Video Game / Transformers: The Game (Console)

Choosing Sides Is Just The Beginning.

Protect Or Destroy

— Arc Words featured in numerous promotional material

To coincide with the 2007 Transformers movie, Transformers: The Game was released for PC and home consoles in June 2007. It is a Third-Person Shooter with additional focus on melee combat and driving. The game's story, which focuses on the retrieval of the Allspark, is divided into two campaigns: one for the Autobots, and one for the Decepticons. The Autobot campaign closely follows the overall plot of the movie, while the Decepticon campaign diverges from the film's plot starting with the end of the second chapter.

Both campaigns are pretty lengthy and feature semi-open worlds for players to explore. The story is told with a mix of cutscenes, both with and without dialogue.

In considerably Lighter and Softer to both the 2007 film and Transformers: The Game (DS). Despite receiving average reviews at release, it still has a strong following, and is seen as a pretty good adaptation for its time in comparison to most Licensed Game titles.

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Transformers: The Game contains examples of:

• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Locations from the film, such as the Qatar airbase and Mission City, are fully explorable. Some places are also given names, such as Sam Witwicky's hometown being named Tranquility.
  • Many things not shown in the film, such as how Blackout, Bumblebee, and Barricade got their vehicle modes, are shown here.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Downplayed with Optimus Prime. In the film, he was on the losing end during his fights against Megatron, while here, he's the one who defeats and kills Megatron in the final part of the Autobot campaign.
  • Jazz manages to kill two high-ranked Decepticons in Starscream and Blackout at the same time, though he's killed by Brawl shortly after.
  • Bumblebee in the Decepticon campaign comes with EMP blast attacks!
  • The U.S. military have much better technology in this game than they do in the movie, as they come equipped with wavy laser cannons similar to the fictional Maser cannons in the classic Godzilla movies.
• Adaptational Villainy: Sector 7 is depicted as more antagonistic here than in the film, being a thorn to both the Autobots and Decepticons even until the Final Battle.
• Adaptational Wimp: Sam Witwicky. In the movie, he was adamant about protecting the AllSpark and keeping it out of the Decepticons' hands. In this game's Decepticon campaign where the Autobots are losing rapidly, he gave Barricade his grandfather's glasses as a "reward" for extinguishing Bumblebee and later on tried surrendering the AllSpark to Scorponok before Ironhide kicked it away and ordered him to protect it.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Hunt for Sam Witwicky chapter of the Decepticon campaign focuses solely on Barricade, while A Gathering Force focuses solely on Starscream.
• Alternate Continuity: While both campaigns use plot elements from the 2007 film, they ultimately diverge in a few aspects, and in the Decepticon campaign's case, end entirely differently.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Ironically as a police car, Barricade commits arson, murder and speeding.
• Ascended Extra: Barricade, Starscream and Blackout get far more lines and personality in the Decepticon campaign than in the film. The latter doesn't even speak English in the movie.
• Babysitting Episode: Decepticon campaign's Stage 3 (A Gathering Force) Chapter 4 where Starscream must protect Brawl and Bonecrusher from the U.S. Army. Actually fitting because Starscream was the one who created Brawl in the G1 cartoon.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The Decepticon campaign ends with Megatron killing Optimus Prime and absorbing the Allspark's energy for himself, and then using his newfound power to conquer Earth.
• Big Bad: Megatron, as usual, is the main antagonist.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Autobot campaign, similar to the film, sees the Autobots successfully save Earth from the Decepticons but Optimus Prime is forced to sacrifice the Allspark when Megatron, in a last-minute desperate attack, is about to attack him and Sam, depriving his team of their only chance to restore life to their planet. Jazz has also been killed just like in the movie.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Many of the drones encountered later in the game are not only harder to deal with than some of the actual bosses, but can even use similar attacks as them.
• Canon Foreigner: This game introduces a triple-changer version of Shockwave, different in appearance from his Transformers: Dark of the Moon incarnation.
• Characters Dropping Like Flies: Both campaigns end with the Autobots and Decepticons wiping the other out almost completely.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Several of the boss Transformers have attacks or abilities that the playable versions don't get, such as Bumblebee having an EMP attack during his encounter with Barricade in the second Decepticon chapter, or Barricade having Epic Flails during the Autobot campaign.
• Cowardly Boss: Whichever side you're on, your boss enemy will definitely fit this trope. Ironhide in particular is an ultra-powerful boss to Blackout yet still chooses to hide behind an entire army consisting of multiple soldiers that are individually each brutally difficult to take down.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Autobot campaign:
    • Barricade is killed at the end of the Mission City battle by Bumblebee, whereas in the film series as of 2017, he is alive and well.
    • Starscream is killed by Jazz during the Mission City battle, whereas he is shown escaping Earth at the end of the first film.
  • Decepticon campaign:
    • Bumblebee is killed by Barricade at the end of the second Decepticon chapter.
    • Ironhide is killed by Blackout, whereas he survives the events of the film.
    • Optimus Prime is killed by Megatron in Mission City, in contrast to the films where he survives.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Sam and Mikaela, two of the film's main human characters, only play a supporting role here.
  • Ratchet is the only non-playable Autobot, only making minor cutscene appearances in the Autobot campaign, while also being The Unfought in the Decepticon campaign.
  • Bonecrusher and Brawl suffer this in both campaigns, with both being non-playable. For the Decepticon campaign, the former only makes a minor appearance in A Gathering Force, being protected by Starscream, while Brawl only makes a minor appearance in the same chapter as well as in the ending cutscene. In the Autobot campaign it's even worse for Bonecrusher, him being completely absent.
  • Frenzy only appears in one cutscene during Barricade's chapter.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Jazz in the Autobot campaign does die during the Mission City battle like in the film, here he's killed by Brawl instead of Megatron.
  • Blackout in the Autobot campaign is killed by Jazz during the Mission City battle, in contrast to the film where he is killed by Lennox and the military.
  • Brawl is killed by Ironhide in the Autobot campaign, whereas in the film he's killed by Bumblebee with help from Lennox and the military.
  • Megatron in the Autobot campaign is defeated and killed by Optimus Prime, unlike the film where he's killed by Sam. Though both cases involve pushing the Allspark to Megatron's chest.
  • Barricade is the one who kills Jazz in the Decepticon campaign, not Megatron.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Barricade scans one of 3 police cars parked at a donut store and transforms into a replica. Also when you play Barricade, you can pluck a replica of a giant donut from its building and carry or throw it.
• Downer Ending: The Decepticon campaign ends with Optimus Prime and all the Autobots killed, with Megatron absorbing the Allspark into his body. Presumably, he's also killed Sam and Mikaela offscreen. During a Time Skip, Washington D.C. is shown burning and in ruins. Megatron, now victorious and using the Lincoln Memorial as a throne, orders Starscream, Brawl, and Barricade to finish off Earth now that their conquest is complete.
• Dual Boss: Starscream and Blackout for Jazz in the second Mission City level of the Autobot campaign.
• Ensemble Cast: The Decepticon campaign in comparison to the Autobot campaign, as each chapter focuses on different members of the Decepticons.
• Elite Mooks: Certain Drone units encountered starting with the mid-game are harder to take down, namely the Mixmaster, Payload, Dreadwing, and Longarm types. There's no use shooting them, you need to throw something at them then charge and beat the crap out of them.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Blackout, Brawl, and Barricade are shown to have deep, menacing voices.
• Final-Exam Boss: Megatron in the Autobot campaign uses nearly all the moves used by previous enemies you fought before, which'd require using all moves you've used before against enemies to beat.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss:
  • Megatron and Shockwave in the "Optimus" levels of the Autobot campaign.
  • Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Jazz in the Decepticon campaign.
• The Hero: Bumblebee is this for the Autobot campaign, as 2 of said campaign's chapters focus solely on him.
• Guide Dang It!: It is possible to switch between characters in a level, but it's so unintuitive that it's hard to tell if it's even intentional. If you replay (& beat) a mission that's played as someone else and then die in free-roam after that, the game loads the character the last mission was played as.
• Hero Antagonist: The Autobots in the Decepticon campaign, natch. By extension, this also applies to Sector 7 and the Military, who also try to stop the Decepticons from wreaking havoc on their bases and in Mission City.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the Decepticon campaign once you as Blackout defeat Ironhide, Sam and Mikaela mourn over the deaths of all three Autobots Bumblebee, Jazz and Ironhide in that order. Optimus states their sacrifices were meant to preserve the AllSpark.
• Immune to Bullets: Most enemy Transformers encountered are immune to ranged attacks, requiring them to be taken down solely by melee attacks or by throwing debris at them.
• Impersonating an Officer: Barricade, much like the film, although this time we get to see how he acquired his police car alternate mode, by scanning one parked in front of a donut shop.
• Kill and Replace: Blackout is shown shooting down a USAF MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, and then scanning the unit's tail number and using it as his own alt mode's.
• Killer Cop: If you count how Barricade treats Bumblebee.
• Mecha-Mooks: Both the Autobots and the Decepticons make heavy use of drone units to bolster their numbers.
• Mission Control: Optimus Prime for most of the Autobot campaign. When playing as Prime, it's Jazz who takes over this duty for him. The Decepticons, meanwhile, have Starscream for the first half, Frenzy for the middle portion when the former becomes playable, and finally Megatron in the final part.
• Monumental Damage: The Washington Monument appears in the game and can be broken down easily.
• Mythology Gag: While the mission was removed with the Hoover Dam Exterior, according to the text files one mission there would have involved Optimus and Megatron duking it out on top of it.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted. The Decepticons have their own full storyline with the same length as the Autobots' own.
• Noodle Incident: When Optimus sends Ironhide to rescue Jazz, he requests that Ironhide doesn't repeat what happened with "Kyber-5". Ironhide defends what he apparently did by stating that the planet was going to blow up anyway.
• One-Man Army: As a Decepticon (especially Blackout or Starscream), you'll find yourself waging war upon an entire division of the U.S. Air Force and Army.
• Out-of-Character Moment: The usually heroic Optimus Prime comes off as something of a coward in the Decepticon story: he barely appears until every other named Autobot is dead, and even his boss fight consists mostly of him running away and sending nameless mooks to die in Megatron's hands. It's hard to say if this is intentional or just the byproduct of the way the missions are designed.
• Pintsized Powerhouse:
  • Jazz in the Autobot campaign, since he takes on two Decepticons (Starscream and Blackout) much larger than he is.
  • Ironhide in the Decepticon campaign. He is remarkably difficult for Blackout to take down, as any attempt to get near Ironhide without taking out all his soldiers first will result you in being blasted by heavy storms of firepower.
• The Quiet One: Barricade, who never utters any lines in the Autobot campaign, but is rather chatty in the Decepticon campaign.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Like the Autobot campaign, the Decepticon campaign has you rescuing comrades - except you do it in more violent ways unlike how Optimus warns the Autobots to refrain from attacking any human soldiers and make themselves look like the bad guys to the humans.
  • Barricade has to tear down buildings (including a police station) to find Frenzy.
  • Starscream finds himself attacking US tanks and electric-wave cannons inflicted upon Brawl and Bonecrusher.
    Starscream: (to Barricade) Tear this place apart until you find that Decepticon (Frenzy)!
• Rocket Jump: This is one of Ironhide's playable combat moves.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Much like in the original film, Megatron is being held frozen inside the bowels of the Hoover Dam. In the Autobot campaign, he becomes partially unfrozen during Bumblebee's attempt to retrieve the Allspark, and in both campaigns is eventually broken free by Blackout and Starscream when they attack the dam.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Virtually all of the Decepticons who were killed in the film survive the Decepticon campaign unscathed.
• Suddenly Voiced: Blackout and Brawl, in contrast to the film where they only ever spoke Cybertronian, speak in dark, menacing voices during both campaigns here.
• The Unfought: Bonecrusher in the Autobot campaign and Ratchet in the Decepticon campaign.
• Unique Enemy:
  • There are exactly two Decepticon Dreadwing drone units fought during the Autobot campaign, during Jazz's fight against Starscream and later Blackout. Every other one fought in the game is found in the Decepticon campaign as the Autobot version, specifically during "A Gathering Force" and during the Final Battle.
  • The Autobot version of the Mixmaster drone in the Decepticon campaign is only encountered during the Final Battle there, where two land on Earth as last-ditch reinforcements called in by Optimus Prime, and have to be defeated by Megatron in order to progress.
  • In the third mission of "A Gathering Force" in the Decepticon campaign, the US military deploys 10 advanced jet fighters based directly on Megatron's alt mode, which are only fought in this level. Every other human piloted jet in-game is either an F-22 Raptor or a stealth bomber.
• The Voiceless: Bumblebee in both campaigns, much like the film. Shockwave, Frenzy and Bonecrusher aren't too chatty either.
• Villain Protagonist: The Decepticons, who are the protagonists of their own campaign.
• What If?: The Decepticon campaign, which diverges from the film's storyline midway through, being a possible scenario where they succeed in getting the Allspark and conquer Earth.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: In the cutscene before the final mission the Autobot campaign when Megatron walks up behind Sam and Mikaela after Barricade is killed, Bumblebee jumps in front of the duo. Megatron simply laughs and says "THIS is all that stands between me and the Allspark?!" before blasting Bumblebee aside, knokcing him out.