The Transformers: The Battle to Save the Earth (Tape)

This is a game I played quite a lot way back in the late eighties. I quite enjoy the game and it was a much better Transformers game then the effort by Denton/Ocean. If you can look past the less than great animated transformer graphics there is a fairly good game to be found. In the game, the decepticons want to steal the Earth's energy through the super experimental oil to direct energy rig and the oil pipeline. Your goal as the Autobots is to stop them! While you can't really stop them and the game always ends the same way, the idea is to slow them down and not allow them to collect energy as the game progresses. At the end of the game you should have a higher score than them and ultimately earn a medal for your trouble.

You get 8 Autobots to control, each one with different stats. Hotrod is the one you want to keep in action as he is pretty much one shot, one kill! And Bumblebee is the most useless. You are supposed to use them strategically but I ain't got time to figure that out. Because each autobot has a limited number of shots before needing to recharge, I will send at least 2 autobots to a location so that I can swap them out when needed. The order of events is always the same so you don't really need an autobot at every location all the time. Once the decepticons have met an objective, they won't visit that location again. They go to the oil rig between objectives to collect points which you should not allow them to do!

In the longplay I drag the levels out as long as I can to gain autobot points with the aim of getting a high ranking at the end. You don't need to shoot all over the place. Just try to anticipate where they will be and lead the target. Much easier if they are in robot form as they will always be moving to one place. Also very important is to just tap the fire button. Never hold the button as it will fire multiple shots which you have to complete before you can shoot in a new location, very annoying! The game can feel intense as the game doesn't give you much time to micromanage your autobots. When the decepticons change location you need to be ready to jump to that objective and/or move your autobots around. The game really ramps up at the end at the pipeline as the decepticons can absorb lots of energy points at this stage and gets a little tricky if one goes behind the hippo which you can't shoot until the hippo moves downwards after shooting the pipe.

This tape version of the game is massively cut down in comparison with the game fitting in a single load. At the start you choose which autobot gets a transform animation. The locations have also been cut down and simplified. Playing in Pal makes the game a little easier due to being slightly slower but most of all thanks to the lack of transform animations, you can direct the autobots much quicker as you move in and out of the map screen. This gives you much more time to micromanage everything. The ending is just a simple text screen and the score/rating is based on how much more energy than the decepticons you have accumulated.

If you should fail with a negative score at the end of the game then you get to choose one of seven tips to help in your next round.

Tip 1: Shoot oil pipe under hippo's mouth
Tip 2: One autobot has firepower of 10
Tip 3: Each plutonium rod strengthens Dino
Tip 4: Shoot in front of Dino's eyes
Tip 5: Setting ambush can anger Decepticons
Tip 6: Be careful not to shoot parachutes
Tip 7: Base cannot repair hurt Autobot 100%