Transformers: Decepticons

"What? A Movie Game That DOESN'T Suck On A Handheld?!"

Come one, come all to the wonderful world of Transformers, where two sides battle it out for the almighty Allspark: the Autobots and the Decepticons. I could go into a long charade about how the old TV series was the best (although Beast Wars and Beast Machines were excellent too), and how this movie is going to rox ur sox, but I'd rather just get to the review itself. Besides, I only have to write a minimum of 400 words, so why waste all that space?

Graphics:
8/10

Graphics, to me, are important, although not essential to a game's success. Pac Man has poor graphics compared to today, but it's still hella fun. Or you can have the opposite: great graphics, poor gameplay (I'm lookin' at you, Gears of Bore). But how does Transformers rate?

The graphics, though somewhat grainy and blocky, are amazing for a game of this size on the DS. The draw distance isn't too bad in the car (it gets worse in aerial vehicles, but still not game-breaking), and the various damage effects you can do are a nice touch. You can create a crater when you land after jumping, or create scorch marks on buildings from your blaster. You can also destroy vehicles, benches, trees, lamps, almost everything. Buildings are sadly indestructible, but I didn't expect them to be destructible in the first place.

There are, however, numerous graphical glitches, and I've only come across one. There's the flickering screen, where the top screen flickers while driving. I haven't seen that one in my copy, thankfully. But then there's one that's happening to me a lot during the game's later missions: the "crater" effects, and even a certain character receive what I call the Missingno disease: in their place are a bunch of multicoloured swirling dots. Again, won't ruin the game, but it detracts from the experience whenever it occurs.

There is a fully-voiced over FMV at the beginning of the game, with a different character speaking depending on the version (Starscrean in my version, the Decepticons). Although short, it gives enough backstory and showcases the DS's ability for beautiful cutscenes like those in Final Fantasy 3 and Metroid Prime: Hunters.

Sound:
10/10

Now, for me, sound is broken up into all the possible categories: music, voice, and sound effects. And the latter two are the main reason this gets a ten. The music was well done, with a small handful of tunes playing when roaming, battle music, and music for specific cutscenes. Some of these are hummable, others are just there. Nothing mindblowing, but it certainly fits the mood.

The sound effects are well done. Punches and kicks sounds like they hurt, explosions are well done, and the lasers sound like.. well.. lasers. The only thing I didn't like was how tinny many vehicles sounded, especially on headphones. But overall, really good sound in this department. Unfortunately, the next department completely shatters music and effects...

There is full voice over in this game. Yes. A DS game with so much dialogue, you'd think you bought the console version by mistake. Your character has his own voice, as do each of the movie characters. And the best part is (as far as I know), they're all voiced by their voice actors from the movie. Except Megatron. Megatron is so cool, they got the ORIGINAL man to do it. And he sounds so badass. I'm sure Hugo Weaving will also do a good job in the movie, but this is like a wet dream for any fan of the G1 series. Voice by itself is like an 11/10.

Gameplay
9/10

The game plays out like Grand Theft Auto, or one of the console Spiderman movie games: you can go anywhere you want, basically, and go to icons to activate missions. Green icons are story missions that advance the plot upon completion, while orange dots are challenge missions. These task you with a fun minigame, ranging from collecting orbs to staying alive as long as you can. By completing these missions, and by destroying various vehicles, you earn experience points, much like a RPG. Each new level-up gains you new abilities, or increases your stats. So if you're trouble with one mission, take a break and level up.

You start off in the casino strip, but as you advance along in the game, you unlock more areas. Each one also has multiple spawn points, so when you choose a new level, you can begin in a different area than before if you so choose.

You can wreak as much havoc as you want, but beware: there's a wanted level, ranging from 1 to 4. The higher it goes, the more police show up. Your goal is to transform into vehicle form, and evade them until the threat meter goes down. Or you can glitch your way out of this by doing something mentioned in the Cheats section. But I usually disregard the latter option. You can also scan new vehicles by pressing a touch screen button and looking at them, and once it's scanned, you can use it as your vehicle form whenever you're not in a mission. You can also change the paint job, and certain vehicles result in smaller or larger robots. Nifty, eh?

Controls
9/10

The controls are, for the most part, fairly straight forward. B jumps, A attacks, Y is your ranged weapon, and X picks up items or throws currently held ones. The controls change in vehicle form, but it's easy to get used to. The only complaint I have is the jet. That thing is a real mutha sometimes. The copter takes some getting used to as well, but not as long as the jet.

Transforming is easy. Just tap the button on the touch screen. Same with scanning (as mentioned earlier). And since your radar is only good for finding objectives, enemies, and North, there's a neat button beside it that pauses the game and brings up a full map of the level. Really handy.

Multiplayer
10/10

Wait a sec. Ten for multiplayer? AM I crazy? Nope, not at all. The Wi-Fi mode is basically a huge war between the Autobots and Decepticons, and you contribute points to your side (depending on which version you bought) by competing in the donloadable mission. You download it, play it offline, then upload your scores. Sounds dumb, eh? Not at all. I'm not a huge nerd, but the roleplaying going on between the two GFAQs forums is intense, and fun to join in. You really feel like you're a part of this battle, and your side needs you. On a side note, you earn tokens for your participation, and these tokens unlock cheats and more vehicles. Talk about rewarding those who try :)

Then there's multicard multiplayer, but I haven't done that, so no further comments on that one.

Fun Factor:
11/10

Yes. This game is that fun. Transformers has been a favourite of mine since I was but a child, and seeing this game got me worried at first. But when I bought it and played it for an hour straight, I hated putting it down. It's by far the best movie licensed game I've ever played, and the fact that this is on a handheld is even more unbelievable. It feels like the Vicarious Visions and co. worked extremely hard on this, and it payed off. Even without the Transformers licensing, it would still be a good game. Kudos to them! The one and only thing I don't like is the difficulty. Near the end, it can ramp up fairly quickly. Oh well, time to level up then!

OVERALL:
9/10
not an average

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/07