Transformers: War For Cybertron
Transformers: War for Cybertron starts out with two campaigns; the Decepticon campaign and the Autobots campaign. While you can choose to start with either one, I would advise starting with the Decepticon campaign first since the stories of both campaigns actually roll over and if you skip ahead and play the autobots campaign first you will be missing out on the full experience.
The Decepticon campaign starts with the rise to power of Megatron and his search for Dark Energon. Dark Energon is the key to gaining power and control over Cybertron and Megatron will stop at nothing to obtain it. As you play through the Decepticon campaign you will see familiar faces such as Starscream and Soundwave as well as other minor characters from the cartoons. Eventually your conquest will lead you to a showdown with the leader of the Autobots Zeta Prime and my personal favorite the gargantuan Omega Supreme.
The pacing of the story is exceptional and the action is fairly nonstop with very little slowdown aside from the occasional driving sequences. In one particular mission you will be running for dear life while Omega Supreme chases you throughout Cyberton destroying buildings and killing countless Decepticon soldiers all for the sole purpose of turning you into scrap metal.
The Autobots campaign starts right where the Decepticon campaign ends. Megatron has come into power and has taken over most of Cybertron. It’s up to Optimus and friends to do whatever they can to wrestle away control of the planet from Megatron’s evil clutches.
Each mission gives you a choice of 3 characters to select from, all with different classes and abilities that will change how you experience the game. The two characters you don’t choose will be your support throughout each missions. The game does support 3 player co-op with an additional mode of competitive co-op which pits you against your buddies to see who does better during each the mission.
The co-op is enjoyable overall but it can be annoying at times. While you can revive teammates if they get taken down, you will be faced with a mission failed scenario if you can’t reach them in time and they die. With a shortage of health and ammo on most levels this can lead to having to redo missions over and over again. Thankfully the games saves fairly often so you never have to back track too far before you catch up to where you last left off.
The presentation in the game is gorgeous. Cybertron is really brought to life right before your eyes. The level design is some of the best I have seen for any shooter let alone a licensed title. High Moon really out did themselves with the total atmosphere of this game. The voice of Optimus in none other then Peter Cullen, as many fanboys may already know, he is the original voice of Optimus from the 80’s cartoon series and the movie adaptation. Other then completely marking out every time I hear the voice of my favorite cartoon hero the voice acting for the rest of the game is actually very solid.
I noticed quite a few professional anime voice over actors in this game so it’s nice to know that High Noon actually went through the expense of hiring some of the best and most known voice over people in the industry. It really lends credibility to the dialogue and enhances the overall feel of the game. The chatter between you and your two accomplices are comical at times and really helps to give the game brief moments of humor. Both the Autobots and Decpeticons character models look great. They have received a sleek update from the cartoons and are infinitely better looking than the movie versions. It’s both nostalgic and new at the same time with all the characters easily recognizable at first glance.
The mechanics for Transformers: War for Cybertron is that of a typical 3rd person shooter with a few twists. Transforming into and out of vehicle mode is done by pressing the left analog stick and is actually surprisingly smooth. Transforming out of vehicle mode while in mid air is very seamless and looks and feels like something right out of the cartoon series, it’s that fluid. There are a few occasions where I transformed into vehicle form without wanting to, so the controls are not perfect but they do not ruin the overall experience of the game.
The enemy AI varies from fairly novice to annoyingly aggressive. For the most part enemies will charge right towards you while shooting and not bother taking much if any cover. You will see yourself being bombarded by enemy fire regularly and franticly searching for health to survive the blitzkrieg. Your computer controlled comrades are fairly competent when it comes to taking out the enemy but the healer class seems to selectively choose when they want to heal you. I found myself low on health on many occasions while the healer in the group just stared blindly ahead oblivious to the fact that I was near death. Overall they do just enough to help you through the missions.
Transformers: War for Cybertron also comes with online multiplayer. The game play is very similar to Unreal Championship 2 for the original Xbox. It is a 3rd person shooter with melee combat built in and adds more replay value to this title. You will see you standard variations of death match and objective modes with the transformers twist.
There are 4 different classes to choose from all with their own sets of abilities as well as strengths and weaknesses. You can play as a solider which is your tank, scout which is your speedy sniper/recon class, scientist which is your healer and leaders who can buff your team. This adds some strategy to the game play since you can adapt to how the other team is playing by switching your classes. One big gripe I have with the multiplayer is the lack of host migration, so when the host quits in the middle of a match you will lose all your XP for that round and be dropped out into your lobby to look for another match, this happens often. High Noon says there is a patch coming out soon to fix this and some other minor annoyances so that will make the experience more enjoyable overall.
If you’re a fan of Transformers this is a definite pick up since it is the best transformers game to date. If you are not into online multiplayer gaming then this is a definite rental. You will beat the game in roughly 4 to 5 hours so while the game is very enjoyable there is no sense in paying $60 for a title you will beat relatively quickly. If you are an online multiplayer person then you may want to purchase the game, the online community seems very committed to the game and I have rarely seen less than 10,000 people online on any given day. The online game play is fun so long as there are people to play with.
