CLANZ

Movie games, games based on comics, cartoons or even toys tend to show very little success and the Transformers franchise is part of this category. The franchise has had blunders in the past and with its tack on movie games, there is no doubt that Transformers games have gained a very poor reputation among gamers and Transformers fans alike. Transformers War for Cybertron is the recent addition to the Transformers franchise; will this third person shooter bring the Transformers reputation to glory? Or will we see it once again bargain binned and disowned?

Transformers War for Cybertron is different from the previous titles within the franchise, unlike the rest this game isn’t based on a cartoon, movie or comic but a re-imagining of how the conflict between the noble Optimus Prime and the devious Megatron began. The game takes place on the home world of the Transformers, Cybertron and will reveal how Optimus became a Prime and how Megatron rose to power.

The very first thing Transformers War for Cybertron did right was not having anything to do with the movies, the second is setting it on the Transformers home world Cybertron, and luckily it doesn’t stop there. The story is based before the first generation cartoon though it has very little to do with the cartoon as it sets its own story on how the conflict between Optimus and Megatron began. In Campaign you are given two choices you can play either the Decepticon or the Autobot campaign, although the correct chronological order is to do the Decepticon campaign first and I did just that, I cranked up the difficulty to hard and clicked the first chapter and started what could be the greatest Transformers game ever created.

During the start of the campaign you are narrated on what Megatron is currently planning and it is revealed to you he is after Dark Energon which is guarded by Starscream, this chapter reveals the reasoning behind why Starscream became a Decepticon and why Megatron chooses not to dispose of him. After the narration has concluded you are thrown into an explosive cutscene something reminiscent of a Michael Bay movie but fear not he has nothing to do with this, the cutscene takes place above the planet Cybertron in Megatron’s star ship on his way to where the Dark Energon is guarded. Megatron ship is being slaughtered by the Autobot Defences so he decides the right choice is to do a suicide run into the space station and this is where the cutscene concludes. The story offers intense moments and mass amounts of nostalgia, if you are a Transformers fan. The story is well written is can definitely hold up on its own, new comers to the Transformers world will enjoy it just as much as the fans.

After the cutscene has concluded you are instantly thrown in an over the shoulder view of your chosen Decepticon for the chapter. You will immediately pick the game to be somewhat of a Gears of War clone, but that would be judging a book by its cover wouldn’t it? As you start to move around you notice the controls are much lighter than Gears, also that you are free to transform at anytime you like, and there is no cover system to be seen. The controls feel perfect and responsive and as does the aiming, though at points in the game you may accidentally transform at an inappropriate time due to the transform button being L3 same can be said for the melee attack with it being R3 but you adapt quickly and this becomes a very rare occurrence. This reminded me much of Unreal Tournament or even Halo as you can make quick precise movements and have a large variety of explosive weaponry at your disposal as well as standard machine gun like weapons and shotguns.

The gameplay is fun and works well to convey the war ravaged Cybertron. The shooting and aiming mechanic are very basic and will be familiar to most gamers in the third person shooter genre. Auto aim is available however scales with the difficulty, so fear not if you’re a raging Transformers fan but can’t play shooters to save your own spark, setting the difficulty to easy certainly helps the situation. The only gripe I have with the gameplay is the driving/alt form handling on land based vehicles, the scouts are meant to be agile extremely fast sports-like cars yet it feels like your trudging along a highway at 20km/h. However the alt forms have to be given some praise with the ability to choose to hover about the map or get your wheels down and handle like a real car.

The presentation in this game is fantastic it depicts Cybertron flawlessly, of course some may ask “Where is the colour!” but you must consider that the game is set on a metallic planet over run by war, it’s not all pretty rainbows. You can see that the Unreal engine is becoming dated unfortunately with some pop in problems with textures and some low resolution textures at times but overall the game looks fantastic. To add to the great look is the idle animations of the Transformers and Cybertron which are the finishing touches in making it stand out and set the atmosphere. To follow up the great graphic representation that is Cybertron the sound department did a great job. The voice acting is flawless, with each voice actor sounding like a professional, and we even have Peter Cullen reprising his role as the iconic Optimus. The game looks and sounds fantastic and the Transformers home world is well presented in this title and it makes me happy to see a game finally do it right.

The multiplayer unlike the movies games isn’t just a thrown in rushed piece of the game, it was worked on hard and it shows. You choose from 4 Classes each with their own unique abilities, which can be customized in "Create a Transformer Mode". The create-a-bot mode isn’t very extensive in physical form but relies on heavy ability customisation. Each class has the choice of 2 weapons from a list of weapons specific to their class (each class has a choice of 4 weapons in the list) and 3 abilities, new abilities are available as you level up which adds freshness to the game. Multiplayer is a great addition to the game and is actually fun, it feels much like a mix between Unreal Tournament and Team Fortress 2, both of which are fantastic games themselves. You are offered 6 game modes ranging from Classics like Deathmatch to new gametypes such as Code of Power where a melee weapon must be stolen and taken to the home base. The fun doesn’t stop there the game also offers drop-in, drop-out Co-op and Completive Co-op campaign in which 3 player can play at the simultaneously, in addition to this a third Co-op game mode titled Escalation is available, the game mode is much like the Gears of War horde mode or Left 4 Dead’s survival mode in which you must survive waves upon waves of enemy robots to score the best time. This game certainly has much to offer in terms on of online play which is fantastic the only gripes I have are that there is no local multiplayer and the physical customisation is very thin.

Transformers War for Cybertron is quite possibly the Transformers game we have been waiting for. The game fuses a great story and gameplay to match. The multiplayer and co-op have been clearly worked on to make it the best as possible; the depth within the non-physical customisation shows us this, as well as the variety of game modes. The rest depends on the community keeping this game alive, so High Moon studios and Activision feel it is a game to support.

Overall I would give the game a 4/5.

Written by :

CryptiK