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[Popple]

Another childhood favorite turned movie turned game. In the past these titles have spelt doom, even more so with Transformers where the stakes are even higher. Surprisingly though you will be in for a great surprise with Transformers DS, and there truly is more than meets the eye.

Let's talk about the presentation. This is one of the best looking games on the DS. These are some of the best 3D visuals on the DS, and Transformers is a free-roaming game to boot. Though it does have a pop-up problem and some of the environments are a bit to bland and blocky, the robots remain the centerpiece and look absolutely great. If that wasn't enough the game even manages to fit in lines upon lines of excellent voice acting. How they got all this on a tiny cartridge is beyond me, but it definitely makes the game that much better.

The gameplay it self is simple yet effective. The robots can use simple melee combos, transform into vehicles, and fire weapons through out these free-roaming environments giving it a GTA like feel. I do not use the term simple lightly though, the motions do get repetitive after playing for more than an hour. You will start off the game with your own character who you will name. As you play the game and complete missions you will level up and gain new abilities as well as growing stronger. You will be able to scan vehicles and choose which one you wish to be on the fly, including a G1 character unique to each version. That is not to say you won't be able to play as the transformers themselves though. Robots from the movie range all the way from Barricade to Megatron himself, all of which have their own unique vehicles you will not be able to find in the game. You will not be able to choose which you will use for each mission, but they control well and suite the missions they go on. Which brings us to the missions themselves. Each is different and tries to through new elements at you to mix things up. In the end though most missions boil down to finding something, destroying something, or beating a boss. All the missions are enjoyable while they last, but you probably won't find yourself replaying them after you have finished the main story. The overall single player is short and will last you anywhere from five to seven hours depending on your skill level. They try to remedy this with side missions and hidden vehicles, and although it does help it is not enough to stretch out it's life. In the end you will probably come back to just rampage a city rather than play the actual missions.

Extra play time does come from the Wifi however and is one of the games greatest strength. It makes up from the lackluster death match mode the wireless multiplayer provides and truly tries something new and ambitious. The All-Spark War, as it is called in the game, is a constant online war between the Autobots and Decepticons. Depending on which version of the game you buy, you will be enlisted in the online ranks and battle each day for one of the seven pieces of the All-Spark. You accomplish this by downloading a mission each day and playing it as many times as you want to increase your point contribution. At the end of the day you are awarded tokens for good performance and depending on whether or not your team won. Winning all seven pieces results in a huge pay out of tokens. Every 250 or so tokens you collect will unlock a new vehicle or cheat in the game for you to use. On top of this there is also an online leader board both in game and online for you to see how you compare to other Transformers players. In short, wifi is what you will be doing after you have beaten the game.

All in all, Transformers is a fun yet short game. With the great presentation and story along with a refreshing wifi mode, it more than makes up for the $30 price tag. Whether you want to rampage through the city with giant robots or if the movie just wasn't enough, it's hard not to recommend Transformers.

SCORE: 7.5

[Super ShadowArticuno]

Giant Robots?! I'm in.

[Pure-???]

[Super ShadowArticuno]