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The DS games are sweet |
Nintendo DS
This is where I started out, and even though I did not talk about these games
(there’s an Autobots game and a Decepticon game), I think I’m most
excited for these games. Developer Rob Caminos had already explained the premise to me
at breakfast. You play as an entirely new character that you do get to customize.
The character does have his own dialogue and personality, so he won’t be
some silent drone. The characters really will not be silent because there is more
recorded dialogue for the DS games than there is for the console versions. There
is a multiplayer mode in that you complete challenges for higher scores that are
then uploaded to a website with something similar to a leaderboard with Autobots
vs. Decepticons. It plays very much like a mix between a third person action game
and an RPG. You level up, you fight enemies, you complete missions, and you can
scan new vehicles for new alternate modes.
Yes, you can scan many different types of vehicles and change your alt. mode to
affect your abilities. In true RPG fashion, there are tons of options for that
customization, but there are a lot of palette swaps; however, the difference between
something like a news helicopter and a police helicopter is more than meets the
eye. Each vehicle mode will have different effects on stats, even if they share
3D models. Also worth noting is that your robot mode will change in appearance
based on what the alt. mode is. I thought that was nice attention to detail.
Another similarity to an RPG is the level of dialogue. I skipped through a lot
of it to get to the game (which, Rob, I
swear I would never do if I didn’t
have a time limit), but it’s worth noting that it is recorded and works
to tell a slightly different story than the movie. In fact, Rob kept hinting at
how dark the Decepticon ending is and that he was surprised that they got away
with it.
The graphics on this game were astounding, especially considering this platform
had a roughly 8 month development time. I can honestly say this is the best 3D
I have seen on the DS and I told Rob that I thought it came close to PSP level.
The draw distance wasn’t amazing on the night level I played, but the robot
models look sharp and detailed. Speaking of models, G1 Starscream is a confirmed
(likely unlockable) alt. mode for your character.
As far as plot goes, your character is Starscream’s protégé
and you will be working for the Decepticons, but if movie Starscream is like his
G1 namesake, then I would expect you to do some of his treachery for him. I did
not get a chance to play the Autobots version, but I assume you play as a similar
blank slate character on the good side. Finally, the only negative thing I really
ran across with this version was that the shooting seemed a little unresponsive
and I had difficulty learning the controls. I did run into control difficulty
with some of the other versions, but I’ll address that issue later.
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