Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark Media
Critic Reviews for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
A good Transformers game has good transforming and good robot-blasting. Rise of the Dark Spark has neither.
But then, low-level disappointment hangs over Rise of the Dark Spark in a constant fog. It is, at best, a functional shooter that asks little of the player and offers the bare minimum in return. Though it pains me to say it, if there's to be another Transformers game to coincide with the inevitable fifth movie, a little of Michael Bay's bullish mayhem would go a long way in livening up this increasingly dull formula.
While far from the worst Transformers game, Rise of the Dark Spark's interesting ideas are eclipsed by bland action and frustrating design.
A shameless cash-in attempt is only redeemed by passable cooperative multipayer
Offering no more than meets the eye, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is just a shallow, frustrating, and incoherent third-person shooter.
The last few Transformers video games bucked the trend of subpar licensed products, instead giving us the Transformers games we always wanted as kids. Perhaps the PlayStation and Xbox versions of Rise of the Dark Spark are just as high-quality as their predecessors, but on Wii U, Rise of the Dark Spark is everything Nintendo fans have come to loathe about movie tie-ins and multiplatform gaming: a lazy port with missing features that treats Nintendo players like second-class citizens.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark isn't an awful game, but it's a long way short of the bar set by High Moon.