Author: Jason "nimerjm" Nimer Version: .07 Version Start Date: 6/20/07 Version Completion Date: 6/24/07 Transformers: Autobots for Nintendo DS FAQ/Walkthrough By nimerjm Author's Note: Hey to all out there in InterWeb land; nimerjm here. Having recently completed my first FAQ ever (Time Ace - Nintendo DS), I've kind of caught the FAQ writing bug. It actually works out for me, as I am between writing jobs and putting together these keeps me sharp. If you are reading this and want to hire me, I have a resume and writing samples all ready to go. *End shameless self promotion* That being said, I'll get the other necessary FAQ stuff out of the way. If you have any questions, anything to add or want to alert me to something in here being incorrect, my email is still nimerjm at hotmail dot com. Make absolutely sure to put Transformers: Autobots in the subject line or I can't promise I'll get it or respond. This email also works for giving me a job... Finally, no one may use this FAQ, in whole or in part, without express written permission from me. Like I said in my first FAQ, I spent a lot of time in Media Law classes back in my college days, so it would be very foolish to steal my intellectual property (this FAQ). If you decide you want to steal from me, you might as well just buy me a boat. It will save us both time and expensive lawyer and court fees. Besides, who steals a FAQ anyway? Now that we have all that out of the way, lets get on with it, shall we? FAQ Updates and Info Fixes June 20, 2007: Started FAQ June 24, 2007: Finished FAQ - though some sections are incomplete June 29, 2007: Added second cheat (Megawolf) and section (U-4) Beware the COMBAT AREA (Tuck) Decepticon exclusives coming soon! June 30, 2007: Added some to the cheats, secret cars and glitches segments July 1, 2007: Added a few score to the Challenge Mode and one more glitch July 6, 2007: Added Easter Egg section July 8, 2007: Changed the cheat section a little bit July 18, 2007: Added Gold Medal times and Action Replay codes. Added to the thanks section and updated a few things here and there Table Of Contents *You'll notice that there is a number/letter combo for each part of the FAQ. Simply use CTRL - F (or Apple - F for all my Mac users out there) and type in the (letter/number) code to skip to the section you are interested in. (W-1) Introduction (W-2) Story (Possible Spoilers) (W-3) Controls (M-1) Basic movement (M-2) Combat mode (M-3) Weapons mode (M-4) Driving controls (M-5) Chopper controls (M-6) Touch Screen controls (M-7) Learned moves (W-4) Walkthrough (S-1) Casino Strip (S-2) Tranquility (S-3) The Arctic (S-4) Tranquility (2nd visit) (S-5) Hoover Dam (S-6) Tranquility (3rd visit) (W-5) Challenge Missions (C-1) Casino Strip (C-2) Tranquility (C-3) The Arctic (C-4) The Hoover Dam (W-6) Endgame (W-7) Checklists (L-1) Vehicle list (L-2) Playable Autobot list (W-8) Extras and Secrets (U-1) Cheats (U-2) Secret vehicles (U-3) The elusive jet and the download station blues (U-4) Easter Eggs (U-5) Action Replay codes (W-9) Online (O-1) Allspark Wars rules/systems (O-2) Online only unlockables (W-10) Glitches (G-1) Beware the COMBAT AREA (G-2) Brawl 2: Electric Boogaloo (G-3) The Rainbow Connection (W-11) Thanks and Anti-Thanks (W-1) Introduction Ok - Welcome to the FAQ/Walkthrough for the Autobot version of the great DS Transformers game. Like with Spider Man 3 before it, Vicarious Visions has managed to craft another amazingly not crappy movie game for the DS! Anyway, this game comes in two completely different versions: Autobots (good guys) and Decepticons (bad guys). Before you ask, no, I don't know which version is more popular or "better" as I only have only played the Autobot version. If you are old enough to remember the cartoon from the 80's, you'll see some familiar friends and foes, but by no means is this game just for people with extensive knowledge of the Transformers universe. The game is fun enough to stand on its own, with our without the "childhood memory" factor. Transformers: Autobots for Nintendo DS will no doubt end up with the nickname Grand Theft Autobot, as the free roaming and mission based gameplay does have a very GTA-like "sandbox" feel to it, not to mention being able to ratchet up a "wanted" level. There is one major difference, though, this game doesn't suck like every GTA game ever made. Anyway, Transformers: Autobots is loosely based around this summer's Transformers: The Movie, which hit theaters on July 4, 2007. IMO the movie was pretty good but without Louis Stevens (uh-oh, Disney channel reference) and giant robots, it would have been the dumbest movie ever. The other notable feature this game boasts is a very interesting online feature. Yes, you can play four player death matches with your friends if everyone has a copy of the game, but the online portion is a bit different. We'll get to its ins and outs later in the FAQ, but the short explanation is that you participate in an online score leader board, with the two sects of Transformers working against each other to obtain pieces of something called the AllSpark, which kind of looks like Pinhead's death box from the atrocious Hellraiser films. Like I said, I'll get to all this later. ***I am currently working on adding the Decpticons walkthrough to this guide.*** (W-2) Story (Possible Spoilers) Since we don't yet know if the game follows the movie's plotline, I'll mark this section as having some spoilers. I won't, however, mention too much about the game's story in the walkthrough. I'll let you know when you are playing as a different Autobot or when something tied to the story needs to be accomplished, but I won't narrate the whole story to you. Without going into too much detail, the game picks up some years after the planet Cybertron's destruction. It seems that some sentient robots (Transformers...duh) split into two warring factions and managed to destroy their own home world. Now, both the good and bad armies have descended on Earth, the new home of a mysterious and powerful object known as the Allspark. As a bonus for the Decepticons, it seems that their long lost leader, Megatron, is also somewhere on Earth. Great news for bad guys, terrible news for the good guys and even worse news for mankind, seeing as they have no advance knowledge of the robots that will soon be tearing up their cities and smashing everything in sight. In the Autobots version of this game, your main task will be stopping the Decepticons from finding and reviving Megatron, all while seeking the Allspark, which could put an end to the Decepticons for good. Sounds fun, right? As far as how this storyline connects to the upcoming movie, the cartoon and movie from the 80's or any other part of the Transformers history, I don't really know. I watched the show and movie when I was in elementary school but all I really remember was that Soundwave was my favorite. If you'd like to add to this section of the FAQ, email me and I'll credit you for your information. (W-3) Controls For a 3D game on a system with no analog stick (or Wiimote), Transformers controls pretty well. Here are the basic control schemes for the many modes and forms you'll be collecting. As you progress through the game, you'll gain new abilities, combos, vehicles and attacks. New powers and moves will be listed separately from the basic abilities you start the game with under the learned moves category. (M-1) Basic movement D-pad: Move character L/R: Move camera (L+R centers camera behind character) B button: Jump (M-2) Combat mode D-pad: Move character L/R: Move camera (L+R centers camera behind character) B button: Jump A button: Melee attack X button: Grab/Throw (M-3) Weapons mode D-pad: Move character (right/left becomes strafe) L/R: Move camera (L+R centers camera behind character) B button: Jump Y button: Fire blaster (ranged weapon) (M-4) Driving controls D-pad: Steer vehicle B button: Accelerate (holding up on d-pad works as well) A button: Emergency brake (used for sharp turns) L trigger: Reverse R trigger: Speed boost (M-5) Chopper controls D-pad: Steer vehicle (right/left becomes strafe) A button: Gain altitude B button: Lose altitude Y button: Fire blaster (ranged weapons) (M-6) Touch Screen functions The touch screen has four uses: Scanning, transforming and viewing the map. It also shows a radar screen, which will help you find story missions, challenge missions, mission specific goals and enemies. Top right of screen - Aiming reticule - Scan: Tapping this button will put you into scan mode. In this mode, you can scan vehicles to gain them as forms you can transform into. Keep in mind that not all vehicles will scan. This mode also has auto-lock, so pointing the scanner even close to a vehicle will result in a lock-on and scan. Tap the reticule again to return to normal. Bottom right of screen - Autobot insignia - Tap this to transform into a vehicle you've scanned. Tap it again to return to robot form. If you'd like to change the vehicle you can morph into, the Vehicle Form option on the Pause menu will show you your options. Middle left of screen - Map - Tap this to open an overhead map of the area. Story objectives are marked in green, challenges in yellow and your current position is marked with the Autobot insignia. Dead center - Radar- There's no interaction with this one. It just shows exactly what the map shows without a detailed map. It also shows enemies (red triangles) and police cars if you have a "wanted" level. (M-7) Learned moves *Note: These are not listed in the order you will obtain them, as it seems different from player to player. Once all listed moves are learned, leveling up will only increase your stats. Combat Mode A, A, A: Three hit combo B, A: Jump kick B, A+(down): Ground smash X button: Climb Automatic: Health regeneration (achieved at level 20) Weapons Mode Y button (tap): Fire heavy weapon Y button (hold): Fire blaster Driving controls Y button (tap): Fire heavy weapon Y button (hold): Fire blaster Chopper controls Y button (tap): Fire heavy weapon Y button (hold): Fire blaster (W-4) Walkthrough Here it is, probably the only part of the FAQ you are interested in (except maybe the secrets, cheats and unlockable vehicles...). This part of the FAQ will be separated by both areas and the story missions contained within. To skip directly to a certain place, simply find the area and scroll to the appropriate mission. Let's get to some giant robot mayhem, shall we? (S-1) Casino Strip Mission 1: The New Arrival After a pretty cool cinematic and some conversation between you and Ironhide, you'll get control of your character and start this mission/tutorial. First, you'll be asked to seek out yellow markers on the map and, well, stand in them. This serves to acclimate you with the game's movement controls. On-screen prompts will then explain the basics of using the camera and attacking. Then you'll be taught how to grab objects, use them as weapons and/or throw them. Next, you'll be tasked with destroying a few Decepticon drones. They don't put of much of a fight, so just pound them and move on. After that, you'll get to practice using your ranged weapon, first as an example and then you'll need to shoot down a chopper. Nothing to difficult once you get the hang of things. Ironhide will then jump in and explain the mechanics of scanning, changing into and operating vehicles. Walk down the street a tad and scan the highlighted car. Yeah, it is a piece but you'll get better vehicles shortly. To scan and transform, you'll be using the touch screen. I find that my thumbnail works more effectively than pulling out the stylus and poking buttons, but it is just personal preference. Lastly, you'll be driving around and touching a series of yellow markers. During all this, the game will explain the basics of turning, accelerating and braking, as well as the extremely useful e-brake turn. After you hit the last marker, the mission/tutorial is over. Mission 2: Put To The Test Ironhide will alert you to some Decepticons attacking nearby. Follow the triangles on the radar to a trio of robots attacking the Space Needle. Take the three of them out and another, seemingly more powerful, Decepticon will attack. Pummel him with punches and kicks and he should go down in no time. That is the end of this short mission and it's the last mission in Casino Strip (at least for now). (S-2) Tranquility Mission 1: Protect The Locals First, you'll have 60 seconds to stop the rampaging Decepticon just ahead of you. Just run up and smash him and if he doesn't manage to destroy any cars, you'll move on to the next segment. Now the game will tell you your wanted level is higher. For those who don't get it, the wanted level is represented at the top right of the screen (the Decepticon heads). It goes up with the amount of destruction you cause. The higher the wanted level, the more vigorously the police will chase you. To lower it, which is your goal for this mission, simply transform into a vehicle and drive off. It should drop back down to zero is a minute or two, provided you don't smash any police vehicles. The last objective in this mission is to stop two Decepticons from breaking stuff. The trick is that you have to do it without destroying any property yourself. It sounds like it might be tough, but really all you have to do is keep away from the cars and light posts on the street. Not too tough. At this point it in the game, melee attacks will be your best friend. As you gain additional firepower through leveling up, you'll be using the ranged weapons more, but for now you can enjoy the simple pleasures of kicking a robot into the side of a building. Finish them both and the level is over. Mission 2: Car Shopping Optimus Prime will instruct you to go and meet with Bumblebee. He'll be the little blue triangle on your radar. Once you talk to him, he'll tell you to go and scan a certain car, which is marked on the radar with a yellow dot. You'll have to scan two more afterward (3 total). Scanning the third and final car will make it turn into a Decepticon. Smash him to a million pieces and finish the mission. Mission 3: Information Super Highway This mission is pretty much the same as the last one, though here you'll be scanning three Internet towers. Just follow the yellow dots on your radar and scan them one by one. It is also important to note that with each tower scanning, your wanted level will go up. Just stay on the rooftops and the police won't be able to hit you. Scan the towers and the level will be finished. Mission 4: Police Brutality For this mission, you'll be in charge of Bumblebee. Follow the marker on your map to the source of the Internet transmission. Once you get there, the Decepticon Barricade will be waiting for you. He'll then transform into a car and take off. You'll need to chase him down, but this can be tricky in a few spots. First off, if you let him get too far ahead of you, you'll automatically lose the mission. You might need to attempt this chase a couple of times, as Barricade makes some extremely sharp (and unexpected) turns. Once you do manage to catch up to Barricade on a bridge, the game will take over. Then, you'll need to defeat him. He can be pretty tough but if you get in trouble, you can always leave the area, refill your life bar and return to the bridge to finish the job. Once he goes down, you'll be finished with the mission and the city of Tranquility (for now...). (S-3) The Arctic Mission 1: Follow That Convoy For your first mission in this frozen wasteland, you'll finally get what exactly what you've looking forward to - a helicopter! To start the mission, you'll be told to go and scan a helicopter. It is marked with a yellow triangle on your radar, so just make your way over there and get to scanning. After you've scanned the chopper, you won't have much time to get acclimated to the controls before you're instructed to follow and protect a convoy of three trucks. Once you figure out the whole gain/loss of altitude system things should be easy, just make sure you keep up with those three trucks. Like in the race with Barricade, if you fall too far behind, your mission will end in failure. It is also important to note that if you move ahead of the convoy, they'll see you and the mission will end. Before too long, a Decepticon will be blocking the convoy's path. Shoot at him to clear the path, because if you attempt to use melee attack, the convoy will see you. After he's gone, a helicopter will come and attack you. Again, just use your ranged weapons and protect the three trucks. You'll be stopped for a second and third time soon, but just use the strategy from before and you'll get through. Towards the end, the enemies will just keep coming, so just protect the trucks until the game takes over and the level ends. Mission 2: Too Late Nice. This is the second time we get to play with a new Transformer - Ironhide! To start this mission, you'll need to take out six Decepticons that are attempting to reach the underground cave that is protected by some large steel doors. Luckily, Ironhide is one of the most powerful Transformers, so you shouldn't have much problem. There is one catch though; you cannot kill any military vehicles. The best way to keep them out of harm's way is to use melee attacks. Sometimes when you use ranged weapons, the lock on can be tricky and you'll end up blowing up a vehicle by mistake. Now that they are gone, move inside the mountain base and make your way through the short tunnel. Once you get to the open area, you'll be told that what you were looking for is no longer there. Even though the game will instruct you to "look for clues", all you need to do is find a set of double doors and break them down. Make your way down the ramps and into another open area. Check the area out and you'll see a Decepticon using a computer terminal. Finish him off and you'll need to take out six more robots. Once they are gone, the mission is over. Mission 3: Bad Reception You'll be back in charge of your personal Autobot for this mission. Ironhide will need you to cover him while he makes his way to an Internet tower. This is a bit easier than it sounds. Concentrate on the turrets blocking the path, as they will cause more damage to both you and Ironhide than any of the copters ever could. The only drawback is that you must stay in chopper form while escorting, but you can change back to robot form when Ironhide reaches his goal. Now, you'll need to protect Ironhide while he uploads some information (aka just stands there and doesn't help). At the lower left of the screen, you'll see some text and a number out of 100. You need to protect Ironhide from the attacking Decepticons until the first number reaches 100. Try to stick with ranged attacks while staying close to Ironhide. Using melee attacks works just as well, but you should be causing more damage with your ranged attacks and missiles by now. Let Ironhide finish uploading his data and you'll finish the level. Mission 4: Winter Showdown Ok old-school nerds - he is what you've been waiting for - the chance to go toe to toe with the fan favorite Starscream. This fight can be extremely difficult, but a few little tips make it slightly easier. During this fight, you'll be dealing with Starscream in jet mode (most of the time) and an endless wave of lesser Decepticons. Thee lackeys can be both a blessing and a curse, as they simultaneously are a pain in the butt and a blessing from above. Nearly all of these leave behind either health or weapon boosters, but if you let them gang up on you, it will be "game over" very quickly. As for Starscream himself, he can both dish out and take massive amounts of damage. His main attack consists of a few rounds of machine gun fire followed by a missile, which will knock you off your feet and disorient you. The best way to avoid being massacred is putting your back to the comm. tower and waiting for Starscream to enter your field of vision. Then, just use ranged weapons to knock off his life, little by little. Make it quick though, as Starscream can regenerate his health if you leave him alone for too long. After just a bit of practice, you'll fall into a groove and the fight will go like clockwork. After finishing Starscream off, you will be all finished with the Arctic map. Then, all of the sudden, you'll be back in Tranquility. You'll get a little background on the story and some dialogue from all the Autobots in the game, including (yay) Optimus Prime. (S-4) Tranquility (2nd Visit) Author's Note: Before starting "Happy Landings", spend some time checking out the city. A sizable percentage of the game's vehicle scans can now be found just roaming the streets. See the Vehicle List at the end of this FAQ for a complete list of which ones are now available. Mission 1: Happy Landings Now, you'll be back in charge of Bumblebee. In vehicle form, he is very quick, so use that to your advantage. You'll need to get to the docks in less than four minutes, but utilizing Bumblebee's speed will get you there with time to spare. Once you make it to the docks, your main goal will be to destroy the turret guns. The cops, SWAT guys and helicopters are incidental and you can take them out if you are hurting for life. Otherwise, just bash the turrets and move on. Next, you'll be directed back into the city to take care of some more turrets. Find them by using your radar (they are the large red triangles) and take them out one by one. Just a bit of info - all the turrets are no on the roofs of buildings. Hanging out on street level is just a waste of your time. After you get rid of these, you'll be directed to four more turrets stationed near the city's courthouse. It is just a matter of locating the dots on the radar, destroying the turrets and keeping yourself alive. After the three sets of turrets are gone, you'll have finished the mission. Mission 2: Know Thy Enemy In this mission, you'll be playing as a new Autobot - Jazz. In addition to a speed level of "max", he has a fairly well rounded stat set, so his controls and feel will be quite similar to your main Autobot. Optimus Prime will ask you to go and retrieve a SUV from the residential area. Simply follow the yellow dot to find the SUV. Before you pick it up, make sure your health is at 100%. Grab it and make a break for it. Choppers and various other law enforcement vehicles will be firing at you the whole way back to Prime. Just attempt to stay out of their line of fire and make it back to Prime, SUV in hand. Next, you'll be heading north to a second vehicle. Again, do not pick it up until you have your health at 100%. Once you have it in hand, do not attempt to just run like you did with the first vehicle - you won't even make it out of the building's parking lot. Instead, hurl the vehicle at the choppers that just appeared. The vehicle can explode if you throw it around too much, so try to keep it at one or two tosses at most. If where you tossed the vehicle looks relatively safe, just take care of the four choppers and ground vehicles before picking it back up and making a run for it. Bring it back to Prime once the coast is clear. Next, you'll need to go and find the last vehicle for Prime. Follow the yellow dot like always, but when you get there, you'll be on the receiving end of a nasty surprise: The last vehicle is actually the Decepticon Blackout. Now, after all that, you'll be expected to fight him. Ugh. The best method is to fire off a bunch of missiles while strafing him and while your missile power recharges, run in and bash him a few times. Rinse and repeat. He may be big, but he'll go down in no time flat. Mission 3: Driven To Distraction For this mission, you'll be back in charge of Bumblebee. Remain in car form and get to the yellow marker on your map without upping your "wanted" or "threat" level. Once you do make it to the dot, break out in robot form and kill everything in sight. Once your threat level is at four, finish the remaining police forces and you'll be directed to another location. Head there and don't raise the threat level on the way. Once there, let loose again with everything you've got. This round, there will be armored vehicles with missiles on the scene as well, so make sure you get them first and leave the police cars for last. Elevate that threat level to four, finish off the cops and head to the last yellow marker. Approach this last segment exactly as the two before, only be a bit more careful this time - you'll be dealing with mostly choppers and tanks this time and they can finish you off quickly if you aren't careful. Once it is all said and done, the mission will end, you'll get a bit of dialogue and story and you'll have finished your second visit to Tranquility. (S-5) Hoover Dam Mission 1: In Through The Back Door For your first mission at the Hoover Dam (aka the world's most boring vacation spot), you'll be back in charge of Jazz. This mission is actually like four or five smaller missions rolled into one so let's get to it. First, you'll be instructed to find a radio tower. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, you'll also need to stay in vehicle form and not arouse any suspicion. This means driving safe, staying in your lane and absolutely no violence of any kind. After a few minutes, you'll come up on a police barricade. Now, like a stoned teenager in his mom's Mercedes, you'll have to play it cool. Drive through each roadblock slowly and carefully until you reach the radio tower. To upload your signal (or whatever it is we're doing), you'll need to climb the radio tower. Transform and get to the tower before any passers by see you, and simply climb to the very top. Next, get back into vehicle form and head for the yellow dot. Drive safe but keep in mind that you'll eventually need to leave the road and drive into the desert. You'll see a hole on the side of a hill with a ramp leading into it. Drive in there and park in the yellow circle. Now, while your data is uploading, you'll need to stay alive as helicopters, tanks, armored vehicles and police cars all try to bring you down. This would be much easier if we could use Ironhide or our base Autobot, but try your best to stay alive. Once the counter at the bottom of the screen reaches 100, you'll be instructed to get to a rendezvous point. If you are doing ok in the health department, just take off and get to the point as quickly as possible. If you are low on health, smash a few more copters to regain some life, then take off for your goal. After this, you'll get some more dialogue and the mission will be over. Mission 2: Prison Break Ahh...back in charge of our faithful, nameless Autobot. Finally! Anyway, this mission can be pretty tricky and very frustrating if you don't have a plan of attack. Like the last mission, this is actually three missions in one and each one is tougher than the next. To start, you'll need to take out six satellite dishes. This is beyond easy as they don't fight back and they are elevated, which means none of the police vehicles have a shot at you. Take out all six to move on. Now, you'll need to get rid of four sets of turrets. The first three are simple enough to get rid of, just use a helicopter and strafe them, shooting missiles as you pass. The last set is a bit more difficult because they are situated on a small landing at the bottom of the dam. They aren't easy to get a lock on and fighting on foot is out of the question. Why? If you get hit with a missile, more often than not you'll be tossed into the river. When you respawn, another missile will hit and put you back into the drink. Soon you'll be dead and you won't have made a dent in either turret. Keep moving and firing and you'll get them both eventually. For the last leg of this mission, you'll be entering the dam itself to find your captured teammate. There will plenty of resistance keeping you from him, so just power through and pray for health boosts. When you see an elevator shaft that is lighted red, jump inside and fly (or climb) up to the second level. Make your way to the control room (did they steal the set from Goldeneye?), take out the forces in there and you'll finish the level. Mission 3: The Heist This mission kind of doesn't make any sense story wise. In the last mission, you rescued Bumblebee. To start this mission, you need to find the green dot - outside the fortress. Then, all the sudden, your back in the building playing as Bumblebee. What? Anyway, your first job is to get rid of the Decepticons you were locked up with (locked up? I thought I just rescued this guy!). There are only three, so don't be too concerned about it. Next, Optimus Prime will tell you to go and find a computer chip. Head in and out of these rooms, breaking the hexagonal cases as you go. There are 14 in total, but you'll most likely get to the chip long before you break them all. Now, with the Allspark in sight, you need to break the four shield generators to deactivate the force field. The trick is that you will be swarmed by robotic scorpions. Ignore them for the most part and concentrate on the generators. Once all four are destroyed, the shield will go down and the scorpions will disappear. Run to the Allspark in the middle of the room. Just when you thought this mission was over, you need to escape from the base in less than 30 seconds. It is fairly easy, just don't crash into any walls and don't slow down. Make it out and you'll finish the mission. Mission 4: Clearing The Road As if to make up for the last mission not making any sense, the developers finally let you control the granddaddy of them all - Optimus Prime. He is as fast as any of the Autobots, packs more punch with every attack and generally be cool. You job is to cover Bumblebee by taking out roadblocks. There isn't any real strategy on how, but I find that killing the vehicles first keeps Bumblebee's health up. Make it through a few of these and you'll be stopped by the Decepticon Barricade and a smaller, but no less tough, robot. You're still in charge of keeping Bumblebee alive at this point, so keep the Decepticons away from him. Just use missiles on both the enemies. If you can destroy them both without losing Bumblebee, you'll finish the mission. Without giving too much away, the cinematic following the completion of this mission gives your first look at another fan favorite Transformer. Enjoy! Mission: 5: Bombing Run Finally! Another easy mission! You'll be in control of Ironhide again and your job is to get rid of the six bombs that have been planted on the dam. They will be marked on your radar but I'll just tell you where they are anyway. Four are on the bridge itself and two are on the turbine that connect to the dam with narrow walkways. Toss them all into the ocean, avoid getting yourself killed and viola! You've finished this mission! Mission 6: Interference Another mission as Optimus Prime! On your way back into the base, the Decepticon Brawl will stop you. Now, it is up to you to take him down. You won't beat this guy on your first try. After you've given it a few tries, you'll get the hang of it and the fight won't be nearly as tough as it seems at first. Brawl has two forms, the robot and the tank. When he is in robot form (he'll spend most of the fight in this form), your best bet for taking him out is locking onto him, moving in circles around him while firing missiles and jumping the whole time. Once you get into the groove, you probably won't even take one hit. His final form is a tank. Ugh. On top of that, other tanks will constantly respawn to make your life difficult. During this phase Brawl can't be hurt by melee or ranged attacks, so what is a good Autobot to do? Smash him with the other tanks in the area! I found that throwing tanks at him isn't very effective because you'll end up missing almost every time. Instead, grab a tank and smash Brawl with it (A button). The tank will explode on impact so grab another one, rinse and repeat and the fight will be over. It only takes two or three tanks smashes to end the fight. Do so and you'll finish the mission and the Hoover Dam map. (S-6) Tranquility (3rd visit) Mission 1: Narrow Escape Here we go; yet another mission with Bumblebee. It seems that Blackout is gunning for you and you're half a city away from the other Autobots. So, Allspark in hand, begin your race across the city. You'll most likely have to do this more than once because of a few sharp turns and easily lost health. Make sure you blow up all the red sports cars in your path as when you run into them, the take about 1/6 of your life. Even though the time is constantly ticking away, you have more than enough leeway to slow down and concentrate on getting those cars out of your way. Run through enough yellow time extenders/checkpoints and the mission will end. Mission 2: Downtown Blackout This will be your one and only chance to play with Ratchet, so enjoy it while it lasts. When you start the mission, you'll find yourself on a rooftop with the Decepticon Blackout. After you threaten each other a bit, the fight will begin. Keep in mind that there are two phases to this fight and that if you do happen to leave the roof you're on, it will be an automatic loss. For the first part of the fight, Blackout will circle the roof in his helicopter form. Try to stay locked onto him, but don't shoot any missiles until he pauses in mid-air and faces you. If you try to hit him while he's moving, you'll just be wasting energy - he is far too fast to hit. After you've knocked down Blackout's health to about 2/3 of his original health, he'll transform and land on the roof. You can keep up the missile onslaught if you like, but melee attacks will cause him more damage. He is unbelievably slow in robot form as well, so using melee attacks is a good plan of action. Be light on your feet and there is a good chance he won't land one hit while he's transformed. Blackout's last phase is a repeat of his first - the helicopter. Do as you did before, while making good and sure that you don't leave that rooftop. His missiles will knock you back a good distance in this 2nd form, so be careful to not get hit by even one of them. Keep on top of him and he should crash and burn in no time. Mission 3: Fire Fighting For the first time in a while, we'll actually be using our generic Autobot for this mission. To start off, you'll need to protect Ironhide from a whole bunch of angry and constantly respawning Decepticons. Quickly get to his position on the map and start fighting. Once there, you'll need to protect Ironhide for a full two minutes. I wish there was a strategy for finishing this part of the mission, but there just isn't one. If you get lucky, you'll live. If not, give it another try. You'll luck out eventually. I'll add this as well - if you are looking to level up your Autobot, there is no better place in the game than this mission. Win or lose, each Decpeticon you destroy gives you a hefty 400 to 500 experience points. If you feel like you are just barely making it out of the missions alive, try this mission a few times and get your level to somewhere between 16 and 20. That should help out. Once the time runs out, Ironhide will be ok by himself for a while. Jazz will chime in and request your help, so head towards him. On the way, make sure to break some stuff to refill your health. Take all the time you need, as there isn't a countdown here like there was with Ironhide (reaching him). Once you've got everything ready to go, step into the yellow and help Jazz out. Jazz will need you to help him take out 50 Spark Drones (aka metal scorpions from before). Keep in mind that you'll want to avoid using melee attacks because when destroyed, the drones explode and cause quite a bit of damage. Stick with you missiles and you should be ok. Also, you'll need to keep pace with Jazz. If you let him get too far away, the mission will end. After you've taken out 50 drones (and circled that city block a couple of times), Jazz will let you know that Bumblebee needs your assistance. This time, you do have a time limit on getting to Bumblebee, so get moving. Bumblebee will need you to keep some attacking Decepticons at bay while you escort him to Optimus Prime. Stay close to Bumblebee and try to position yourself between him and the enemies. Prime is fairly close so you'll only have to survive for a little while. Get Bumblebee to Prime's location and the mission will end. Mission 4: End Game Here it is - the big fight with Megatron. Sadly, you'll be playing as generic Autobot and not Optimus Prime, but the fight is fun so you'll get over it. To start, check out your surroundings. You are at the crossroads of four streets. Optimus Prime is on one street and has his hands full with a bunch more of those scorpions. The other three roads are where Megatron will attack from. Your goal is to knock the Allspark out of his hand and use it against him. It won't be easy, but it is totally doable. You'll need to lock onto Megatron with your missile targeting system, but only so you can circle around him - you won't be using any missiles here. Get behind him and hit him with a single melee attack. Just one. Why? Well, there are two reasons actually. One is that you'll never land a second hit in a combo on Megatron. The other reason is that if Megatron turns around and shoots you, you'll be tossed back and the mission will end. I guess the game designers didn't take this into account because if you get too far from Prime, the mission ends. So just stay in front of Megatron and you'll be ok. After you've hit him a few times, he'll drop the Allspark. You can tell where it is by the beam of light shooting straight up out of it. Run over to it and press X to pick it up. Megatron will ramp up the intensity and frequency of his attacks. Be careful and get as close to him as you can. Hit him with the Allspark (A button) and you'll be treated to a little more dialogue. You didn't really think the game would end without a Prime/Megatron fight did you? Ok, here it is - the last battle. You'll notice that on each of the four intersecting streets, a smaller robot is just standing around. There four are you health boosts for this tough fight. Use them sparingly, but use them - the fight most likely is impossible without them. To take down Megatron, use the same approach as you did with Brawl. Circle him while jumping and shooting. Every so often, Megatron will pause and fire some purple explosives at you. If you are close to him when he does this, you can sneak in a melee attack or two. If you have a telephone pole in your hand, you can do a little bit more damage, so if you can, use one. This fight is a pain and it will probably take a few tries before you get it right. Once you do destroy Megatron, you'll get some more dialogue and story and then - the game is over! Congratulations! By beating the game, you unlock the Maintenance Truck vehicle form. That last fight was tough, don't we deserve a cooler vehicle for finishing it? (W-5) Challenge missions A few notes about challenges - no matter where you are in the story, you can always go back and complete them at any time. Also, you are ranked on how well you complete the task. There are bronze, silver and gold metals for rewards. Keep in mind that after you try a certain challenge once, you can play it straight from the Main Menu, rather than hunting a past level for yellow circles. On this list, if a game has a number or time next to it, that is the score or time I got on that challenge to earn a gold medal. It isn't the best way to tell people what they need to achieve to get a gold, but it works for now. (C-1) Casino Strip *Orb Dash - 1.09.50 (Rye) *Urban Removal 42 (Rye) *Fly High - 1517 (Rye) *Losing It - 1.00.32 *Swing Batter, Swing - 11,534 *Toss It - 1,078 *Trash The Place - 55880 (Rye) *Time Trial - 18.16(Rye) (C-2) Tranquility *Hold Out - 2.10.13 (Rye) *Vandalism - 47.83 (Rye) *Melee Mayhem - 5,600 *Orb Spree - 34.60 (Rye) *Traffic Light Smash Up - 17 *Object Toss - 1295 (Rye) *Drone Extermination - 38.43 (mmarcopolo321) (C-3) The Arctic *Collect The Orbs - .49.83 (Rye) *Jump The Floes - 1201 (Rye) *Sets Of Three - 1.21.23 (Rye) (C-4) Hoover Dam *Dam Race - 34.89 (Rye) *Own The Drone - 32 (Rye) *Everything Must Go - 1,355 *Destruction List - 1.46.63 (mmarcopolo321) *Survivor - 8.24.30 (Rye) *Collect Them All - .38.60 (Rye) Note: If you see a name next to a time, that is the person who got it and sent me the info. Also, Rye stated that in the times he achieved, he used the Recon Chopper, the Beater and the Raider. Thanks to everyone who helped with this. (W-6) Endgame So, you've finished the game and you haven't gotten your fill of these wacky robots yet. What are you to do? Well, I'll list out all the stuff that needs to be done before you can truly say you've finished everything. *Story mode *All gold medals on Challenge missions *All vehicle forms collected (including the jet from Target) *All cheats unlocked *Level up to level 20 - you gain the ability to replenish your own health ... after all that, you can still attempt to win the Allspark Wars for your team! (W-7) Lists Note: Here are a couple of helpful, quick reference lists. If you have anything at all to add, please email me and let me know. (L-1) Vehicle list This is the list of vehicles as it appears on your Vehicle Form menu (Pause). Once you have a vehicle scan, your personal Transformer can always use that form. When on story missions where you play as another Autobot, you will only have the ability to transform into their specific vehicle, though scans as another Autobot count and will be available to your base robot. *Beater - Available from start *Sportster - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *SUV - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Armored Truck - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Chopper - Gained during "Follow That Convoy" mission (The Arctic) *Notchback - Available on 1st visit to Tranquility *Import - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Attack Copter - Hidden vehicle - Found in small base at Hoover Dam *Peace Van - Hidden vehicle - Found near dam in Hoover Dam level *Pickup - Available on 1st visit to Tranquility *Utility - Available on 1st visit to Tranquility *Pickup Car - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Moving Truck - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *School Bus - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Longhorn - Unlocked with WiFi tokens (250) *Gunner - Unlocked with WiFi tokens (750) *Flame Truck - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Ice Cream Truck - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Recon Chopper - Available on 3rd visit Tranquility *Lightning Rider - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Death Truck - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Tricked Out Car - Available on 3rd visit to Tranquility *Funky Bus - Available after signing onto Allspark Wars for 1st time *Racer- Available on 3rd visit to Tranquility *Maintenance Truck - Complete the game once *Hot Rodder - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Stealth Chopper - Gained during "Happy Landings" mission (Tranquility 2) *Safari Truck - Hidden vehicle - Found at campsite near water at Hoover Dam *SWAT Van - Hidden vehicle - Found near Buggy location in "Know Thy Enemy" *News Copter - Hidden vehicle - Found on Casino Strip rooftop *Off-Roader - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Raider - Hidden vehicle - Found near docks in Tranquility *Speedster - Available on 3rd visit to Tranquility *Police Copter - Available on 2nd visit to Tranquility *Transport - Unlocked with WiFi tokens *Prison Bus - Available on 3rd visit to Tranquility *Skydive - Obtained at Target download station (yes, Target...the store) (L-2) Playable Autobots *Autobot #1: Hey, that's you! Now, it is the generic Autobot that you'll be in charge of most of the time. Your stats will get boosted as you level up. *Bumblebee: Yellow Transformer who changes into a yellow 60's era hotrod (Think Joe Dirt's car). Bumblebee doesn't have the great ranged attack stats that some of the others have, but his speed and agility make him a valuable team member. *Jazz: Grey Transformer who turns into a sports car that resembles a DeLorean with rounded edges. He has pretty good stats all around, but his high speed stat (max) makes him a valuable Autobot. His heavy ranged attack sucks, though. *Ironhide: Grey Transformer who guides you through the tutorial and quite a few missions afterward. His unbelievable stats make Ironhide one of the best Transformers in the game; he is good at everything. *Optimus Prime: The best Transformer in the game - hands down. His stats are almost all maxed out, with the exception of agility, which is still very high in comparison to most of the others. *Ratchet: Just a good, all around Autobot. He does pack the wallop that some of the stronger ones do, but you should be able to handle him fairly well, as his stats are pretty close to your default Autobot's levels. (W-8) Extras And Secrets Note: Since this doesn't really belong in any of these three subsections, I'll put it here. To reset your wanted level and refill your health, simply select a different vehicle to transform into. This only works in Free Play mode. Thanks to bloodwatch for this info. (U-1) Cheats There are four unlockable cheats in the game. No one has yet unlocked all of them, so this section will remained unfinished for now. The first of the four cheats is Armageddon mode, which you get for completing the game. This section will remain incomplete until someone emails me the info on the last three cheats. **Update** I figured out the rest of the cheats so...here you go. *Armageddon mode - Beat the game once *Infinete health - Collect 1,000 WiFi tokens *Computer Cars Go Crazy - 500 WiFi tokens *Infinite energy - 1,000 WiFi tokens ...and this is completely off-topic and has nothing to do with the Transformers game, but doesn't "Computer Cars Go Crazy" sound like the best emo band name ever (and no, I don't listen to emo. Power metal all the way!)? (U-2) Secret Vehicles These are the secret vehicles found in the game. They are considered "secret" because they are usually one of a kind and are stashed in some very strange places. Some secret vehicles can be unlocked by collect WiFi tokens and one last, elusive vehicle can only be unlocked by visiting a Target store's DS download station. Basically, if you don't see a vehicle driving around the streets, I'll list it here. *Attack Copter - Hidden vehicle - Found in small base at Hoover Dam *Peace Van - Hidden vehicle - Found near dam in Hoover Dam level *Longhorn - Unlocked with WiFi tokens (250) *Gunner - Unlocked with WiFi tokens (750) *Funky Bus - Available after signing onto Allspark Wars for 1st time *Maintenance Truck - Complete the game once *Safari Truck - Hidden vehicle - Found at campsite near water at Hoover Dam *SWAT Van - Hidden vehicle - Found near Buggy location in "Know Thy Enemy" *News Copter - Hidden vehicle - Found on Casino Strip rooftop *Raider - Hidden vehicle - Found near docks in Tranquility *Transport - Unlocked with WiFi tokens *Skydive - Hidden vehicle - Obtained from Target DS Station download (U-3) The elusive jet and the download station blues According to both the GameFAQs message boards and a Target circular ad, Skydive the jet fighter is only available through a download from DS Download stations in Target stores. There have been a lot of questions about this so I'll try to clear things up here. Q: How do I download from Target? A: Bring your DS and the Transformers game to your local Target store. Turn your DS on while standing near a DS Download station (the test DS available for people to try out). Select download play and follow the instructions. Viola! The jet is yours. Q: I don't live near a Target - what can I do? A: Sadly, nothing. Until a new way to get the jet is figured out, you'll just have to live with the fact that you might never see it. Q: Is there any other way to get the jet? A: There is ONE way and that is inputting codes (section U-5 of this FAQ) into your Action replay...assuming you have one. I don't. The codes were sent to me so I can't say for sure if they work. Q: Is the jet really worth all this trouble? A: It is pretty cool, but I'm partial to the Recon Chopper personally. (U-4) Easter Eggs * The Maintenance Truck (unlocked by finishing the game) is a reference to Hoist, a Transformer from the original cartoon. Hoist is not in the game, but one of the developers must have liked him enough to create this reference (Thanks to BumblebeeZ3 for this info). *In Tranquility, a ship can be seen in the water near the docks. The name of the ship (on its side) is the USS Seaspray. Seaspray is also a hovercraft Transformer from the original cartoon. Like Hoist, he is unplayable - he is mentioned by name only (Thanks to BumblebeeZ3 for this info). (U-5) Action Replay codes These codes were sent to me by Rendvous. If you see him (or her) on the street, give them a hug. I don't have an Action Replay, so I have not personally tested these codes. *Get Skydive (the Target exclusive jet) or G1 Starscream (Decepticons version) 620ADC2C 00000000 B20ADC2C 00000000 00000004 00000001 D2000000 00000000 *Trick game into making all vehicles available (only works when cheat is
on...not permanent)

0203152C E3A00001
02031530 E8BD8038

*Infinite energy and infinite health

520DAC50 E8BD8070
020DAC54 E5902134
020DAC60 E580213C
020DAC6C E5902138
020DAC78 E5802140
020DAC80 E5802040
D2000000 00000000

	Again, I have not tried these codes. Rendvous assures me that they are
safe and contain no unfortunate side effects like nausea, sleeplessness, trouble
urinating or save erasure.

(W-9) Online

(O-1) Allspark Wars rules/systems

	Basically online play in this game is a leaderboard competition with the
two versions (Autobots and Decepticons) competing. To start, you'll sign on to
the Allspark Wars just like you'd sign onto any online game. Note: This unlocks
the Funky Bus vehicle form the first time you do it.

	After you are on, you'll be able to do a few things. First and foremost,
find out the challenge for the day (it changes once every 24 hours). The
challenges are just the challenge missions in the game. Play the challenge, get
the highest score you can and the game will post your stats online. Check back
the following day to see which side (Autobots or Decepticons) "won", or got a
better set of scores. If you participated, you'll get some WiFi tokens, which
unlock a few new vehicles and some other stuff.

	Also, from the Allspark Wars main menu, you can find out your game
specific code. Write it down and use a computer to go to this site -

www.transformersgame.com/ds

	You'll be able to register using that code. All this really accomplishes
is giving you a way to see just who is doing the best on either side of this
war. It is a neat idea, but it isn't really anything too substantial.

	If you have anything to add, email me and I'll credit you for the info.

(O-2) Online only unlockables

	There are a few unlockables in the game you can only get by competing
online. Here is a (incomplete) list of what we know so far.

*Funky Bus vehicle - Sign onto the Allspark Wars once
*Longhorn vehicle - Obtain 250 WiFi tokens
*Gunner vehicle - 500 WiFi tokens
*Transport vehicle - 1,000 WiFi tokens

	It has been rumored that the last three unlockable cheats are gained by
WiFi competition, but it hasn't yet been confirmed. Email me with any info and
I'll credit you with the discovery.

(W-10) Glitches

(G-1) Beware the COMBAT AREA

	This tidbit was sent to me by Tuck, so all credit for this goes to him. If
someone wants to figure out exactly what makes the game do this, email me and
I'll post it here.

	This is a glitch that was recently brought to my attention. It seem that
when fighting the game's bosses (Brawl and Megatron in particular), if you stray
too far from them, you get a message stating that you have left the combat area.
In some cases, though, this "combat area" can vary in size, shape or even
existence. For example, I lost a battle with Megatron for leaving the combat
area even though we were literally facing each other and close enough to make
out. Other incidents with this include Brawl's disappearance from the fight
altogether and Megatron getting bored and simply running away from you - both
leading to combat area game overs. If you have an answer to this little problem,
or have noticed something I didn't, email me and we'll get it worked out.

(G-2) Brawl 2: Electric Boogaloo

	This one was brought to my attention by torch123456. When I was playing
through the game I thought I noticed this as well. This glitch appears at the
Hoover Dam and only during story missions - before and after the Brawl fight.

	First, torch123456 opened my eyes to a very obvious strategy. When you are
at the dam, simply toss all the enemies of the edge for instant kill after
instant kill.

	Anyway, sometimes as you toss enemies around, whether you've beaten him or
not, Brawl will appear out of nowhere for no reason at all. He is no more
difficult to kill than your average robot. Also, instead of his old form, he now
transforms into the Stealth Copter.

	This glitch does actually do anything, for better or worse. It is just
kind of neat to see. Again, info goes to torch12345.

(G-3) The Rainbow Connection

	No, this isn't a reference to the end of "The Muppet Movie," though it is
one of the greatest films of our time (What's a Muppet? It's not quite a mop and
not quite a puppet but...oh man... To answer your question, I don't know).

	This was brought to my attention by torch123456. I noticed in a few palces
as well, but until someone else said something, I chose not to make a big deal
about it.

	Sometimes, when you are jumping around the city, you'll notice that
instead of the normal cracks in the ground, the square will instead be a bunch
of rainbow dots resembling a test pattern on a broken television set (showing my
age here...TVs now just go to blue screen when busted). The glitch doesn't
affect the game in any way, but it is something to keep an eye out for.

(W-11) Thanks and anti-thanks

Thanks...

*to Activision and everyone involved in making this excellent game
*to Nintendo for showing every other game company how it is done
*another thanks to Nintendo for stopping Manhunt 2 from hitting the Wii - only
idiots play violent games that are only violent to stir up controversy and those
people have the PS3 to keep their teenage minds warped
*one more thanks to Nintendo for giving us the DS and Wii - truly the best game
systems since the SNES
*to my family for not getting pissed when I shut them out for video games, which
is even worse now that I started writing these guides
*to Wendi for being supportive and, even more importantly, quiet
*to www.honestgamer.com for getting me the copies of the games and letting me
write the reviews on them
*to Artie - The Strongest Man in the World
*to the DS General board for quietly weeding out the trolls (DisgaeaNut)
*to the 80's and Hasbro for the Transformers cartoon and toys
*to whoever came up with Guitar Hero...such an awesome game...
*to the Jerk Store - even though they constantly run out of people in my life
*to Hector, Wordsworth, Mungo, Riff-Raff and Cleo
*...and to you, for reading and possibly adding to my guide!

Anti-thanks...

*to people who compare this game to GTA (aka the suckiest series of games ever
created...well...no, they are worse than the Madden games)
*to Gamestop for inventing "shipping dates" because they can't get new product
into stores quickly enough
*to the anti-Wii crowd on GameFAQs Wii General board
*to Loana for getting me interviews and backstage passes at power metal shows
*to teenagers who, heaven help them, are wrong about everything 100% of the time
*to Cobb County - oh, they know why...
*to Funimation, for not releasing the DBZ box sets quickly enough
*and to Bambi, the world's worst woman and owner of the "Least Class and/or
Grace of 2007" award - which is only handed out to the worst of people

...and one more time, if you have any info to add to this guide, email me at
nimerjm at hotmail dot com with Transformers FAQ in the subject bar.

Thanks for reading!