Before Transformers I was impressed by the GPS and Tech Specs features on Universal's Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the pop-up Tech Specs on Miami Vice were also impressive. Warner Bros. had a great blue-screen feature and accompanying commentary on 300 and Paramount had a great interactive commentary with J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise with the Mission: Impossible III HD DVD. Finally, Universal did an impressive job on bringing "Heroes" to HD DVD with a cool Character Connections feature and a "Helix Revealed" feature.

However, none of that compares to the interactivity and web-enabled features made available on Transformers. Not only do you get everything it has now, but more features are promised in the future. Now, if you want to know about everything that is not HD DVD exclusive then click here for my DVD review. Otherwise, buckle up to learn about everything else.

First off, this is a 2-disc release, and it is not one of those shitty flipper discs that you are afraid to touch for fear of scratching it. Nope, just like M:I 3 you actually get two discs. To quickly get it out of the way there is a "Transformers Tech Inspector" feature that marks the only disc two feature that is not included on the DVD edition. This feature gives you a look at the robots themselves, you can check out an example of how they are presented look to the left or click here, the only different is that they are standing completely upright and you get a peek at their heads, midsection and legs. It is a cool feature for a couple of seconds, but not the best part of this set.

The good stuff is all on disc one and also on the web.

As for the feature that comes with the disc, that would be the "Transformers Heads Up Display," which most HD DVD owners will be familiar with compared to what we have seen in Universal's U-Control and Warner's In-Movie Experience. You get pop-up facts about the production and behind-the-scenes videos pop up showing interviews, making-of shots, early animatics, the voice over actors and so on. It is cool and what you would come to expect. Yet, we are just getting to the really good stuff.

Now we connect to the Net. As of right now you can only download two features, but there is the promise of at least nine more before things are all said and done.

As for what is available now we start with the in-movie "Intelligence Mode," truly I can't imagine any of the other features being cooler than this. Once downloaded and you begin playing the feature the left hand side of the screen features little icons for all 13 Transformers in the movie (5 Autobots and 8 Decepticons). As the movie plays, once any one of them appears on screen the corresponding icon is illuminated and a power bar shows up representing that Bots’ current life bar. As they engage in battle the power will decline as they experience damage. The icon also changes based on what mode they are in, be it robot or transformed. Also, once they begin firing it will say "Weapons Engaged" and so forth. It is a very cool feature, especially once you reach the final showdown at the end of the film or as Megatron regains his abilities.

To go along with this there is also a GPS tracker in the upper right hand corner and then on the bottom of the screen is a pop up feature that gives you back-story on all the characters and plotlines. There is absolutely no production info in this feature, it is all about story and it makes it a lot of fun as tons of useless stats are thrown at you such as Megatron weighs 167,000 pounds and stands at 35 feet tall and that Mountain Dew vending machine that turns into a Transformer at the end is actually named Dispenser the Dewbot (obviously tongue-in-cheek, and there is more where that came from). It's like watching a video game and I expect most of you to love it.

The other feature that is available right now is part one of a seven part series of "Sector 7 Transmissions". These are short little video features and the first one shows some security camera shot of a Volkswagen Bug transforming. It really isn't much, but worth a peek.

Other features that will be available down the line are the final six shorts from the "Sector 7 Transmissions"; a "Transformers Profiler", which is another in-movie guide for learning more about the production including cast, crew, locations, etc.; a feature called "Menubots" which transforms your in-movie menubar into either Bumblebee, Optimus Prime or a Megatron skin; and then a feature called "My Clips" allowing users to create custom re-orderable playlists that you can share with other owners of the HD DVD.

Altogether this disc is jam packed with goodness, considering this is all on top of all the stuff the fantastic 2-Disc DVD offered. If Paramount had plans on double-dipping this title I am interested to see what didn't make it into this disc because I have to assume it is all here. On top of all these features the video is fantastic and the audio is perfect, utilizing all of your surround speakers and pumped with deep bass.

For as much as I didn't really enjoy this movie in theaters I must say Paramount has won me over with their home video releases. It will be interesting to see if this even makes a dent in Blu-ray's current rule over the HD (PlayStation3 owning) market. I certainly believe this is a title that could help people make up their minds as it is quite possibly the most impressive ensemble of features I have ever seen.