had worked on the ...

and released by Ocean Software for the

Sinclair Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

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

Decepticon The Decepticons are the main antagonists in the fictional continuities of the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. They are depicted as a faction of sentient robotic lifeforms led by Megatron, identified by a purple face-like insignia. Capab ...

s 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 Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

and

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

, 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 Megatron is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the ''Transformers'' media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. Megatron is the cruel and tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, ...

, Soundwave,

Starscream Starscream is a fictional character in the ''Transformers'' media franchise. He is one of the most frequently occurring characters in the franchise, appearing in almost all of its different continuities. Starscream in generally depicted as the s ...

, Buzzsaw, Skywarp,

Laserbeak ''The Transformers'' is an American animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro's ''Transformers'' toy line. The first television series in the ''Transformer ...

, 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 ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' gave the game 4 stars out of five, while ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'' gave it 6/10 and ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' 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"''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers (1986 video game) 1986 video games Commodore 64 games Denton Designs games Ocean Software games Platformers Shoot 'em ups Single-player video games Transformers: Generation 1 video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Fred Gray Video games set in the United States ZX Spectrum games