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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen reminds us of the blockbuster film: action-packed, at times flashy and ultimately forgettable. It's a by-the-numbers third-person shooter with repetitive missions that never rise above the usual protect this/shoot that/kill the evil robots fodder we expect from other movie-based games. Unfortunately, Activision made it worse with unimpressive voice acting, at times lame environments and an upgrade system that seems a bit too advanced for such mindless fodder. Now factor in the awkward controls -- you transform with the right trigger and must keep it held down to remain in vehicle form (in addition to releasing it while pressing a face button to perform another attack) -- and the game's more frustrating than it should've been.

Make my day, Megatron!

Thankfully, it's better than the previous Transformers game. Although the ability to choose sides (Autobots or Decepticons) results in subtle variations of the same boring missions, we still had brief moments of fun shooting things, crashing through objects and climbing buildings. Each robot has its own special moves and weapons (Bumblebee's EMP blast, Megatron's insane one-hit kill cannon), and we enjoyed experimenting with them all and transforming into trucks, fighter jets and sports cars.

Activision also deserves bonus points for decent online multiplayer. We've seen the modes before (Battle for the Shards plays similar to Capture the Flag, while One Shall Stand challenges you to protect your team's leader), but the frantic four versus four matches involve decent amounts of strategy and of course, lots of blasting.

It all amounts to a game that'll keep you busy for a few hours, but only because you want to unlock bonus content or score achievement points/trophies. If you're into disposable content and transforming robots, Revenge is a decent rental.

Chris Buffa is GameDaily's senior editor. He enjoys easy achievement points, first person shooters and starting trouble.