Transformers

Oh, how great the consequences of selling your old crap on eBay. Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf), high school student and hero, finds this out the hard way when a family heirloom turns out to be the pivotal clue in the battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

With the help of his transforming car, Bumblebee, Sam uncovers the truth about the robots and the mysterious power source they seek, while avoiding the evil Decepticons. Situations

like run-ins with a particularly vicious police car challenge the team and give new meaning to being pulled over.

The film has all the shape-shifting action you can dream up or remember from the cartoons. Helicopters, trucks, fighter jets and a stereo, among other items, twist and flip into the most amazing robotic weaponry. Massive battles between the U.S. military, and these ‘bots only prove that human guns are no match for alien cannons.

“”Transformers”” has it all, from the borderline cheesy romance to the gigantic inner-city shootouts. Even the clichǸd one-liners almost manage to disguise themselves behind the fast action, though at points the robots are so interlocked that it is hard to know which to root for.

An exciting flick that warrants a theater visit, “”Transformers”” will leave you craving your own set of action figures.

– Astrid Duffy

Transformers the game

Based on the summer blockbuster, “”Transformers: The Game”” is a multi-platform release, rushed to store shelves faster than you can say, “”Optimus Prime.””

The game, which is a great concept, is plagued by poor execution. Weak targeting, stiff driving controls and nonsensical rules take the fun out of playing.

There are some positives, like choosing between the

Autobots or Decepticons, and transforming from vehicle to robot form whenever necessary. The absence of any multiplayer mode, however, is a huge put-off.

All the environments are destructible and, based on your robot race, you gain or lose points for leaving wreckage. The ability to throw stuff is also fun, especially when tossing rubble to knock helicopters out of the sky or throwing tour buses at opponents.

But the fun starts to fade the more you play. Timed missions and “”action zones”” seem out of place in the story and have no point other than to increase the difficulty. The lack of in-game instructions reduces any possible strategy down to simple trial and error.

This game looks like it was pushed through product testing before developers were able to transform it into something decent. You’d probably get more entertainment seeing the movie five times than buying this game.

– Andrew Austin

Zeitgesit

The seven-year wait is over for a new Smashing Pumpkins album. Time has taken a bite out of the band, though, and while original

leader Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin put much of the same energy into the music, the disappearance of the rest of the lineup questions how much of a reunion this is.

While some fans of the Smashing Pumpkins hope the band’s changes will produce warm pumpkin pie, what the new album really spits out is a screaming carved pumpkin head. The seeds may be the same, but they seem to have gone slightly rotten in the band’s latest album, Zeitgeist.

Most of the tracks on Zeitgeist focus on loudness rather than music. Punk and metal push rock aside with a vicious screech. Guitars, of course, are still creatively layered, as in the single “”Tarantula,”” and lyrics are at times bordering on the beauty that has set the Pumpkins apart – if you can hear them through the apocalyptic screaming, that is.

While fans may not be able to resist this long-awaited album, they will quickly revert to the old and trusted Smashing Pumpkins albums after hearing this one. This band has created high expectations for Zeitgeist and failed to fulfill them.

– Astrid Duffy