Second Look - Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (PS3)

After playing through Transformers: War for Cybertron and its sequel Fall of Cybertron again, I decided to take another look at a third game in the series, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, developed by Edge of Reality rather than High Moon. What made this game stand out, however, was that it was advertised as a crossover between the aforementioned Cybertron games and the live-action film continuity, specifically the then-new Transformers: Age of Extinction. On my initial playthrough my thoughts on the game were a bit mixed, however after a second playthrough and some additional continuity research, I found my impressions a little more negative than they were before.

On Earth, Drift, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime engage the crash site of a relic known as the Dark Spark, which is said to be the antithesis to the Matrix of Leadership. Before the Autobots can secure it for themselves, however, the bounty hunter Lockdown takes it and infuses himself with its power. On the planet Cybertron, Soundwave and Shockwave are in search of the Dark Spark, which Megatron plans to use for his own means to rule over Cybertron.

If my research is correct, the game’s story is supposed to be both an interquel with War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron and a prequel to Age of Extinction. Plot-wise, the Cybertron portion of the game doesn’t seem to actually contradict the events of Fall of Cybertron in any significant capacity, aside from maybe something I did not pick up on. When taken in context, however, the whole plot point of the Dark Spark comes out of nowhere and only serves to stop the main plot cold. One major contradiction of note, however, is that Megatron is presented as having his body that he acquires during the second half of Fall of Cybertron, whereas at this point in the timeline he should still have his body from War for Cybertron and the first half of its sequel.

As for the Age of Extinction portion, there’s a lot more things wrong with it that render it incompatible with the movie, especially its lore placement. For starters, Lockdown is presented out of character when compared to the actual movie, with his personality and motivations not quite matching up with his silver-screen counterpart. Rather than a bounty hunter working for KSI to eliminate the Autobots, he is instead here working for Megatron (it's not clear whether he's a bounty hunter or a Decepticon) and has his own delusions of grandeur. His plan involves taking the Dark Spark back in time using something called a Time Bridge (a cool concept that should’ve been reserved for a better story) in order to save the Decepticons during the Great War, despite him being a mercenary who should have no affiliation with the Decepticons. This is probably more of a nitpick if anything, though the game also misses the opportunity to use Lockdown’s face cannon from the movie during combat.

Lockdown receives a complete personality overhaul for no discernible reason.

The game apparently being a prequel to Age of Extinction also raises further questions when accounting for Grimlock, who appears out of nowhere during the last few Chapters of the game and is presented as having already become best friends with the Autobots. This detail should’ve placed the game after the events of the movie, however Lockdown being defeated in that movie would render this impossible as well.

The Age of Extinction portions of the game are also deceptively short, as they didn’t have as much story as the Cybertron portion or have very long Chapters. The fact that I’m referring to the game in portions should also be a clue that this is not a proper crossover between the two continuities, rather more of a cross-through, resulting in what feels like a more bifurcated experience. It does follow up on the idea of swapping between factions during the story, which I like, but the Age of Extinction sections only follow the Autobot side of the conflict. There are audio logs in some levels that expand on the backstory, at least for the Cybertron portion, but much like Fall of Cybertron, however, they can be easily missed unless you look around the levels or stumble upon one by happenstance.

The Dark Spark itself is also very ill-defined, to the point where I didn’t care enough about what was going on because I wasn’t entirely sure what the threat was or what the Dark Spark did. Besides it being the Matrix of Leadership’s antithesis, it seems that even the game itself doesn’t know what the Dark Spark is supposed to be, since there’s a bit of audio that leaves the exact origins of the Dark Spark vague. I understand they were trying to build up a mystery with the artifact, however there’s a point where there’s a bit too much mystery, which only ends up reducing the Dark Spark to a glorified MacGuffin. The exact power set of the Dark Spark isn’t clear either, since Megatron uses it to raise the dead and get into a beam battle with Optimus Prime while Lockdown is shown to be able to teleport or freeze things in place along with possessing bullet immunity. It’s not clarified what absorbing the Dark Spark’s power means beyond that, which only muddies what exactly the threat of the Decepticons obtaining the object means for everyone else.

This doesn't help too much.

The gameplay is largely similar to Fall of Cybertron, with some differences. In addition to two different weapon types, you can now hold up to three T.E.C.H. at once, mapped to the D-Pad, with additional options such as a temporary boost in EXP (max. x6) or summoning a battle or healing drone. There’s also the addition of H.A.C.K.s, which offer a passive trade-off (ex. enemies drop more health than ammo, you deal more damage while enemies have more health) in exchange for a boost in EXP. One HACK even straight-up turns the HUD off, which seems only there for a challenge of some kind.

The biggest change, however, is how the currency system established in Fall of Cybertron has been entirely replaced with a lootbox system. Lootboxes are obtained from completing certain missions or leveling up, which can often be completed more than once. This is also how everything is unlocked, from weapons and upgrades to T.E.C.H. and H.A.C.K.s, even character abilities and playable multiplayer characters. Repeats are usually converted into T.E.C.H. or H.A.C.K.s, which are the primary consumable items in the game. I get the idea behind it, however having to rely on random unlocks can be really annoying at times, especially if you’re trying to unlock a specific weapon you don’t have yet, and sometimes felt like the dreaded microtransaction might as well have also been present (which, thankfully, it is not).

On the gameplay side of things, there is an increased number of playable characters, including some such as Shockwave or Sideswipe who were previously not playable, however some returning characters received a change in their abilities for seemingly no reason other than to change up the gameplay. As an example, Swindle’s grapple ability is replaced with the ability to summon a sentry for extra firepower and Optimus Prime (Cybertron) now has an ability that involves charging up a shield. Somewhat bizarrely, Grimlock is simply just a reskin of his Fall of Cybertron counterpart, except now you can change form whenever you want instead of having to charge up a meter, which leads to such oddities as Grimlock having a shield and being able to stab enemies with a mace in place of a sword.

There’s also a section of the Cybertron portion where Bruticus is once again playable, however the moment itself doesn’t feel earned the way it did during Fall of Cybertron. Whereas the original moment had some amount of buildup, here it just kind of happens. On top of this, several sections of the game are simply mowing down swarms of enemies, which eventually just felt like padding rather than a natural encounter.

The visuals are a bit hit-and-miss. The Cybertron sections hit more in this department, though that can at least partly be chalked up to the abundance of recycled assets and character models from War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron, with a number of recycled levels seeming like they were simply reversed or recontextualized to create a new environment. This even includes a Generation 1 teaser at the end, which simply recycles the G1 Optimus Prime skin from Fall of Cybertron.

The Age of Extinction sections, on the other hand, miss more often than not. The character models look okay when in robot mode, however the vehicle mode designs, except maybe Grimlock’s dinosaur mode, look a little unfinished, as though lacking texture. This also extends to the environments, which can often appear low-res and can feel too open and lifeless at times. On a separate note, the characters are animated well in cutscenes, however the cutscenes themselves aren’t very cinematic and feel closer to machinima.

The Age of Extinction character models are overall more
presentable than the environments. (Pictured: Drift)

One of the better parts of the game is the voice acting, with returning voice actors managing to maintain the same level of performance they did in Fall of Cybertron. Of particular praise is Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, however I will say that Troy Baker’s Jetfire sounded more English in this game like he did in War for Cybertron, whereas in Fall of Cybertron he sounded a little more Australian. The music is generally okay, though what stood out to me was the title screen music, which has a certain level of energy that much of the rest of the game lacks.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is a bit of a mixed bag at best and downright terrible at worst, due mainly to a lot of wasted potential. It manages to fit okay within the timeline of the Cybertron games, however it absolutely does not work within the context of the live-action films’ timeline and the exact nature of the Dark Spark is confusing at best on top of coming out of nowhere. While the voice acting and sound design are generally solid, the gameplay and visuals are generally lacking. Whether you are planning to play the War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron games, watch the Age of Extinction film, or possibly some combination of both, you can honestly just safely skip this game and not miss anything.