Transformers: Autobots

"To be honest, Optimus Prime was the deciding factor here."

There's very few times where a handheld game is better than its console counterpart. Fortunately, this is one of those times. For the movie, two versions of Transformers have been released for the DS, Autobots and Decepticons. You know, good or evil. Autobots takes a more “save the world” tone, while Decepticons is “do the exact opposite”.

The story is somewhat based off the movie's plot, the Autobots and Deceptions have landed on Earth in search of the All Spark, a powerful object that will give the owner unstoppable power. The Autobots seek it to revive their home planet, while the Deceptions seek it to conquer the galaxy. Autobots revolves around classic names like Bumblebee, Jazz, and Optimus himself. You start out as a rookie Transformer who arrives on Earth to assist Bumblebee, and the battle against the evil forces of the Deceptions begins!

The game can basically be described as Grand Theft Auto, replacing the stealing with a giant robot. You can go around in an entire 3D world blowing up whatever you want. Of course it isn't encouraged in Autobots, but it's still fun to rampage through town as Optimus. To progress the story, you look for lights that will start the next mission. These usually vary from beating up Deceptions, escorting a fellow Autobot, scanning things, or a few other scenarios. They mostly pretty fun, but there's usually at last one in the particular section of the game you're in that's going to cause you grief. You see, you'll move around the world after completing missions, you'll be at the Hoover Dam, a city, and the Arctic.

The basic controls are simple. You have a multiple hit combo as one button, and a gun on another button. The combat is pretty simple; you just need to use your attacks effectively. You can transform by touching the Autobot symbol on your bottom screen, and depending on which vehicle you transform into, you can fly a copter or drive a car.

While in Free Play, the mode you're in when you find missions, you'll usually be as your own Autobot. You can level him up by getting XP from beating both missions and Decepticons (in the face!). You'll gain new abilities like climbing buildings or shooting more powerful guns and missiles this way. Your Autobot will usually be your powerhouse, which can be annoying because in some missions you'll play as the other Autobots. Unlike you, they're much more susceptible to dying, and there's nothing other than trying harder that can help you out. Even when you're escorting them, you might fail because of their inability to take a few hits.

Besides that though, the missions aren't terribly hard, and they're always possible with a bit of practice and some strategy. The missions will probably last you a bit if you're not playing it non-stop, and even then there's a ton to do. You can scan vehicles to change your custom Autobot's look and transformation. While cool, a lot of vehicles won't unlock anything for you, and there's so many kinds it's a bit hard to keep track of which ones you've scanned before without have to scan them again.

There's also an online mode called the All Spark Wars, where you download a new mission, and both the Autobots and Decepticons compete for the higher score. Whichever side gets the higher score, wins a piece of the All Spark, and is one step closer to winning the war. Why would you want to do this, though (besides Autobot patriotism, of course)? With each win, or even contribution, you'll get Wifi Tokens that will unlock new transformations or cheat codes for you to use. It's fun, but they sometimes will have the same types of missions in a row, which can get repetitive. What would be nice is online battling; I think this could have used that.

This game has full voice acting to tell the story, and it's really not that bad. As with most movie-based games, the music isn't anything special, but I can tell there was at least some influence from the cartoon in there.

Autobots is a decent game, it has a few faults and I want a more battle-oriented online play, but it's still a fun game, if sometimes a bit frustrating.

The Good: Full 3D, Optimus Prime, it's fun customizing your bot, and you can do whatever you feel like in Free Play, also features full voice acting.

The Bad: Sometimes frustrating, online play isn't as good as I hoped; the more experienced Autobots aren't as powerful as your Autobot.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/07