(NOTE: Although this is a review of the DS version of the game, screencaps of this version of the game aren't widely available. As such, included in this review are screencaps of the Wii version-- the same general screen layout is the same as on the DS version, however, with only minor differences in the HUD.)

    Like... well, pretty much every Transformers video game ever, Transformers Prime: The Game is an over-the-shoulder 3-D shooter. However, this game is a shooter with a bit more emphasis on melee fighting, with melee taking up roughly as much time of the game as shooting does (depending upon your playstyle, of course). It should be noted that although this review focuses on the Nintendo DS version-- and thus the version with the worst graphics-- the same general play experience and story plays out across all the different handhelds and consoles the game was released (WiiU, Wii, 3DS, and the DS). As such, the comments on the play pattern can be carried over to the other versions of the game, though not so much with the graphics and extras (discussed later).
    The core story itself for the game is fairly simple, though solid, and plays out just like an episode (or perhaps a 2-parter) of the series. The game even starts out with the TV show's intro cinematic! This makes sense, as two of the writers for the Prime TV show wrote the dialog and story for the game. Without going too much into the end game or spoilers, the Autobots and Decepticons uncover a strange meteor made of Dark Energon, and inside is Thunderwing, a GIANT of a Transformer who is an emissary of Unicron and whose sole mission in life is to destroy the Matrix. Fighting breaks out. There's more details to it than that, but that's the basic thrust of the game's premise. That said, there are still a few obvious holes in the story, such as why Thunderwing is coming now-- after Unicron has apparently gone back into slumber-- and why he was in a Dark Energon asteroid to begin with. (Another oddity is that this is supposed to take place sometime during Season 2 of the show, but Airachnid, Starscream, and the Insecticons are all under Megatron's command in this game. As those who have watched Season 2 can attest, there is no point in the show where all three are united under Megatron.)
    The wonderful music sounds like it's taken straight from the show, and all of the voice actors for the show return to voice their respective characters for this game, with the sole exception of Dreadwing. In other versions, he's apparently voiced by a different voice actor, but in the DS version he doesn't say a word (at least spoken-- he does have some in-game dialogue that's just words on the screen). Dreadwing's part is quite minimal, though, so there's no real loss there. There's also quite a few cinematics-- captured with the better Wii graphical engine models-- that help to flesh out the story in between bouts of fighting. There's also some sequences that aren't quite cinematics in this game-- they're sort of sequenced "screencaps" of the cinematics that are obviously fully fleshed out on the more expensive versions of the game, but here are merely shown on the screen and changed every few seconds as the dialogue between the characters plays out. I'm not sure why some sequences are "full-blown" cinematics while others are "slide shows", given that all of these are fully rendered cinematics on the more expensive versions of the game-- a limitation of DS memory, perhaps?-- but regardless, most of these bits are fairly enjoyable and the highlights of the game.
    What is NOT a high point of the game is... well, the gameplay. It's incredibly simple and repetitive. Now, that by itself isn't bad, but the core gameplay needs to be interesting and addictive for that formula to work. For the Prime game it's simply not. There's a button for shooting, two buttons that allow you to make simplistic melee combos, a lock-on enemy button, and a transform button. (Well, and the obvious directional pad for movement.) There, I've just told you the entirely of the gameplay. Oh, there's a few other context-specific unique combinations-- for example, the game tells you to transform from vehicle-to-robot right next to a boss to do a special attack that breaks their otherwise invulnerable shield-- but those are by far the exceptions to the rule. Basically, at the start of the level, you have a few Vehicons or Insecticons to deal with, which you can lock onto and take care of by shooting or hitting their health bars down to zero. They pretty much just stand there and shoot at you-- no advanced AI here. Advance forward, and a few more dispensible troops come at you. There's some boxes here and there that you can hit to replenish your health or your energy. (You build up your energy slowly while attacking, and then when your energy bar is full, you can "upgrade" your attacks-- basically have them do roughly double-damage-- for a few seconds before the energy bar is depleted and you start over again.) Occasionally you may have an vehicle section where you have to chase someone, but that's basically about dodging/jumping over obstacles while driving at a pre-set speed. Ratchet's sole level at least mixes things up a little, with some simple "hit the button to open the door, then make it through the door down the hall before it closes" type of puzzles.

    Eventually you get to a boss--the various named Decepticons of the show (you always play as the various Autobots)-- and you can figure out their various patterns of attack pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the bosses are waaaay too long. Their health bars deplete entirely too slowly-- your hands will need a breather from jamming the shooter and melee buttons over and over again after you finish one of these bosses. To make matters worse, the boss fights are over half of the game-- many stages are just a single boss fight, for instance. To make matters worse, you fight almost all of the bosses more than once (and Megatron THREE times), and usually with the same characters (though thankfully the bosses' attack patterns are at least different each time). Bulkhead always fights Starscream, Arcee always fights Airachnid, Bumblebee always fights Knock Out, Prime always fights Megatron... particularly given how long these fights can last, particularly when you fight them later in the game it's just sort of in a "GET ON WITH IT" manner-- you're not fighting them because it's fun and you like the challenge, you're fighting them because you want to see something interesting happen in the story.
    Now, when you hear that boss fights take up over half of the game, you may be inclined to think that the game's short. You'd be correct. The game is one of the shortest full retail-priced games I've ever played, as I COMPLETELY beat the game in less than 2 hours, cinematics included in that total, and I'm hardly an expert at these types of games. There are 13 chapters/levels-- which seems okay enough, until you start playing and realize that the LONGEST of these chapters takes about 15 minutes to complete, with the shortest only about 3 minutes. And particularly near the end, most of these "chapters" are just a boss fight, and then a cinematic, and then you've beat the chapter and can go onto the next chapter.
    At this point is where the DS game differs most noticeably from the more expensive/pretty versions of the game, and that's the replayability factor. I'm told that with the other versions of the game, there's a bunch of extras that you can search around the levels to unlock-- character models, data, that sort of thing. It helps to lengthen a short game by at least a little, and is certainly appreciated. However, the DS version has none of that. There's no extras or upgrades whatsoever to find and unlock. Once you beat a level, you're given a rank based on both the time you took to complete the level and how much damage you received (from best to worst-- S,A,B,C), so perfectionists may be inclined to go back and improve their score just for the sake of it, but that's about it when it comes to replayability. There's no reward you get for beating a level with an S rating, and the ratings seem awfully random. Once I thought I did a merely average job on a level and got an S rating, while many times I thought I did quite well and got a C rating. Beats me how they figure out what's a "good job" and what's not, and there isn't any meter or indicator that tells you how well you're doing while you're playing, or how close/far you are form attaining the next ranking, which makes trying to get all S rankings random guesswork at best, frustration at worst. (As a side note, there's also no multiplayer on the DS version, while there is some very simple multiplayer, apparently, on the other versions.)

    Most games that have "The Game" at the end of the title's name tend not to be all that great. Sadly, Transformers Prime: The Game continues that trend. The story is mildly interesting and they really went to admirable lengths to make it feel like an episode or two of the TV show, but the gameplay is mind-numbingly repetitive and boring, particularly the boss fights (which are most of the game). Given that plus how ridiculously short the game is, even the biggest Prime fans probably won't feel like they got their money's worth with this game. What you'll likely be left with is a feeling of regret, and perhaps a longing for toys of the new Vehicon types introduced in this game (helicopter, tank, and truck Vehicons). Perhaps if it's on VERY deep discount and you've got to find out exactly how everything happens, it may be worth a minimal amount of money, but at retail price? No way, skip it and go spend that money on a Prime toy instead.

Graphics: 6/10
Music: 10/10
Gameplay: 6/20
Storyline: 9/10
Level Design: 4/10
Cutscenes: 9/10
Controls: 10/20
Replayability: 1/10

Overall Rating:55/100 Average

(Screencaps taken from Brutalgamer.)

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