You could say I had a misspent childhood; a childhood that consisted of reading Transformers comics, watching Transformers cartoons and, of course, playing with Transformers action figures. You could say I was a tad obsessed with the world of Autobots and Decepticons – and whilst admitting to a prepubescent love of the robots in disguise may seen slightly embarrassing now that I’m all grown up and wizened by the world, just think, it could have been a lot worse. I could have admitted to an obsession with He-Man, a character who by today’s standards fits the bill perfectly for an over-muscled Chippendale. Now that would have been worrying…

Anyway, enough about my wanton childhood, let’s talk about War for Cybertron. It’s a game that is firmly based upon the old Marvel comic book version of Transformers and not the frankly appalling, big budgeted Hollywood version. Unfortunately, it turns out this game has more in common with the franchised movie than the far superior comics.

Set on their home planet of Cybertron – a world that is gripped in the throes of a civil war between the two factions – this is a third-person shooter that presents you with endless wave after wave of robots to destroy. There are two campaigns you can play through, allowing you to take the side of the Autobots or Decepticons. Having said that, the actual campaigns you play through are largely the same as each other.

There are 15 hours of gameplay here, but with sod-all variety, you will quickly become bored. After the first few levels, you have seen virtually all the game has to offer. You run into an area, take cover and then start shooting at enemy robots. Again and again and again. It never ends!

Yes you do get the ability to shape-shift from a robot to a vehicle, I’ll give the developers that, but 99% of the time, you will be involved in gunfights and the racing and flying action is few and far between. Maybe if the game was split more equally between robot and vehicle, things may have been more interesting, but alas it was not to be.

Transformers is a game that really seems like a missed opportunity. A real missed opportunity. It could have been so much better if more variety was implemented in the proceedings, but as it is this is a gamer that is hard to recommend even for die-hard enthusiasts like myself who are crying out for a bit of nostalgia. Incredibly average.