Game Rant’s Ben Kendrick reviews Transformers: War for Cybertron
It’s been a rough couple years for Transformers fans – even more so if you’re a Transformers fan who plays video games. While you may or may not love Michael Bay’s live-action upgrade of the 80s cartoon, we can all agree that the first film does have its share of jaw-dropping visuals – as well as a number of subtle nods to the animated series. The film may not have incorporated everything Transformers fans were hoping for, but it wasn’t an all out disaster. Disaster was reserved for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as well as the two lack-luster movie tie-in games that were also churned out to capitalize on the Transformers buzz.
While the Revenge of the Fallen game did offer up some great fan-service (in the form of post-launch DLC), nothing could be done about the title’s generic gameplay and uninspired sandbox environments. Needless to say, we were a bit skeptical when we heard that High Moon Studios would be producing a new 3rd person action game under the Transformers banner.
Now imagine how surprised I was when Transformers: War for Cybertron turned out to be, not just a great Transformers game, but an exciting and immersive action title (regardless of the franchise). Simply stating that the game is a must buy for Transformers fans doesn’t do the title justice – while it may not be a “must buy” for action game fans, it certainly comes very close.
Transformers: War for Cybertron has the touch – and it has the power. It’s got a lot of things going for it but the biggest departure from previous Transformers games is the addition of a solid story campaign. The actual narrative is a bit ridiculous – but definitely fits right in with the tone (and campy storytelling) of the cartoon series.
For the most part, War for Cybertron finds a healthy balance between retro fun and real-world believability – a balance that Michael Bay never quite discovered. More than anything else, the addition of a competent campaign story gives the mission chapters actual purpose (as well as blockbuster cinematic moments) that gamers have come to expect from action titles. Players get the sense, as they fight through the various campaign missions, that they are actually involved in an epic-war between robot armies with real history.
The single player game, like previous Transformer titles, allows players to jump into both a Decepticon and Autobot campaign and, combined, lasts about 12 hours. However, instead of simply telling one story from both perspectives (regurgitating environments, battles, etc), War for Cybertron gives players the opportunity to join up with the Decepticons as they attempt to take down Zeta Prime and corrupt Cybertron with Dark Energon. Players then take control of the heroic Autobots as they fight to pick up the pieces. You can jump right in to the Autobot campaign, and then play the Decepticon portion as a prequel; that said, I’d recommend playing the campaign chronologically – as the story really does immerse you in the large-scale conflict (as it escalates along the way).
War for Cybertron definitely takes a lot from the Gears of War franchise, in both look and gameplay. The title doesn’t incorporate a “sticky” cover system – but with enemies capable of cloaking, flying, and transforming, hunkering down behind barriers wouldn’t have added anything particularly useful to the player’s strategic offerings. If you need to avoid gunfire, there are plenty of coulombs, destroyed sections of road, etc, to hide behind.
The actual gunplay is surprisingly tight – with a variety of weapons to choose from. Enemies take the right amount of damage, the deck was never stacked too high, nor does the game allow players to merely breeze through – without forcing them to think on their feet or utilize all the tools at their disposal.
The transformations are satisfying as well as extremely intuitive. By the end of the game, players will no doubt be switching mid-battle with ease – appreciating the function the transformations serve in the actual gameplay. Obviously War for Cybertron is a Transformers game – so they have to be there but, in this particular installment, High Moon has managed to turn novelty eye-candy into a truly useful mechanic, allowing multiple strategies for how to approach the battlefield.
Some players might choose to play as a speedy character like Bumblebee, zipping around the combat zone and snagging quick shots at enemies, while others might be more interested in the rough and tumble approach – ramming into bots while driving Optimus Prime in truck mode. Ultimately, these transformations don’t just inform how much damage a player can take or how quickly the character moves around the environments – they provide fun opportunities for gamers to hone their play-style.
Continue reading Game Rant’s review of Transformers: War for Cybertron…
Our Rating:
3.5 out of 5
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Sounds like the problems I had with the demo session were finetuned. Definetely interested (even if I still think the palette is far too dark).
Thanks for the detailed review. Thinking about buying it!
no offense, but its about time a review came up by you guys, needless to say nice job.
i don’t tend to solely rely on a review to decide whether i should get a game or not, but i do make note of all the pros and cons and thus come to a conclusion as to whether i should get the game or not.
for now i’m fine with shadow complex
I would personally give it a “Good, but not great”.
It felt REALLY overly “Busy” visually. The environments felt kinda crowded and incoherent, I found.
The transformations themselves were like this too, and as a VERY hardcore Transformers fan that bugs me. I find that the most visually interesting transformations are the ones you can -mostly- follow visually. You can tell more or less what goes where and how. Yes, the sequence takes a second but it IS possible to have one you can follow.
The ones in War for Cybertron were basically the one form exploding into a storm of moving parts that re-forms into a robot. If you look closely you can see parts fold out of nowhere and other parts vanish. It doesn’t look like a transformation so much as an exchange of two different things that -sorta- look like they could turn into eachother. The Bay movies had that too, and in both the game and the movies there aren’t enough visual links between robot and vehicle mode, which doesn’t help.
If you want an example of what I’d prefer, look up gameplay videos of Atari’s 2004 game or the old school skins from the Revenge of the Fallen game.
Oh and I felt the character creation was a bit bland.
How come some classes only have one Decepticon or Autobot Chassis?
And why are the color customization options for the Decepticons so…dull?
It’s all either very pale or very dark and it’s extremely hard to get a distinctive looking ‘Con character. There have never really been any distinctions in average color between the two factions, there are bright colored Decepticons, dark colored Autobots.
Dunno where that imposition of color options came from
Aren’t you a bit too nitpicky? And it’s so dull so we won’t get confused between which one is which.
Except that you can tell which is which by looking at the color of someone’s name, which is always way easier to see than the color of their chassis.
And I don’t really think so, in character customization you want as many options as possible and I just don’t see any reason to limit the colors like that
Yeah I think its kind of dumb that there’s a color restriction but I kind of get their reason.
All nitpicking aside I think it’s about time that somebody made a game that does the Transformers name justice. Regardless of what you say about the transformations the bottom line is the game is a lot of fun. As far as the comment on the environments never really changing, that didn’t really bother me. Cybertron was basically one big machine. In that regard I think they nailed look and feel of Cybertron. I’m almost halfway through the game as I write this. Definitely looking forward to the appearance of Tripticon and Omega Supreme. All in all I think it’s a great game.
I really wish they fleshed it out more. The group should be 4 at all times and not 3, allowing for 4-player co-op (perfect type of game for this).
There also should of been more character designs so it’s not so repetitive and more key unique characters included.
It’s quite fun to play though, especially when you master the controls are are transforming on the fly, etc.
This game seems almost an apology for the “revenge of the fallen” film and the mediocre games that followed as a result. I could stomach the first transformers film, but the second was nothing short of an abomination. I couldn’t believe they let that piece of crap onto the market.
I’ll save the rest of my four letter word rant about the movie for another time and focus on the game. I was pleasantly suprised. A good shooter, but also with transformation on the fly, good weapons, controls, difficulty was not too tough, but not to be breezed through either. I also LOVED the setting. Really immersed you in the transfomers world. I also like the characters being closer to the cartoon, and less of the film. Soundwave was awesome. I just played a demo. I have a PC, and I want to get that version. My hats off to the developers for all of their hard work, and deviating from Michael Bay’s lame formula.
I haven’t played the whole game, but I would like to see some of the cooler stuff from the cartoon before days’ end like constructicons, combaticons, and stunticons. Those are my favorites.