Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark / YMMV

Audience-Alienating Premise: It flopped in sales due to the fact that the overlapping audience between the Cybertron games and the Michael Bay films is not very large, and a strange universe-crossing plot narrows things even further due to the fact that most of the plot is focused on the FoC characters with the movie characters not getting much.
Complete Monster: See here.
Demonic Spiders: The Guardians of Crystal City are this in spades. They take a lot of damage to kill, they can easily kill you in a few shots, and your allies are next to useless against them. Suffice it to say, the four times Shockwave has to take four outposts of them on his own is the most hated part of the first level.
Fanon Discontinuity: For anyone not a fan of Transformers: Age of Extinction, trying to tie in the game universe and the film series is something they'd rather pretend didn't happen. Not that it could happen, as the two stories are completely incompatible. If that isn't a reason enough for it, then most everyone agrees that the worse, recycled gameplay and lackluster story compared to the last two installments seal the deal.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The game's epilogue features a shot of G1 Optimus watching the Dark Spark fall from the sky in his universe, laying the groundwork for a classic-series continuation. While there's almost certainly no connection to Dark Spark's story, the next video game in the franchise is set in a Generation 1 universe.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The Aligned sections of the game reuse a lot of assets from FoC, with a few minor differences. (No money system, for example). The live-Action segments on the other hand are clearly rushed, with Grimlock even reusing FoC Grimlock's animations, despite the change in weapons. (Aka, he stabs enemies with a mace). The 3DS version on the other hand, ditches this for a turn-based strategy RPG complete with movement squares, support units to be equipped and gathering points to fuel special moves in 3-turn battles.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The 3DS version (which was made by WayForward Technologies) is generally agreed to be a very fun strategy RPG that only has problems with the story and the music. Adding on to this, is that on GameFaqs, the Console version is "Fair" while the 3DS version is "Great".
Only the Creator Does It Right: This game has worse reviews than either Transformers: War for Cybertron or Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, which were both made by High Moon. The 3DS version averts this due to being made by WayForward Technologies.
Sequelitis: War For Cybertron and Fall Of Cybertron are considered in many circles to be the two best Transformers games ever made. Rise Of The Dark Spark...not so much.
The Problem with Licensed Games: The tie-in parts of the game couldn't have happened within the movie's timeframe ^note, and Lockdown's motive is entirely different. Scenes in the aligned continuity have continuity errors and you can name from which WFC and FOC levels each level reuses assets of. The very popular multiplayer mode is also removed.
That One Boss: Megatron in unmitigated spades. The zombies he creates are very fast and can easily kill you if you back yourself into a corner, or if you merely let them catch you, which given you play as Optimus, is very easy. Megatron himself will endlessly attack you with sticky grenades and his sword, which could make any distraction a potentially fatal mistake. Finally, when he is charging the Dark Spark, you have to shoot four pillars in the center of the room. It is widely acknowledged as the toughest boss fight in the game.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The idea of several Transformers continuities fighting alongside each other sounds like a very good idea, like a Transformers version of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The franchise already has history with multiversal characters, such as The Fallen or even Unicron who could easily be used as a villain. Throw in a few Fandom Nods (Such as G1 Optimus disapproving Movie Optimus's brutality, for example) and possibly a multiplayer mode. Instead there is ZERO interaction between the multiple universes, with the only "connection" being the appearance of the Dark Spark in each universe.
Uncertain Audience: An unfortunate case of trying to please fans of the Bayverse movies and the High Moon games and only alienating both in the process, given that both are wildly different audiences. The plot is a rather awkward attempt to mash two wildly-different continuities together, but they barely ever affect each other, as neither continuities' casts encounter the other. Not to mention that most of the story focus goes to the WFC-verse cast, while the Bayverse characters hardly get anything, making the latter's inclusion that much more questionable. Add in the fact that Rise of the Dark Spark reuses tons of assets, sometimes to their detriment (like AOE Grimlock reusing FOC Grimlock's animations, including stabbing enemies... even though he uses a mace), and it ends up being that much harder to enjoy.

YMMV / Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

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