Transformers: Battlegrounds is a fun, inclusive, tactics game that may act as a gateway into the genre for younger gamers. If you can look past the mobile-esque aesthetic, the core gameplay is fun even though it doesn’t reach the heights of XCOM or Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

Transformers: Battlegrounds did the right thing in eschewing the Hollywood "mature" efforts and the games that tried to piggyback along with those to give us a true Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic. It was also right to go with a turn-based tactics game, rather than yet another action effort. What this game does is add to the Transformers property and demonstrate that it can be more versatile than the folks in suits have been pushing for over quite some time now. It's certainly not the "XCOM clone" for people that come to XCOM for the nuanced tactical strategy, but it's a nice, light little game and, for someone like me who grew up loving Transformers, only to watch the series be driven into the ground in recent years, it's nice to have something nostalgic to some very fond memories that I had as a kid.

The game does control well, but it’s an eyesore with low-end textures that would be more at home on a PS2 launch title than a new release in 2020. Thankfully, it does sound great with strong voice work from the newest Transformers series cast and its soundtrack gets the blood pumping when needed.

Transformers: Battlegrounds is far from the disaster you may expect; it delivers a fun, accessible turn-based tactical experience which is sadly a little too easy. It might make a good game for someone new to the genre, or kids looking to get involved, but we'd wager that even children might find this one a little too simple. It's a good effort and it does right by Cybertron's finest, but there's just not enough of it to justify the price. When it goes on sale, though, it'll be time to (ahem) roll out.