Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (PS)
 |
| |||||||||||||||
| This article is about the PlayStation game. For the Nintendo 64 game, see Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (N64). |
| |||||||
| |||||||
トランスフォーマー ビーストウォーズメタルス 激突！ガンガンバトル
(Transformers Beast Wars Metals: Gekitotsu! Gangan Battle) "Transformers: Beast Wars Metals: Clash! Intense Battle" | |||||||
| Developers | WAVEDGE, GenAzea | ||||||
| Publishers | Takara (JP) BAM! Entertainment (NA) | ||||||
| Platform | PlayStation | ||||||
| Release date | October 1, 1999 (JP) July 12, 2000 (NA) | ||||||
| Rating | ESRB: T | ||||||
| Credits | |||||||
Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals is a PlayStation video game, released in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in North America. It and its Nintendo 64 counterpart share a primary theme—characters from the second season of the Beast Wars television series duking it out in one-on-one combat—but the games differ in their stories, gameplay styles, character selections, and bonus features.
Setting
The game takes place in an alternate version of the cartoon's second season, largely identical aside from a few extra characters having gained Transmetal forms. Unlike the character-specific endings of the Nintendo 64 game, the PlayStation game features two separate stories, one for each faction, that generally leave things roughly back where they started by the time is all said and done.
Plot
Maximal story
The Maximals are jostled as the Axalon comes under Predacon fire. As their shields begin failing, Cheetor is itching to take the attackers down, though Rattrap points out doing so alone will only lead to him getting scrapped. Optimus Primal, however, sees an opportunity and formulates a plan: he and a team of Maximals will defeat the attackers, pursue them back to their base, and take advantage of their weakened state to reclaim the Golden Disk. Cheetor, Silverbolt and a begrudging Rattrap join Primal's team while Rhinox stays behind to provide support and guard the ship.
Primal and his team then repel the four attacking Predacons, chasing them back to their ship. Defeating Megatron on the bridge of the Darkside, Primal waxes poetic about the nobility of their heroic motivations as Rattrap flaunts the Golden Disk now in their possession. With the other Predacons out of commission and the Predacon computer disabled, the battle seems won, but Megatron laughs and reveals the remaining Predacons have successfully infiltrated the Axalon during the Maximals' absence. As Megatron flies off, Optimus orders the others to hurry back to base.
Predacon story
As Megatron greets "another glorious Predacon day", he confirms his latest plan with Tarantulas: lure the Maximals to the Darkside, beat them mercilessly until they're forced to retreat, then follow them back to their base to finish them. The rest of the Predacons are largely on board, but Rampage remains skeptical until being forcibly persuaded by Megatron. As a group of Maximals take the bait and arrive at the Darkside, Blackarachnia and Waspinator leave to lure the rest out of the Axalon.
Megatron then leads a team consisting of Rampage, Tarantulas, Quickstrike and himself, beating back Optimus Primal's team across the planet, all the way back to their ship. After taking down Primal on the Axalon's bridge, Megatron and his team gloat, mocking Primal's claims that he's not done yet. Before they can finish him, Rhinox appears and activates Sentinel's auto-guns, catching the Predacons off guard. Their advantage having been lost, Megatron swears vengeance as Rampage blows a hole in the wall and they make their escape.
Characters
| Maximals | Predacons |
|---|---|
|
|
* Playable only in the North American release.
Secret characters
The North American release of Transmetals includes a handful of secret playable characters, each of which is a palette-swapped and slightly re-meshed variant of an existing character with their own unique voice lines. Each hidden character requires a variation on the same code: Select "VS Battle Mode", highlight "VS Com" or "VS Human", then press X. Continue holding X and immediately hold L1, L2, R1, R2, and one of the four directional pad buttons. Each direction will unlock a different character: Up for Tigatron (based on Cheetor, and the only non-Transmetal), Down for Ravage (also based on Cheetor), Left for Blackarachnia (based on Tarantulas), and Right for Windrazor (based on Silverbolt).
Quotes
"We'll attack the Predacons, then follow them back to their base when they pull back."
"Yes, agreed."
"A great plan! Then we'll strike them with all our might!"
- —Rhinox, Optimus Primal and Silverbolt come up with a brilliant strategy.
"Don't even talk if you don't understand the plan, crab!"
"What?! That I cannot forgive! Are you listening, spider-brains?"
"Ooh, 'spider-brains', that's original. Shall we proceed?"
- —Tarantulas and Rampage exchange rather on-the-nose insults. Blackarachnia is unamused.
"My plan is to lure the Maximals to our stronghold, the Darkside. Then, we beat them mercilessly! We crush! We smash! They'll be forced to retreat! And we follow them all the way to their base. Hahahahahahaha, yessss, hahahahahahaha! Get it?"
- —Megatron, also a master strategist.
"The flame of justice cannot be extinguished!"
"Are those your last words, Primal? I'll be sure to put them in my diary."
- —Optimus Primal is mocked by a seemingly-triumphant Megatron.
"I am Tarantulas, agent of the Predacon Secret Police! ...Oh, but don't tell anyone else that."
- —Tarantulas can't keep a secret.
"Cold doesn't affect me; I just put more oil in the heater, if you know what I mean."
- —We...have no idea what you mean, Tarantulas.
"New package, same product...losers."
- —Megatron talks some familiar smack.
Gameplay
Transmetals is a 1-on-1 3D arena fighting game, similar to the Power Stone series. Battles consist of two opponents in an open arena attacking one another, with the match ending when time runs out or either character's life is depleted and they enter stasis lock. In robot mode, players can use a short range or long range weapon attack, replaced by a single melee attack when close to an opponent. Players can also transform to and from beast mode, which is more powerful but limited to melee attacks. Pressing both attack buttons at once in either mode will perform a rushing tackle attack. Alternately, players can temporarily switch to vehicle mode, which prevents them from attacking but allows them to move much faster. Characters will automatically block when completely stationary, reducing damage taken.
Players will also gain super attack gauge when they deal damage, indicated by a blue bar overlaying their life gauge, and slightly less gauge when they take damage. When the super gauge charges beyond the player's current life, they will be given access to a powerful super attack in place of their tackle, indicated by a faction symbol in the lower corner of the screen. As a result, characters with lower life will gain super attacks more quickly. Super attacks differ depending on whether the character is in robot mode or beast mode, and the player can accumulate and store up to three at a time. By launching multiple super attacks in quick succession, some characters in effect have unblockable instant-kill combos; this is most easily achieved with Cheetor and his redecos.
Battles take place on one of ten stages, based on the different environments featured in the show: Maximal Base, Predacon Base, Mountains, Wasteland, Snowfield, Forest, Volcanic Cave, Desert, Grasslands, and Cliffs. Each stage features a different layout with varying verticality, with some also containing objects for players to interact with or throw at their opponents, such as large rocks and energon crystals. Many of the stages also include additional hazards that can damage players, such as lava, harsh winds, and the bases' automatic defenses.
The game's main single player component is "Story Mode", divided into Maximal and Predacon campaigns with three available difficulty levels. Each faction's story puts the player in control of a team of four Transformers, and they must travel from their base at one side of a world map to the opposing faction's base at the other side, battling an opponent at each location along the way. The game offers branching paths, allowing the player to take different routes to the end or even double back and claim all points of territory along the way. Characters function as "lives" of sorts; if a character is defeated, the player will have to try again with whoever they have left. Losing all four characters results in a Game Over, though the player can choose to immediately continue where they left off. The game also offers a "TV Mode" that functions identically to Story Mode, but all characters are AI-controlled, so you can watch as the game literally plays itself, complete with dynamic camera angles. It's an easy enough way to unlock all the extra content if you don't want to, y'know...actually play the game you spent money on. Players can switch back and forth between Story Mode and TV Mode at any time during a playthrough.
Other modes include "VS Battle Mode", a standard multiplayer mode where players can battle a human or AI opponent; "Survival Mode", in which players must defeat as many opponents as possible before they run out of life; and "Training Mode", which allows players to practice with each of the characters against an AI training dummy. As they progress through Story Mode and use different character match-ups in Vs Battle Mode, players can also unlock content for viewing in the "Extra" gallery, including the game's music, cutscenes, and CG artwork, as well as images of real-life Beast Wars toys. The game does not support auto-saving and must be manually saved and loaded via the Options menu.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Rhinox and Waspinator both appear in their Transmetal forms during the animated sequences, even though they retained their original bodies throughout the TV series, while Blackarachnia is shown to have achieved her Transmetal 2 form much earlier. Unlike the Nintendo 64 game, which explains this as being a result of Megatron mucking with time travel, the PlayStation version offers no explanation for these differences, simply treating them as having changed during the quantum surge like everyone else.
- The Maximal story features Optimus and his team reclaiming the Vok Golden Disk; no mention is made of its Voyager counterpart, suggesting the story may take place before the Predacons reclaimed it in "Maximal, No More".
- When fighting in the Volcanic Cave, the Ark is visible in the background, similar to how it was found in "The Agenda (Part III)".
- Many of the characters' battle and menu lines are direct quotes from episodes of the cartoon.
Errors
- The English manual duplicates the story text from its N64 counterpart, referring to events and characters that do not appear in the game like Airazor and Terrorsaur.
Real-world references
- Tarantulas's robot mode super attack strongly resembles the "Raging Demon" attack used by Street Fighter's Akuma.
Trivia
- Sentinel and the Predacon computer narrate the in-game menus.
- Inferno is mentioned in passing during the Maximal story, but does not otherwise appear.
- The credits sequence features several stills from the third season of the show, including images of characters that don't appear in the game itself like Depth Charge and Dinobot II.
- Yes, both Optimus's and Megatron's cunning battle strategies are as follows: bring the enemy into their base, beat the scrap out of them, chase them back to their own base, then beat them up some more. Why their respective teams treat these as "brilliant plans" (or even overcomplicated in Rampage's case) is beyond us.
