It's like playing the cartoons

The novelty of being a Transformer, fighting other Transformers, is neat, I just wish the game was better...

Honest, I enjoy the Transformers as a property, but being able to play as some Gen 1 icons is about all that this has going for it. The gameplay is pretty rough, honestly, reliant as it is on what I call "specificity."

That sounds high-falutin', I know, but how I mean is, ever play a fighting game that relies on super immediate prompts? Or, better yet, quick time events that will mess you up if you don't press the button at the EXACT correct time? That's kind of every fight, here, be it with the bosses or the grunts.

It's a shame, because there is a lot of character in pretty much everything on screen, but this is functionally a fighter game that doesn't have the archetypal "Imma attack you" reaction prompts line up with when you are supposed to dodge the attack, forcing my perspective to be focused too much on the guy signaling he's trying to hit me as opposed to the other threats in the arena actually hitting me, which is intensely frustrating.

Likewise, I'd say a good brawler would allow me to fight how I wish, but here? No no, this is a shieled enemy, you need to do the rush attack or else he'll immediately counter you, with damage. This guy is a flyer, you need to bring him down with ranged.

I hated certain moments in both Spider-Man and Arkham City where there are just a butt-ton of guys who all need different gimmicks to fight, but mess up your day if you don't do the RIGHT thing, at the RIGHT time, to the RIGHT guy...

It's a pretty game. It's a neat story. It even has fun progression and I'd say decent exploration. First and foremost, though, is it's an arena brawl fighter game...that makes some critical mistakes as an arena brawl fighter game.