Introduction

One of the most well known action figure lines comes to movie theaters in live action with the July 4 release of the Transformers film. Accompaning the movie is the game from developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Activision which promises to bring big Autobot-vs-Deception action to consoles and the PC this summer. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with the game's producer Callum Godfrey to find out more about their plans for the Transformers movie game.

FiringSquad: First, when the time came to start designing the Transformers movie game what were the team's main goals?

Callum Godfrey: The main goals were to ensure that the game lives up to the movie’s standards and the franchise as a whole. This summer people will be blown away by the film. We have seen most of it now and it is really shaping up to be something special. The game had to capture the sense of power, scale and grandeur that is inherent with the Transformers IP.

FiringSquad: How did Traveller's Tales get the gig to make the game?

Callum Godfrey: We wanted a team with a proven track record at making good movie based games, working to tight timelines, and who have their own sense of style. Traveller’s Tales fit the bill perfectly.

FiringSquad: How much does the game follow the plot of the movie and does it add scenes that are not in the movie?

Callum Godfrey: The game runs two campaigns, one for Autobots and one for Decepticons. The Autobots campaign follows the main movie story closely, expanding on a few elements as we need to. For the Decepticons campaign we still follow the main events of the movie, but they have a little more luck.

FiringSquad: We have heard that the game will allow players to control both Autobots and Decepticons. How does the gameplay experience differ between the two factions?

Callum Godfrey: There are dual stories and outcomes, plus missions will be themed more towards the moral alignments of each faction. So Decepticons will be more focused on destruction where as Autobots take on a more protective role.

FiringSquad: What Transfomers will be available in the game and what abilities and weapons will they have?

Callum Godfrey: There will be 9 playable characters in the game, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Barricade, Blackout, among other characters.
The weapons will mirror the style of the film. We had a big meeting back in December with Michael Bay where he gave us some insight in to how the film was going to shape up and we moved to follow their lead.

FiringSquad: We've heard that the game will have ground, driving and flying missions. Can you give us some specific ideas on how the missions will be handled?

Callum Godfrey: As a Transformers character you can change into a wide range of cool vehicles, and the mission design has to cater for this. We gear missions towards a characters abilities in both robot and vehicle forms. For example, Blackout is much more destructive, with missions that cater for both destruction in robot form or from the air as a helicopter.