‘TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials’ by 3Dclouds brings that nostalgia hit to a newer audience. Though the younger generation may not particularly appreciate the legacy that is Transformers, this title is a great way to introduce them to just how great this franchise is.

Opening with a very unexpected cutscene, this game is already setting a high standard amongst games aimed at the younger generation. The story opens with the devious Nemesis Prime who has stolen the powers of the Autobots, the Prime Relics. You must now race to recover them to imbue yourself again with the ancient powers. The story is pretty rudimentary but I appreciate it is there as a small driving force to collect game elements. It is a shame more cutscenes were not sprinkled throughout to give a bit of a backstory to some of these iconic characters.

As a typical arcade racing game, you must drive around tracks avoiding obstacles that get in your way, powersliding and drifting as you go. These can be acidic sludge, laser beams, electric traps, etc. Your Transformers have a shield, health, and boost bar, and along the drive, you can pick up more shields or boosts. Why does a car need a shield you might ask? Well, ingeniously and innovatively the driving is mixed up with gunplay.

At certain intervals during the race, your car is forced to transform and your character can gun down other drivers, take out turrets, or even unlock objective-based exits back to the track. I thought I would hate this for disturbing the race but it grew on me very quickly and I enjoyed taking out anyone that tried to pick me at the post.

There is also an insane amount of development throughout the game. Yes, there are cosmetics but it is the levelling system that is noticeably good. Winning races will unlock weapons that also have skills attached. Winning races AND completing challenges like killing 20 drones or finishing the race in 5 minutes will score you even more. Winning races will also net you the sort after relics linking it to the loose narrative.

These cards are buffs you can slot into your transformer at the start of a race to improve them. These might be things like 15% more shield or 10% more damage from weapons in blue commons up to Gold Artifacts which may boost a multiple of things to a higher value.

The game can be split into two distinct modes; ‘Galactic Trials’ and ‘Arcade’. ‘Arcade’ is your run-of-the-mill ‘Quick Plays’, where you can play with any unlocked transformers or tracks and replay the tutorial if you need refreshing.

Also in ‘Arcade’, you will find Championships where you can race in a series to rank as high as you can; mostly end-game stuff. ‘Galactic Trials’ is where you will spend most of your time initially as this is where you unlock tracks, skins and transformers from both the Decepticons and Autobots. ‘Galactic Trials’ are a tournament of tracks where you must finish first to proceed.

The graphics and sound, I must say, are of such a high quality for a children’s title. From the menu to the tracks, from the Autobots to Decepticons, the graphics are top-notch. Animations are clean and each character is teeming with charm and detail. My favourite character, and ‘go to’ in most races, Bumblebee has all the charisma you’d expect with his beeps and whistles as he throws up the peace sign for selecting him. The transformation animations are insanely cool to watch, as they flip through the air from car to robot and vice versa.

The soundwork is just as impressive. It has all the classic sounds. The transformation iconic whoop sound is there but also different explosions from the range of weaponry, and the hissing of tyres as you skid around a corner, all culminating in an awesome driving experience. It is also great hearing Optimus Prime jeer you on with ‘Autobots roll out’!

TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials is just a cool game. Turning into the robots adds such a fun element to what could have been just a typical arcade racer. Enjoying it more than my actual nephews who never lived through the die-hard transformer era, I can say I am more than impressed.

Written by: Stacey