Transformers: The Ride 3D knocking 'em out at Universal Studios [w/video]

Universal Studios has recently opened a Transformers ride at its amusement parks in California and Singapore, and unlike the movies, the ride is being called "engaging" and "amazing." It puts 12 riders in a car that zooms through a 3D battle between Autobots and Decepticons who are destroying Chicago while they decide the fate of humans.

We haven't ridden it, but from reviews the ride appears to be so monumentally and immersively three-dimensional that it could almost qualify as augmented reality. The basic specs: two levels, five minutes long, 14 movie screens, some 60-feet high and curved and so large that one reviewer said he couldn't see the edges, images at four times HD resolution, a 5,000-watt, 14-channel sound system, and props, including drops of mist, steam and attendants in military camo that bark orders at riders.

It has been earning comparisons to what are considered the best rides in the world, but some of the most important rides ever, such as Pirates of the Caribbean. Even Disney's Imagineering theme park unit, who would like its Cars Land ride to get the same reception, has reportedly given the 3D Transformers ride the golf clap.

Click here to see the commercial for the ride, and a short clip of its grand opening last month.