To coincide with this summer’s release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Activision has put High Moon Studios to task with development of the film’s tie-in game. After the last two film video games left a lot to be desired, the hope is that the team that delivered the surprisingly good War for Cybertron will be able to repeat that success here.

A new trailer for the game has just been released that carries the signature sensibilities of High Moon's Transformers game, but features the iconic characters gamers would expect to see in a film adaptation.

One of the elements that made War for Cybertron such a surprising hit was the way in which the combat allowed the player to tackle enemies either in robot or in vehicle form. For Dark of the Moon, players will have three options to transform into: vehicle, robot, and Stealth Force.

Essentially, the player will have to be in Stealth Force mode in order to have the mobility of their Transformers’ vehicle mode and the offensive capabilities of their robot form.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HonHOusXZeA&feature=player_embedded

Based on Optimus' narration, and some brief, non-combat scenes in the trailer, it is pretty clear that Activision is trying to keep hints regarding the storyline of Dark of the Moon pretty vague. We do know, based on previous info, that Dark of the Moon is going to provide some backstory for the events of the Michael Bay film, and the trailer suggests a storyline that will see the Transformers taking on an enemy that has a new plan for destruction, but aside from that it's all robot action.

What is unclear from the trailer, though, is whether or not the storyline in Dark of the Moon will have gamers playing an intertwined set of storylines, one Autobot and one Decepticon, or if there will be two distinct storylines that play through to their own end. Hopefully Dark of the Moon carries the former because, aside from the combat and gameplay mechanics, it was really the story and storytelling that took High Moon’s first Transformers title over the top.

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Still a few months away from the film’s release, High Moon has plenty of time to put the polish they ever so delicately applied to War for Cybertron on this video game adaptation. With the obvious stigma surrounding game adaptations of film properties, High Moon is well aware that just transferring their formula onto another Transformers game isn’t going to sell the title. It’s going to take a story and some compelling gameplay for Dark of the Moon to be a winner.

What do you think of this new trailer  for Transformers: Dark of the Moon? Does the game look more like a High Moon Transformer game or like the previous video game adaptations?

Transformers: Dark of the Moon should be released before July 1, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and 3DS.