Publisher: Activision
Developer: WayForward
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Release Date: June 24, 2014

    Although it has the same title and overall storyline as the "main console" version of Rise of the Dark Spark, contrary to expectations the 3DS version of the game plays in a completely different manner than the version of it that got more press (a LOT more press-- heck, it's hard to find ANY pictures of this game in action on the net). Whereas the "main console" version is a third-person shooter using an adapted version of High Moon Studios' Fall of Cybertron engine, this is (mostly) an entirely new experience, as it's a turn-based strategy game with some light "action" elements when the Transformers actually do battle.
    First, one major element that is the same between this and the other Rise of the Dark Spark game-- they both feature the same vanilla, predictable story about a mysterious dark MacGuffin that is the equivalent to a dark Matrix of Leadership that passes in between the movieverse and High Moon's WfC/FoC universe. Right down to the overall objectives and how the story progresses, this is equivalent-- if you're played the "main console" version, there won't be any story surprises for you here. So the story is definitely the weak point of the game, and not why you should you play it.
    The turn-based strategy/action that makes up the meat of the game has a fair amount of details to keep you thinking about what to use with your Transformers, while avoiding getting TOO overly deep into minutae that it'll overwhelm kids or those new to strategy games. First off, every stage takes place in a 2D battlefield that shows its square "tiles" when showing relevant targets or range of movement, with little 2D sprites of the relevant Transformers moving around as you direct them to do so. First things first-- here are the Transformers characters you can play as at some point in this game (in addition to the occasional Autobot/Decepticon generic trooper):
Movie Autobots:
-Optimus Prime
-Bumblebee
-Crosshairs
-Drift
-Ratchet
Movie Decepticons/"Mercenaries":
-Lockdown
-Stinger
WfC/FoC Autobots:
-Optimus Prime
-Arcee
-Bumblebee
-Cliffjumper
-Hound
-Jazz
-Jetfire
WfC/FoC Decepticons:
-Megatron
-Kickback
-Sharpshot
-Shockwave
-Slipstream
-Soundwave
-Starscream
-Swindle
    As you can see, it's a fairly beefy list (except for the movieverse "Mercenaries"), with some characters like Arcee, Hound, and Crosshairs making it into this game that aren't in the "main console" version. The basic premise is that you move your characters around the battlefield, taking out bad guys (soldiers and named characters) and accomplishing objectives that range from simply killing everyone to protecting a certain target or opening up gates to get through to somewhere else. New bad guys spawn often, so you don't always know the entire situation right off the bat. That said, despite how many characters there are in this game, the diversity of the "regular" enemies could definitely use a boost-- there's only three different kinds of regular soldiers for each universe (movie and WfC/FoC), and Insecticons in the WfC/FoC universe. In some missions, you only deal with one type of enemy, period! This can get a bit repetitive, and I would've liked to have needed to adapt my strategy to a wider range of enemies.
    That said, the core gameplay here is quite solid. Each Transformer has their own statistics-- some, like Bumblebee, favor speed, while others, like Megatron, are much slower but also much tougher. Normally, once a Transformer is selected, they can move within a specified range and attack, OR they can move within a larger range (also specified by colors on the grid when you select them) by transforming and driving/flying to the point. HOWEVER, doing this means that the Transformer cannot do anything else this turn-- the "time spent" transforming to do this prohibits this. (Oddly, those who transform into flying vehicles can't go from one elevation to another, like over a wall or such-- thus flyers aren't inherent any better than ground vehicles when it comes to transporation.) Once you have moved everyone on your team that you desire, your turn ends and the enemy takes their turn. When they're done, the next round begins, and the cycle repeats until one side wins. Each Transformer has a basic health bar that depletes when they're attacked-- if a TF "dies", they are not available for the rest of the mission, and you cannot replace them with another 'bot.

    Each Transformer has a certain kind of attack they're weak on, a type of attack they're resilient against, and a type of attack that they can defend averagely against (there are three different kinds of attacks total, though each Transformer has up to eight different attacks that are slowly unlocked during the course of play). Leader characters (both Optimuses, Megatron, and Lockdown) are the sole exception to this rule, having no type of attack they're particularly weak or resilient against. Every character does eventually unlock at least one of each type of attack, though, so this isn't what really makes the characters different. What DOES make each character different are their abilities. Each has an ability that requires a pretty decent amount of Energon to use-- these abilities are quite tough, and vary from giving every ally nearby a temporary stats boost to even an extra turn. You collect Energon from "taking over" (i.e., hacking) factories, as well as getting some when you kill enemies. Rarely will you be able to use these "tough abilities" more than two-to-four times each mission (for your whole group), and using them doesn't take away any "action" from the character-- besides the Energon cost, there's basically no cost for using these. A character also has a more "regular" ability that is uniquely theirs and that they can use as often as they want, though when they do use it counts as their one "attack" for that turn, meaning that they can do nothing else except move if they use that ability. Some Transformers can use a ranged attack (most attacks are NOT ranged, you have to be next to a TF to attack them), some Transformers can repair others whose health is running low, and others can "hack" certain structures like factories to give your team Energon every turn, turrets to engage the enemy, or garages that slowly repair every allied Transformer close to them every turn. This already makes most Transformers quite different in terms of how you want to use them, but there's also two additional, "custom" modifications you can make to each Transformer before a mission begins. The first is by equipping up to one certain "pickup" for each Transformer per mission, which usually gives them moderate defense/attack bonuses and the like. You pick these up by going over and ending your turn on top of pickups in a mission, thus prodding players to take a less conservative approach in terms of movement and also letting you think ahead in terms of who you'll use your pickups on in the future. (Before you acquire it, you do NOT know what each pickup is, adding a bit of random-ness to this aspect of the game.) Occasionally pickups will "break" during fighting, encouraging the player to keep picking up more. Finally, as you go forward in the game, you will unlock "support characters" at the end of many missions, with a different group of support characters for each univere's side (FoC Autobots, FoC Decepticons, movieverse Autobots, and movieverse "Mercenaries"/Decepticons). This is a nice little nod to the fans, seeing characters you can't directly play as in the game like Ravage, Steeljaw, movie Dropkick, movie Landmine, and the like-- however, outside of an icon, they never actually appear in the game while they're fighting. (Also, one oddity-- the icons for the "WfC/FoC" support characters are actually of the regular G1 versions of those characters). Instead, you can assign up to two support characters to a Transformer (support characters can be equipped on as many different TFs as you want in a mission as long as they're on the same side, so you can assign, say, movie Salvage to every movie Autobot if you like his ability enough). These support characters modify each Transformers' abilities and/or statistics a bit, such as upping their Endurance by 1, allowing them to hack or heal faster, or always giving them the initative in combat, even if the enemy's attacking. This adds another level of customization to your TFs that I love, though there's a bit of a balance issue with the "always take the initiative" support characters-- that ability is so much better than the others, you'll likely use one of your slots on every TF for the relevant support character with that ability.
    When a Transformer does a direct (adjacent) battle with another, a different screen comes up, and this is where the pseudo-"action" on your part takes place. The models from the WfC/FoC/main console RotDS games have been imported directly into the game for these match-ups, with a few unique detailed models for characters like Crosshairs here as well. The graphics for the models are fairly well-done considering the system, but the backgrounds are a bit relatively low-res and not as detailed. (Sadly, when you attack the really big 'bots like Bruticus or Grimlock, it doesn't switch to this mode-- there's just a little sprite animation on the 2-D battlefield and a pre-determined amount of damage is done to them.) You and the enemy take turns choosing an action and then executing it, with one battle over after each side takes 3 attack turns, regardless of whether one's joined the Allspark by the end of those three turns or not. TF characters start out with only a few basic attacks unlocked, like a regular weak attack, a block action, and one or two other actions available as well. More attacks unlock as you progress through the game, with each TF character eventually having a total of eight different attacks. The most basic actions can be used every turn, but more complex actions (which are more powerful) take a number of turns to "store up enough energy" for the Transformer to use them-- a segmented bar between each attack shows you how many more turns you have until you can use that attack, and the progress towards each attack DOES "save" in between encounters in the same mission, which is a must considering many of them take longer than 3 turns to become available. Each Transformer does a bit of trash-talking and some cool animations when they both enter on this miniature, 3-D arena, though you can skip past such animations with a simple button press if you get tired of them (and you likely will by the end of the game). When you select an attack, your Transformer begins to animate as they "prepare" to unleash the attack, and it's here where you have to pay attention-- a circular indicator will come on at the right time over the "A" button image in the corner of the upper screen, and if you press the A button at the right time, the attack will execute with more damage. The basic attacks only need one button press at the right time, but the most complicated can take several button presses chained together. Generally this part isn't that difficult-- if you're paying attention, you should have no problem pressing the button at the right time(s)-- but it is the only part of this game that has a bit of precise timing needed, as opposed to the simple turn-based strategy that allows you to take your time figuring out what you want to do.
    Unlike most "quick licensed cash-in" games, this version of Rise of the Dark Spark can take you quite a while to complete-- there are 32 different missions/battles in total, each taking a minimum of 10 minutes to a max of around 45 minutes (assuming you don't skip through all the animations), with most trending around the 30-minute mark. The longer battles tend to be stacked more towards the end than the beginning, as it should be. Add it up; that's a pretty decent amount of play time for a 3DS game. In addition, there's three optional objectives you can complete in each mission, ranging from things like making sure no one gets below 25% health to hacking everything hackable in the level to killing 5 enemies with one character. Completing these optional objectives doesn't really give you anything beyond contributing to your completion percentage, but they do lend a bit more replay value to the game. (You don't have to complete all three objectives for a mission on one playthrough, which helps make this considerably less frustrating than it otherwise would be.) In addition, once you complete a mission you can bring in any unlocked character from the relevant side into the mission during a replay, making those additional objectives a bit easier to obtain. Also, once you finish the whole game, a "New Game Plus" mode is unlocked, allowing you to go through the game again on "Hard" difficulty, adding more replayability for those who want a bit more of a challenge. (That said, both Easy and Medium aren't really challenging until perhaps the last few missions, and my limited playthrough of Hard didn't seem to be that much more difficult-- gamers who are masochists when it comes to difficulty may be disappointed with this game in that respect.)

    The Rise of the Dark Spark game for the Nintendo 3DS takes Transformers video games in an exciting new direction, what with being turn-based strategy as opposed to your typical shooter game. The core gameplay mechanics are quite well-done and the game's fun to play, even if a few minor things aren't completely balanced and it's definitely not the most complex or difficult game in the genre. It also gives you a good amount of play value for your money-- this is one of the few titles where I think the handheld version is actually BETTER than the "main console" version. A recommended purchase, particularly if you're looking for a different kind of Transformers game.

Graphics: 6/10
Music: 10/10
Gameplay: 18/20
Storyline: 5/10
Level Design: 9/10
Cutscenes: 7/10
Controls: 20/20
Replayability: 9/10

Overall Rating:84/100 Great

(Screencaps from Nintendolife.)

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