The GS score on their review is a a bit harsh. This game is definitely worth playing.
I do of course respect the gripes that GS pointed out in their review and have a few of my own, but I would still rate this as a great game, and I am not an Optimus fanboy by any means. I will say the Campaign's clever throwbacks to Soundwave really made me smile.
I find that the game has a loose mix of Unreal-style fast paced action shooting with a nice multiplayer reward system similar to the Battlefield series. This is a good mix, and while the Battlefield-esque bits are not executed as well as they could have been the game is still a lot of fun.
I am in direct contradiction to GS on the feelings of how transformations integrate with the combat. They have done a great job of making the transformations more than just a way to move quick. Drop to tank form and bombard an enemy from afar; quickly shift out of jet form and drop into melee range right behind your enemy; speed into a group of enemies and switch to robot mode to release your special EMP style wave of destruction, and then zoom back out while your soldier buddy comes in to clean house. Yes, the transformations are clever and add a lot of strategy to the gameplay!
The campaign is cheesy as expected, but great fun... and the Autobot campaign is far more diverse and enjoyable. Co-op lends a great deal of replay to the campaign and the escalation mode is more fun and addictive than it should be. ( Think Left 4 dead, with robots... and yeah, the robots are just about as intelligent as the zombies ;- )
There are several areas where little improvements could have made this good game, a spectacular one... and for that, I hope there will be enough interest to develop an all-improved sequel. Sadly, the multiplayer servers appear to be pretty unpopulated.
Complaints:
*All games have a host. There are no dedicated servers. THIS IS FPS 101 guys... COME ON. So yeah, if the host quits, you lose all your XP progress.
*Your score should reflect your assists as well as your kills. It does not. You could be MVP for a match and have the worst score.
*Game modes other than deathmatch seem to have almost NO ONE playing them in the PC version. Not the game's fault I guess.... Go buy the game, PCers!!
*NO LAN SUPPORT. WHY?? I could sell more copies of this game RIGHT NOW, if there was LAN support. This is a perfect LAN Party game!
*Ammo hunting is slightly excessive. You should be able to carry more ammo than you can.
Complaints aside, the game is worth the $40 price tag for the PC version.