The time has come, the Autobots and Decepticons are going to finish their war, once and for all, and nothing is going to stop them, unless you get a call from your mom.

“Transformers G1: Awakening” will be coming to cell phones later this year courtesy of mobile publisher Glu, and anyone with a compatible handset will have a chance to help Optimus Prime and the Autobots finish their fight against Megatron and the Decepticons.

This new “Transformers” game is inspired by the simplified turn-based strategy genre that the “Advance Wars” series started, and uses the original Generation One Transformers from the animated series, and not the Michael Bay blockbuster from last summer, as the basis for the storyline and art style.

The game unfolds on a grid-based playing field, where you control the movements and actions of the Autobots, as you try to complete the objective for the level and combat Decepticons. In one of the levels I saw, the player controlled Bumblebee as he was trying to capture a pylon for a bridge that was under the Decepticon’s control. In order to do so, he had to make his way to the pylon and capture it. Only Soundwave stood in his way.

Being a Transformer, Bumblebee had two methods of movement, either transformed as the car, or in robot form. If the player opts to move Bumblebee around the board in car form, then he can move a greater number of squares, as well as has increased armor, but should he have to do battle, his ability to attack is limited. However, if Bumblebee is transformed then he has a decreased amount of mobility, but he is ready to stage a full-on battle with the Decepticons. Each of the Autobots has their own strengths and weaknesses on the board and in battle, all of which are based on their history within the Transformers Universe.

Much like “Advance Wars” the combat is turn-based, but there is a slight twist. At the end of each turn the player has the option to transform. This adds another level of defensive strategy to the game; encouraging the player to take into consideration whether they are likely to be attacked or not. I was told the designers did this to really encourage as much transforming as possible.

When the Autobots were close enough to the Decepticons for there to be combat, the game cut away from the grid to show gorgeous full screen animations the Transformers battling. Transformers in adjacent squares can lend supporting fire , making it possible to have more than a one-on-one attack.

The game was demoed on a Nokia N95 Ngage handset and the graphics looked amazing. The cutaway battle scenes looked as if they were late PS1 quality 3D graphics, and to have something like that coming out of a cell phone is impressive. For anyone who has played any of the “Advance Wars” games the one handed keypad based controls should feel very comfortable.
Screen sizes: 240x320 (SE), 240x320 (Nokia s40v3), 240x320 (Nokia s60v3)