Activision goes handheld heavymetal with Transformers

With a big budget live-action film due plus a well-regarded PlayStation 2 version a couple of years ago, everything seems nicely set up for a robotic shapeshifting blow-out of gigantic proportions when the Transformers returns to gaming this summer.

Of course, the eternal battle between the Autobots and the Decepticon will sit at the heart of the action, and moral pluralists that we are these days, there'll be the option to play through the game from the perceptive of characters from each side.

Details on the film's plot – and thus the game's – have been steadily dripping out. The plot of the film will shape the available locations and game characters, as each side tries to find the location of the mythical Allspark, the ground zero powersource of the Transformer race.

Somewhat topically, the Decepticons (not Decepti-Neo-Cons mind!) will start the movie trying to take on the US Air Force in a Middle Eastern location. It's ironic though as most of the Decepticon characters' transforms are US military hardware: Starscream is a F-22 Raptor jet; Blackout, a special forces MH-53 Pave Low helicopter; Brawl, an enhanced M1 Abrams tanks; and Bonecrusher, a Buffalo mine-protected vehicle.

Other battlegrounds are said to include the Hoover Dam, Edwards Air Force base and the Arctic, while in a typically self-refential piece of Hollywood film-making, most of Los Angeles will be blown up.

Still all that destruction aside, personally we're a little bit worried that with Steven Spielberg as executive producer, the whole thing could get a little schmutzy, with the relationship between a teenaged kid and his Transformer car, Bumblebee, rumoured to be key.

Hopefully such emotions won't make it into the game though, which is being tagged as a bit of a demolition derby. As well as your in-built weaponry, you'll be able to pick up any objects in the environments and throw them around, causing more destruction. Both DS and PSP versions will also feature team-based two-on-two multiplayer battle modes.

Transformers the film is due for release on July 4th in the US. We'd expect the games to be released simultaneously.