I've never been too into shooting games. I tried getting into Halo, with no success, and never had any interest in games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Borderlands, which seems like it has a good sense of humor, appealing graphics, etc., never even grabbed my attention.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the fourth release based on the Transformers film franchise, though the new release is the first game developed by Edge of Reality, who take over for the departed High Moon Studios.

has a few bright spots; the co-op Escalation mode is enjoyable, and there are cool weapons befitting the bots. But the bland campaign is a slog with uneven difficulty, while vehicle transformations and combat are largely unsatisfying. Without nailing that, you've got a bad Transfomers game.

Escalation mode; Gun selection

Unexciting combat; Disappointing vehicles; Unsatisfying rewards

It's hardly one of the great mysteries of our age, but I'll never understand why Call of Duty is often explicitly called out for its bombastic Michael Bay tendencies, yet the official games of Michael Bay's Transformers movies are so tame in comparison, despite coming from the same publisher.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is kind of an oddity. On the one hand, it's built around more or less the same game engine that High Moon Studios has used to such great effect in the first two Transformers: Cybertron games (two favorites of mine).

Game: Transformers: Rise Of The Dark Spark Platforms: Played on Xbox One, available on PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, 3DS, Price: 59.99 "Can I play a game?" "Is it violent?" Said my mom, aware most Xbox One content was pretty gross.

The Autobot's are once again fighting against the Decepticons, to not only save their own existence, but also the whole universe (no pressure then). The Autobots will stop at nothing to prevent an ancient Cybertronian artefact known as the Dark Spark which has unimaginable powers falling into the...

Peter Cullen once again lends his voice as Optimus Prime; Escalation provides some tension that the campaign can't provide; Good variety of weapons

Seems a backward step to Fall of Cybertron; Muggy; brown last gen like visuals; Interest in storyline was quickly lost; Levels soon become repetitive; Needed More Megatron & Grimlock; End boss battle is woeful; Competitive multiplayer has been removed; Clearly an unfinished product

It was good but thought it could of been better

After the two amazing "Cybertron" video games by High Moon, I had high hopes for this installment, which unfortunately turned out to be a rushed and unpolished movie tie-in piece of crap gaming experience.

For anybody that has grown up since the 1980's, you have likely experienced at least some version of Transformers. Whether it is the old G1 series, the