Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the newest game based on the multi million dollar cross media property that Activision released earlier this Summer; today, Activision’s announcing some new content coming for the game in the form of post launch DLC. The DLC includes three new Decepticons for the game’s cooperative multiplayer survival mode – Escalation – priced at $1.99 each. These Decepticons include Stinger, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. Two new guns- Glass Gas Cannon and Electro Bolter- are also available.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark was launched for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and PC. However, as is to be expected of all third party multiplatform games by this point in time, all of this DLC will only be available for the non-Nintendo systems. Wii U and 3DS owners will be missing out on it.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information.

Hasbro invented a cast of outer-space machinoid characters that can transform into anything imaginable including trucks, sports cars, jets, insects, robot animals, Christ even a robotic T-Rex. How hard is it to make a decent game that capitalizes on such gleeful craziness? Apparently pretty hard for developer Edge of Reality who have taken the reigns after High Moon’s successful stint on the last two Cybertron-centric titles.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark features what starts off as a totally acceptable, standard, Transformers-fare adventure wherein the various Cybertronian tribes including the Autobots and Decepticons are fighting over the latest gadget; the Dark Spark. This sought after item apart from being really dangerous also has the ability to control space and time. This is where things turn bizarre by combining the movie-universe Transformers with the more classic War of Cybertron universe of Transformers resulting in a crossover nobody really wanted.

"The game plays very much like the standard third-person shooter which kind of ruins the awe of being a giant mecha-robot as you feel pretty much like you’re playing as any generic shooter character invented."

The game takes place over 14 different chapters, each featuring a different playable Autobot or Decepticon. The game flings the player between the two warring parties back and forth resulting in confusion over which side you’re actually playing for with only their dialogue or Transformer designs as clues. No matter which side you’re playing as the levels are all the same, boring affair with the usual arena’s full of repeated enemies that need to be destroyed in order to continue.

Sometimes, just to spice it up that extra bit more the player will need to flick 3 switches/levers/terminals to access yet another combat arena because the fun just never ends. Each level feels like an endless slog through unintelligent enemies and repetitive environment designs.

The game plays very much like the standard third-person shooter which kind of ruins the awe of being a giant mecha-robot as you feel pretty much like you’re playing as any generic shooter character invented. The weapons are a decent mix including the expected pistols, heavy pistols, machine guns, gattling guns and even a lightning gun which produces chains of lightning across multiple enemies. Combat is fairly satisfying when cleaving through a pit of insectoid mechs however it doesn’t pack that oomph that’s expected when playing as a freaking Transformer.

The game features an attempt at customization as each weapon is customizable and upgradeable. Terminals throughout the levels will offer the chance to customize loadouts including primary and heavy weapons, the ability to equip T.E.C.H which is the games perk system and other little bonuses. Gunning your way through the levels will unlock prize boxes which contain random selections of weapons, T.E.C.H and characters to play as in the half-arsed multiplayer mode.

"The multiplayer mode included is barely worth the energy spent typing these words as it only contains a wave/horde mode in which you team up with some friends to slog it out against increasing amounts of enemies and use your cash earned to buy upgrades."

Everyone knows that the best part of the Transformers is their ability to, well, you know, transform. Only in this game this ability is mostly pointless and extremely dissatisfying. The controls for the vehicles in the game, which can be transformed into with a click of the right analogue are extremely confusing as they feature not one but two boost buttons. How does that make sense? Flying around as a fighter jet is fun for about 30 seconds then gets frustrating when you immediately get shot out of the sky by over-powered drones that appear from nowhere.

The multiplayer mode included is barely worth the energy spent typing these words as it only contains a wave/horde mode in which you team up with some friends to slog it out against increasing amounts of enemies and use your cash earned to buy upgrades. Rise of the Dark Spark could have easily included a coop feature throughout the campaign as AI allies regularly join the fight however this is noticeably absent.

The visuals suffer with texture pop-ins which often look flat and dull. The Transformers themselves look decent, often with animated moving parts. Long loading times between the levels also ruin the experience.

Overall the latest Transformers outing lacks the fun and excitement that should come with playing as warring, oversized robots.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is outrightly a bad game. The game deserves so much scorn and derision merely for the fact that it tries to trace the footsteps of its epic predecessors. As is the discussion extant, it’s a drab mish-mash of three different universes where the Transformers had made a mark, and steers absolutely clear of the target the game was meant to hit. Rise of the Dark Spark has its good moments , but they are far too few and well below par in light of the egregious shortcomings that the laughable title of the game bodes of.

The overall lacklustre appearance of the game isn’t improved by the PS4’s well implemented AA.

" The game is built on the Unreal Engine 3 using Havok for the physics of the game, both of which should have been able to deliver at least a commendable title. Needless to say, because of the movie tie-up, the game was rushed and is far from polished"

Rise of the Dark Spark takes the best of three different universes, and tacks tries to tack them together in a visibly desultory manner. The game doesn’t establish any solid grounds for its entry or for combining different storylines together in an incomprehensible nexus weaved by a complex, unstable and jumping storyline that offers nothing memorable in any way.

After trying your hand at the game, you would actually start appreciating the movies and consider Bayformers not all that bad. This game was released on the old and new generation consoles of Sony and Microsoft, alongside the PC platform and the Wii U.

The game is built on the Unreal Engine 3 using Havok for the physics of the game, both of which should have been able to deliver at least a commendable title. Needless to say, because of the movie tie-up, the game was rushed and is far from polished, looking to be in mid development stage albeit with better optimisation.

After seeing fans have a great time with High Moon’s Transformers titles, Activision stepped in to show its legendary foresight by moving High Moon to the Call of Duty development team and bringing Edge of Reality to make the new Bayformers game because Spiderman wasn’t nearly enough.

This motley amalgam of rehashed bushwa fares drearily on the new generation of consoles. It’s almost a mockery to release a game of such a level on the consoles of date. Even on the antediluvian generation for that matter (c. 2006 AD). The game runs at 30fps on the consoles, with the X1 version of it upscaled to full HD.

The X1’s failure to use optimum level AA is evident at times. (Tank’s gun barrel)

"The lighting may draw your attention too as would the implementation of the bloom effects, which add a certain element of beauty to it which looks good (ish). Mind, this is all in contrast to other elements and features that the game has to offer."

If you cut the game some slack, you MAY yet find some beauty in the game. The reflections in the game are quite decent and actually add to the appeal of the game, but are mostly present only on the robots themselves and little elsewhere. A few windows here and there and a stream of water may well act their parts in giving off reflections but that’s as far as the appreciation goes.

The lighting may draw your attention too as would the implementation of the bloom effects, which add a certain element of beauty to it which looks good (ish). Mind, this is all in contrast to other elements and features that the game has to offer. You would find yourself hard pressed to actually find beauty in the game in terms of visual standards even if you have been committed to the splendid Transformers series since the days of the yore.

I would have blamed the devs for slobbering on their systems when designing this game, but I can’t. It’s a movie tie up. So I’ll just get on with the really bad part. Texture mapping is absolutely horrendous with every vehicle, object and building shrouded in cheap texture models that you get dime a dozen all over the internet. Or so they seem.

The Transformer designs have been straightaway borrowed from the earlier games without any thought of improvement. With so many sports cars in the fray, one would expect some gritty, fast paced action. Absolutely not.

There is no sense of speed in the game throughout. Motion blur is entirely absent and when you activate boost on a transformed robot, all you get is wavery visuals around the said vehicle as if emitting heat; it is ridiculous. Particle effects are no good either with smoke looking more like a shoddily shorn piece of grey cloth being dragged across the skyline rather than drifting effortlessly and dispersing in the sky. On top of that, the devs didn’t even get the 2D Skybox right. It’s absolutely insipid.

The PC’s superior lighting, shadows and other sundry effects are not enough to cover up the marred look of the game.

" Ground textures may be better at times but they are still make the current day hardware a laughing stock. Thankfully there don't seem to be any jaggies and at least the textures used seem to be of high resolutions. The consoles seem to employ multi-sample anti-aliasing but it seems to be used on a lower scale on the X1; but the difference is noticeable as not."

Alpha processing has been given a blind eye, with flames and water flows being not transparent or translucent enough, giving them a cheap and bungled look. Interactables are even worse as shooting any interactable would pave way for visual agony by means of visual effects disinterred from the early days of the Cenozoic era. Tankers and buildings crack and splinter like brittle limestone and water spills in an almost identical manner every time, hits the ground, then winks out of existence because who needs physics anyway?

Ground textures may be better at times but they still make the current day hardware a laughing stock. Thankfully there don’t seem to be any jaggies and at least the textures used seem to be of high resolutions. The consoles seem to employ multi-sample anti-aliasing but it seems to be used on a lower scale on the X1; but the difference is noticeable as not.

Low level SSAO is implemented and similar is the level of soft shadows, which do the little they can to improve upon the game’s visuals. The depth of field is nothing to boast about in the game while crepuscular rays and bloom do a considerably good job on the PC port of the game.

The new gen consoles play the game in a very similar fashion suffering ofttimes – if not plagued – by frame rate drops and screen tearing.

The animation style is carried on to the previous generation of consoles, but all the effects are even worse. The frame rate is again at 30fps, but everything else, takes a tumble down the hill. The, textures, models, filtering, anti-aliasing, all are not even at par with what the old generation hardware could provide. Screen tearing instances are minimal but the amount of jaggies and the overall visual quality are not at all satisfactory.

An analogy can be drawn with the Wii U version of the game albeit with meagrely better graphics, but a far from nifty set of key bindings which make the experience not so good. Even then, the game suffers from churning out a consistence frame rate thus resulting in a poor experience that often comes with screen tears and lag.

The Wii U’s poor AA and textures are sometimes irritatingly apparent.

" This game is definitely not worth even a whiff if eye candy is what you're staking your money on. There is a good variety of weaponry in the game, but the AI never forces you to use alternative strategies with different weapons to send them packing. The sheer variety of weapons and the integration of the Escalation mode are all that are worth looking at in the game. "

Among the platforms, it’s only the PC that can deliver something. But that something is sub-par in itself which speaks oodles of how the game looks on other consoles. Lighting techniques and reflections aren’t enough to uplift a game’s visual aspect so much so that a user would completely ignore other aspects of it. With so much else missing in the game, it’s no good on the PC either.

This game is definitely not worth even a whiff if eye candy is what you’re staking your money on. There is a good variety of weaponry in the game, but the AI never forces you to use alternative strategies with different weapons to send them packing. The sheer variety of weapons and the integration of the Escalation mode are all that are worth looking at in the game.

If you’re getting the game for under $10, good; if you’re renting it, better; if someone gifts it to you, well it certainly won’t be anything that you would thank them for but you’d be happy that it wasn’t your money. Optimus’ voice is a charmer, so is the short time with Grimlock but nothing else seems to strike the right chord.

Rise of the Dark Spark had a great concept that was lost in the multi-universe dissonance that was the product of a quick buck strategy gone squalid. Unless you’re an absolute goner for the series, you can give this game a pass. Steer WELL AWAY from it if graphics are what you’re looking at.

Activision’s Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is now available PC, Nintendo 3DS, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It coincides with the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction and seeks to link the game series which began with War for Cybertron to the Michael Bay universe. Ponder that for a second.

SVP Digital Gaming & Corporate Development at Hasbro Mark Blecher stated that, ”Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark engages the fans with digital game play that brings all stories together. Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark links the unique universes of the live-action TRANSFORMERS films from director Michael Bay and Paramount Pictures – including the upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction – and Activision’s prior Cybertron video games.”

Leave aside the fact Transformers: Age of Extinction is arguably the worst film in the franchise since the release of Revenge of the Fallen. Are you interested in Rise of the Dark Spark? Let us know in the comments.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is now available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Wii U and 3DS.

Anti-Alien Propaganda Billboard locations:

There are five Anti-Alien Propaganda Billboards to be found in the game. This will also unlock the Snitches Get Stitches trophy/achievement.

Lockdown’s Weapon Cache locations:

There are six weapon caches. Below is the video which details their locations. This will also unlock the Make Peace, Not War trophy/achievement.

Audio Logs Locations:

There are 18 audio logs to be found in the game. Finding them will unlock the Somebody’s Watching Me, Spoils Of War and Make It Rain achievements and trophies.

Stalker Audio Logs:

#1 – Chapter 2 – 0:05
#2 – Chapter 2 – 1:02
#3 – Chapter 2 – 1:40
#4 – Chapter 3 – 2:32
#5 – Chapter 3 – 3:17
#6 – Chapter 3 – 4:01

Veteran Audio Logs:

#1 – Chapter 4 – 0:05
#2 – Chapter 5 – 0:43
#3 – Chapter 5 – 1:26
#4 – Chapter 5 – 1:51
#5 – Chapter 6 – 2:29
#6 – Chapter 6 – 3:12

Entrepreneurs Audio Logs:

#1 – Chapter 7 – 0:05
#2 – Chapter 7 – 0:40
#3 – Chapter 7 – 1:18
#4 – Chapter 7 – 1:43
#5 – Chapter 7 – 2:31
#6 – Chapter 9 – 3:20

Achievements and trophies guide:

Aligned

Chose your allegiance.

Peace Through Tyranny

Defeated 250 Autobots.

It Was An Honor

Defeated 250 Decepticons and mercenaries.

Short Circuit

Reached Level 5.

Perfect

Reached Level

You Got The Touch

Reached Level 25.

Covenant of Primus

Activated Prime Mode.

It’s The Thought That Counts

Opened 3 Gear Boxes.

Tough

Made it through Wave 5 in Escalation.

Double Tough

Made it through Wave 10 in Escalation.

Double Tough Hard

Made it through Wave 15 in Escalation.

Hmm, Upgrades

Upgraded an installation to max level in Escalation.

You Get Nothing, Good Day Sir

Slowed down the reverse engineering project.

Make Peace, Not War

Destroyed Lockdown’s Weapon Caches. [refer guide above]

Somebody’s Watching Me

Found all the Stalker’s Observations.

Make it Rain

Discovered the fate of the Entrepreneur.

Spoils of War

Listened to all the Veteran’s laments.

Snitches Get Stitches

As Drift, destroyed all the Anti-Alien Propaganda Billboards. [refer guide above]

My Blade Has Tasted Better

As Drift, defeated 25 enemies with the Blade Dash ability.

Spectacularly Amazing!

As Sideswipe, got through the whole chasm using less than 6 grapples.

Softly Softly Catchee Monkey

As Swindle, defeated Cliffjumper without causing any collateral damage.

No One Gets Outta Here Alive!

Destroyed everything outside the Gates of Kaon.

What Could Go Wrong?

As Optimus, completed the rescue of Cliffjumper without using the turret.

I’d Like To Leave Here Please

As Jetfire, escaped the ruins of Trypticon without taking any damage from the laser gates.

Sting Like A . . .

As Bumblebee, defeated a sniper with a melee attack.

Tread Lightly

As Grimlock, prevented Optimus from falling below 50% health while defending him.

Give Me The News Doc

Healed 50,000 health points amongst you and your allies.

Need … Oil … Can

Defeated 75 enemies that are slowed.

Bleeding Edge

Completed the game with a HACK active.

Of Merit and Distinction

Earned 250 combat distinctions.

Challenge Accepted

Completed 50 Challenges.

Blasters! Blasters! Blasters!

Unlocked every weapon.

This Weapon of Iron & Wood

Fully upgraded a primary weapon.

VROOM-pire!

Defeated 50 enemies by siphoning their health away with the Energon Harvester.

Y U Heff 2 B Mad?

Used the V32.Cybr Corrupt@r on a Power Foe and have them defeat an enemy.

Shadow Company

Defeated 25 enemies after using the Cloak ability.

Thumbs Up Soldier!

Defeated 35 enemies using throwback damage from the Kinetic Capacitor Shield ability.

Marked for Destruction

Defeated 50 enemies marked with E.D.U.

Turret Buddy

Defeated 25 enemies with your Battle Sentry.

healing.exe

Repaired 5,000 points of damage with your Repair Sentry.

Quartermaster

Resupplied 250 times with the Ammo Supply Core.

Totally OP

Defeated 100 enemies with the Riot Cannon.

I Hope You Have Insurance

Healed 15,000 health points with your Heal Beam.

Scrapped

Used Explosive Path to defeat 35 enemies.

Tormenta

Used Thunder Blast to earn 35 multi kills.

Loadsa Money

Earned 25,000 Energon Shards.

What Does This Do?

Used 50 T.E.C.H.

It’s Not A Sprint

Drove or Flew 26 miles (42km).

Full Metal Jacket

Reloaded 1,000 times.

Welcome to Earth!

Defeated Lockdown.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark PC Fixes:

Game crashes: Verify the game’s cache or try setting graphics options to low.

Blue screen issue: You need to have latest driver or your graphics card.

Game Lags: Your system needs to meet the minimum requirements to run the game or try lowering AA.

No Sound: Try re-installing the game.

Note: This guide will updated once we have more information about the game. You can also check out the complete video walk-through of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark here.

Game Overview:

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Sparkis is a game combining elements from  Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The game takes place before the Ark is launched in Fall of Cybertron.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is developed by Edge of Reality and WayForward Technologies, and published by Activision. The game is now available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC and 3DS.

Check out the video walkthrough of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.

The game launches today, and Activision has given us a launch trailer, that does about just what you would expect from a launch trailer for a licensed game, which really might not be doing this game justice, actually.

In any case, the game launches soon for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows enabled PCs, Wii U, and the Nintendo 3DS; the online co-op modes are available on all systems except for the 3DS and Wii U (because of course they aren’t available on Nintendo). Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the latest original game being published by Activision using its Transformers license. It follows Megatron’s bid to claim Cybertron’s most ancient and destructive weapon; the newest trailer shows off the new online co-op multiplayer mode, Escalation Mode, which sees players team up with over forty characters available to players once unlocked.

Players will take down not only hordes upon hordes of opposing forces, but cunning and difficult leaders as well, so players will be forced to switch out their strategies if they are to make any headway.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark comes out on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Wii U, and 3DS. The Escalation Mode is not available in the Wii U and 3DS versions. The game launches on June 27. What version will you be picking up? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

Activision’s Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark won’t have High Moon Studios reprising its developmental role from War of Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron but it’s still looking pretty good.

How does it fit into the new canon of the universe though, especially with movies like Age of Extinction further adding to the twists and turns? Luckily, a new video has been released to explain the story and features none other than the voice of Optimus Prime himself.

Though for a chance, we get to see Peter Cullen in his normal human avatar. His contributions to the franchise have been significant – in every animated iteration of Transformers, Cullen has been the voice of Prime and even voiced the Autobot leader in Michael Bay’s Transformer films. Many say his voice was the only positive of the horrifically bad CG crap fast viewers were subjected to.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be releasing on June 24th for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS and PC.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be launching across multiple consoles, appearing on both last gen and current gen systems, the game is set to launch on June 24th of 2014 on Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Wii U, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story
• 3. Characters

Development

While not much information is available regarding the development of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark given its relation to the movie series, this of course means that there’s concerns over keeping plot elements quiet. What we know for certain is that when the game appears on consoles, it will be taking the form of a third person shooter / action game, whereas the Nintendo 3DS build of the game will be a strategy role playing game.

The game is also set to serve as a bridge between the world of the Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise and the Transformers Cybertron video game franchise with a report saying it will act as a “video game complement”. The blurb on the packaging of the game states, “Rise of the Dark Spark jumps worlds and factions as it weaves the tale of the hunt for an ancient relic as powerful as the Matrix of Leadership – the Dark Spark. Players will be able to switch between the heroes of the noble Autobots and the nefarious Decepticons throughout the single-player campaign.”

Multiplayer will be returning to the game with Escalation mode where four players work together in a team to endure waves of enemy attacks. Levelling progress carries across from single player modes to multiplayer game modes to allow progress in both aspects of the game.

Gameplay

Similar to the previous console Transformer games and the Cybertron series, the gameplay will primarily take the form of a fast moving action focused third person shooter. Another returning feature of the previous titles in the series is the players option of choosing whether they play as the Autobots as they defend earth and the human populace or play as the Decepticons in their efforts to wipe out humanity and destroy the earth. The returning Escalation multiplayer mode will include in excess of forty playable characters that will come together in teams of four as they do combat with the enemy; any progress in this game mode carries across to the single player campaign and vice versa.

There is a handheld build of the game that will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS and it will take the form of a strategy role playing game. Despite knowing this, there’s no details surrounding  how the gameplay and the story will actually unfold.

Story

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is set in a Transformers universe crossover between the Cybertron series of video games and the Michael Bay’s movies. The story is set before the Ark is launched into space, but the plot will unfold alongside the events of Age of Extinction and the aftermath of the events therein.

Characters

Beneath is a list of confirmed characters for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, some of these characters are only available via pre-order.

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Drift
• Grimlock
• Lockdown
• Stinger
• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Grimlock
• Jetfire
• Sideswipe
• Arcee
• Cliffjumper
• Megatron
• Shockwave
• Soundwave
• Swindle
• Brawl
• Onslaught
• Blast Off
• Vortex
• Bruticus
• Kickback
• Sharpshot
• Thundercracker
• Skywarp
• Generation 1 Optimus Prime

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.