The game had both a Maximal campaign and a Predacon campaign, with both having the goal of thwarting and defeating the other faction.
Beast Wars: Transformers contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The Beast Wars cartoon had Airazor and Inferno added as later recruits to the Maximals and Predacons respectively who were found from the scattered stasis pods containing protoforms. In this game, they are both established members of their respective factions from the very start.
- Adaptational Heroism: The game depicts Dinobot as a member of the Maximals from the start, when the cartoon had him start out affiliated with the Predacons before defecting to the Maximals.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Inferno is depicted as a scientist in the Maximal campaign, probing into the mysteries of the Skriix.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Rattrap appears in the Maximals campaign as a recruit found from a stasis pod, when the original cartoon featured him as an established member of the Maximals from the start.
- Adapted Out: Tigatron and Waspinator are omitted from the game.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The Predacons campaign ends with the Predacons successfully wiping out the Maximals and proceeding to lay waste to Cybertron.
- Bottomless Pits: Taking a tumble into a pit will treat you to the same steep penalties as death in combat.
- Canon Foreigner: The game features an alien race called the Skriix, who were never present in the Beast Wars cartoon.
- Continuity Snarl: The game presents Megatron as wanting to use the Energon wealth on prehistoric Earth to fly back to Cybertron and conquer it due to the fact the game was made during Season one and Megatron's true goals wouldn't be revealed until the Season Two finale.
- Final Boss: Optimus Primal is the final boss of the Predacons campaign, with Megatron likewise being the last boss faced in the Maximals campaign.
- Giant Mook: Several enemy drones are massive, such as several of Rhinox's drones during his levels.
- High-Altitude Battle: The optional and intermittent aerial levels, which allow you to resurrect characters lost in the campaign. Terrorsaur and Airazor are only playable in these recovery missions.
- Mecha-Mook: Many of the enemies are drones that were made by whichever boss you're going to confront.
- Rule of Three: Each world is divided into three levels with each one ending with a Boss Battle.
- The Unfought: In spite of being playable in their respective campaigns, Rattrap doesn't get his own boss fight in the Predacons campaign, nor does Blackarachnia get a boss fight in the Maximals campaign.