Previewed: June 12, 2007
Previewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Vicarious Visions

Release Date: June 26, 2007
Genre: Action
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone

Let’s face it; when you can put Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg’s names on the same movie poster you may as well be printing money, and when the subject matter is giant robots taking over the Earth you get to multiply that value by N (where N = nerd).

But even before you skip the outdoor fireworks in exchange for some indoor “fireworks” this Forth of July, Activision is going to give you a sneak peek at the movie a full week in advance in Transformers: Autobots.

Vicarious Visions was given the daunting task of bringing not one, but two Transformers titles to the NDS. Choose your side and cast your vote by purchasing your favorite group of robots, or ride the fence and get them both. Either way, you are in for a spectacular handheld experience.

Visually, Transformers on the NDS has more of a comic book flavor about it, but that actually made it all that more appealing to me. The top screen features the gameplay and the bottom screen has status indicators and touch icons to morph your robot into its alternate form.

Control is quite intuitive and the game is a blast to play. There are numerous NDS exclusive features and control elements like scanning other in-game vehicles and adopting their paint schemes as part of your own library.

Autobots has 20 missions that make up the solo story mode and there are more than 20 additional challenge missions to test your skills before you hook-up with multi-card support for up to four players in games like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and AllSpark Sports.

Speaking of the AllSpark, perhaps one of the coolest features of the NDS version is the ability to take your game online in a global conflict with the Decepticons. Engage in daily challenges and post your scores online to be combined with other gamers fighting alongside. Check the results at the end of each day to see who wins the AllSpark Wars.

Don’t think for a minute that Vicarious Visions is merely preying on the collectible nature of Transformer fans by release two titles. Autobots and Decepticons are two unique titles with exclusive robots and levels. Autobots will get to explore the snowy Antarctic levels while Decepticons heat things up in their exclusive desert levels.

Transformers also blends in a bit of RPG elements by allowing you to increase your stats and abilities. While this game might seems like a great solo experience it is clearly easy to see that this game is all about the AllSpark Wars mode.

I’ll be keeping an open mind as I await the final shipping versions of Transformers for the NDS After all, my preview time was limited and even a bit rushed at times, but my initial reaction and gut instinct tells me that the NDS version(s) might just be the game of choice out of all the formats this title is releasing. It certainly offers the most in-depth solo gameplay and fun multiplayer modes with the daily gratification of taking on the entire world…and hopefully winning.

This is going to be one of those games that will have a strong and loyal following of existing Transformer fans, and it will be fun to see which side wins the war in sales figures alone, when Transformers draws the line in the NDS sand later this month.