YMMV / Transformers: The Game (DS)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: While Starscream is certainly a snake, and is definitely the Decepticon with the healthiest respect for his own skin, how much of a coward he is is a little bit up for debate. He has no problem taking both Ironhide and perhaps (offscreen) Create-A-Bot (albeit with backup from Mooks, which Megatron also uses against Optimus) and only flees when he deems the fight pointless (as Megatron isn't in the arctic, as he has presumably discovered by taking data midfight similar to Bumblebee), he kills Bumblebee armed with the Allspark before then killing Blackout and Barricade (and possibly Brawl), and is both Defiant to the End and surprisingly calm when Megatron is about to kill him. On the other hand however, he is audibly scared when he finds out Megatron (who he knows is stronger than himself) might soon be revived, and refuses to face Optimus Prime (The other biggest threat he faces), either because he fears the Autobot leader and/or because he wants him to kill or soften up Megatron. This leaves a rather open-ended question of where Starscream leans on the scale between Dirty Coward to Combat Pragmatist.
• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • The final two boss fights for Decepticons suffer from Artificial Stupidity that allows the player to trivialize otherwise challenging battles;
  • Megatron's vehicle mode being able to fly allows the player to position themselves over the water. As long as they avoid going out of bounds and cause a game over, they can use this to cause Optimus to run after them into the water and kill himself.
  • The final phase of the Starscream fight allows the player to take cover below the platform he is standing on. Starscream can't attack them while the player stocks up on health.
• Complete Monster: Megatron lacks his film counterpart's nobler traits and replaces it with raw brutality. Having plunged Cybertron into civil war after killing his own father, Megatron tore out Bumblebee's vocal processor when he launched the AllSpark into space. He followed the AllSpark to Earth, but wound up frozen in the Arctic Circle. After being thawed out by his followers, Megatron's murderous rage was only tempered when they planned to blow up Hoover Dam and drown thousands of people. In Autobots, Megatron used the AllSpark to terrorize the city of Tranquility and mortally wounded Create-A-Bot while trying to kill his own brother, Optimus Prime. In Decepticons, he tracked down and murdered Jazz after he foiled his plot to destroy Hoover Dam. After terrorizing Tranquility, Megatron killed Optimus and hunted down his traitorous lieutenant Starscream. Create-A-Con was gravely wounded after helping him defeat Starscream, and Megatron chose to kill him rather than waste resources trying to repair him. Megatron showed no remorse for the Decepticons who gave their lives for him and believed that the weak were only meant to serve the strong.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Barricade really cemented his status in these games. His character is expanded considerably and he plays the role of a Sensei for Scoundrels in the Decepticon Campaign. Keith David gives an excellent performance in the role.
  • Ironhide was already well-liked in the movies by fans, but his characterization here combined with a voice embodying Cool Old Guy made him something of a fan favorite.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Every one of the Decepticons, save perhaps Construct-A-Con, is this. Barricade is by far the most popular, but Megatron, Starscream, Brawl, and Blackout all have this going for them.
  • This version of Starscream is something of one for being a far bigger badass than his movie or cartoon versions, as he can compete with Megatron both physically and in his gambits, something only one other version of Starscream ever was able to do. Starscream is a frightening antagonist in this game, which is something that many find refreshing when some of the most competent versions of Starscream are still Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains.
• Fan Nickname: Even though officially both the Autobot and Decepticon versions of the main character are known as "Create-A-Bot", fans have taken to calling the Decepticon versions "Construct-A-Con". Not only as a way to differentiate the two but as a Mythology Gag towards the Generation 1 combiner team.
• First Installment Wins: The games are considerably better than the future movie tie ins. Future games dropped the sandbox, restricted the characters, and the plots took less risks than in here.
• Game-Breaker: Flight-type vehicles such as helicopters and jets render the ground vehicles rather obsolete. While helicopters may not fly as fast as the cars, especially the ones with maximum top speed and acceleration, you can ignore terrains and just fly over buildings to reach your destination, while jets are Purposefully Overpowered which also have boost feature similar to ground vehicles. Moreover, if you have maximum wanted level and surrounded by military vehicles, you can just fly away to avoid them. Sure, you may still be chased by helicopters, but flying away means that you just avoid most of the hostile vehicles, and not even helicopters can pursue you if you're flying high enough. Lastly, any challenge mission that doesn't force you to transform into ground vehicle will be breeze with flying vehicles, especially the ones that involve traversal.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • When Optimus Prime fights Brawl in the Autobots version, the latter boasts "I'm a tank, you're a truck, how do you expect to beat me?". A tie-in game to Transformers: Dark of the Moon has a fight between Megatron (who the player controls) and Warpath. Megatron by that point had adopted the truck form seen in the third film. This means a movie-verse Transformers video game once again featured a fight between a tank Transformer and a truck Transformer (the latter of whom, interestingly, is the leader of his faction), only this time the factions were reversed.
  • In the Decepticon version of the game, Megatron kills the player's rookie character after deeming him to be too weak. In the DS tie-in game for the second film (again, the Decepticon version), the player's rookie character outperforms Megatron (by retrieving the Matrix of Leadership and defeating Optimus Prime), causing the Fallen to replace the latter with the former as leader of the Decepticons.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: Easily considered the best of the movie tie-in games for the first film. The graphics may not be much to look at, but it's got a surprisingly dark and compelling plot, a fun sandbox, great voice acting, and a lot of playability.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Barricade's death in the Decepticon's version. Having earned his respect and likely grown attached to Barricade at this point, you are now forced to kill him as Starscream. His last words being a Meaningful Echo of your first encounter makes it worst.
  Barricade: Now... you see what it is to be a Decepticon...
  • The endings of both games qualify, with Create-A-Bot and Construct-A-Con dying for their leaders.
• That One Level:
  • Starscream has only a single level in the Decepticon Campaign but it is one of the hardest. First you have to pursue Bumblebee in jet mode, keeping up with him and using your boost judiciously because if he get's far enough ahead, it's a game over. Then there's a boss fight with Bumblebee followed immediately by a boss fight with Barricade. Barricade's mine attack can stagger you easily and when he turns into a car you have to get off the ground immediately because him crashing into you really takes health off.
  • In Transformers: Autobots, Jazz is tasked with carrying a vehicle to the top of a mountainous cul-de-sac. With reduced mobility speed and jumping height, Jazz has to avoid the immediate assault of ground and aerial law enforcement that'll rip through his armor in seconds. Bobbing and weaving around short buildings is the player's only means of defense to get around them.
• Tough Act to Follow: These games are considered the best of the DS tie-ins, and the tie in games for the next three movies weren't nearly as well received.