Review | Transformers War for Cybertron

Recent history has taught Transformers fans not to get their hopes up. Two reasonably mediocre video games have been spawned from the hideous bowels of two absolutely wretched films in the the last four years, and before that the best anyone could say about Transformers video games was that they were kind of okay.

Transformers: War for Cybertron aims to be different, but does it succeed? Well, yes actually. High Moon Studios has produced a fantastic third-person shooter that takes the Transformers concept and runs with it. Finally there is a title that fully realises the purest of gaming concepts: robots shooting and punching each other while also being cars.

The game is set on the planet Cybertron, during the civil war that eventually led to the Transformers fleeing to Earth. The good Autobots are fighting the evil Decepticons, things are blowing up and everything is right. The campaign mode lets you play as either side, the Decepticon campaign focusing on Megatron’s quest for ominous powerful material called dark energon, and the Autobots struggling against the newly empowered Decepticon forces. Hasbro themselves have labelled the story as canon material, meaning that forever more this is really how Bumblebee met Optimus Prime and how Starscream became a treacherous jerk. The campaigns are relatively short, but the ability to go back and play through with a different character lengthens things slightly.

But nobody except the most dedicated of fans comes for the story. What we’re really after is the feeling of controlling a hulking robot with a machine gun who can become a truck at will. And this is thankfully War for Cybertron’s greatest strength. Each character feels like a powerful behemoth while still dashing around like a warrior. Many of the classic characters are present, although in less-familiar Cybertronian forms, and they all look to be lovingly detailed with their original G1 designs in mind. Weaponry feels huge and dangerous, with everything from the biggest rocket launcher to the not-so-humble pistol giving the impression it could level a city block. Most importantly, the transforming is spot on and an absolute blast. With a click of the thumbstick your bot will instantly transform, anywhere and anytime. When that infamous sound plays and you go from being a man-shaped robot to a car, a truck, a tank or a jet, it just feels perfect. That one act is so entertaining it is almost worth the purchase price alone.

Luckily it isn’t all for show. Rather than shoehorn Transformers into an existing mechanic, it seems High Moon have worked to build a game around the transforming idea itself. Superficially the game is a third-person shooter similar to Gears of War, but that would be selling it short. While there is no cover system, your ability to change between metal warrior and zippy vehicle opens up a whole new selection of tactics. Every area offers the chance for you to flip back and forth to try and take out the enemy. Thankfully the vehicle forms control just as effortlessly as the robots, with speed boosts and their own weaponry to play with.

The battles are solid and fun, if challenging side at times. The campaign can be played with up to three people on co-op and the difficulty doesn’t scale down when playing alone, despite friendly AI being predictably useless. You’ll fight a variety of robotic foes big and small, all requiring their own tactics to take down. Each character you can play as has their own class: leader, scout, soldier, etc. This gives them their own special abilities which range from things like shields and power bursts to hovering and boosting your team’s skills temporarily. The abilities vary in usefulness and it’s easy to forget they are there in the midst of the action, but they are a welcome addition. Melee attacks are also tremendously fun. Every character has their own totally ridiculous melee weapon with which to smash robot heads, and often dashing up to someone and cracking them with your over-sized energy mace is a satisfying one-hit kill. Running around swinging your big orange axe through a flood of Decepticon troops as Optimus Prime while commanding allies to roll out is bound to bring a smile to the face of the most jaded gamer.

With the whole of a constantly transforming planet to choose from, there is plenty of variety in locations and arenas, with the story taking you through factories, along skyways, into underground tunnels and up enormous towers. The endless screens of metal and lights can get a little samey after a while though, and you may begin to long for some more organic scenery. The Autobot campaign is by far the more entertaining to play, with much more of a feeling of adventure and urgency, as well as some amazing scenes. Megatron’s quest can easily start to feel like a long walk through a dark corridor. Each side does have some amazing boss fights though, with iconic characters popping up and absolutely enormous foes blocking your path.

Multiplayer in War for Cybertron is the single player experience pushed into overdrive. Using a class-based system similar to games like Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2, players are put into small but chaotic battles in the usual selection of modes – deathmatches, capture the flag, base defence. There is also a mode called Escalation, which pits a team of players against wave after wave of enemy robots, creating a test of skill and stamina. The ability to transform at any point makes these admittedly old game types seem new again, with cars and planes zooming back and forth across the battlefield, firing rockets and lasers furiously. The matches feel almost too crazy at times, with nothing but luck between you and a few quick deaths. Regardless, the game provides a fun and fresh multiplayer experience in a market filled with soldier clones.

The one glaring limitation in the multiplayer is in its customisation options, or lack of such. You can create your multiplayer character by selecting a chassis and paint job, but there isn’t much variety on offer. Given that we are dealing with robots, players will find it hard not to be disappointed that they can’t create their own ultimate Transformer.

But this, like the other flaws in War for Cybertron, is a minor niggle in an otherwise fantastic game. High Moon have managed to continue the recent trend of excellent licenced games by making a game that actually feels like Transformers, and not simply a way to con gamers out of their cash. The game’s biggest triumph is successfully making you feel like you are a giant robot on a mission. This is a game that Transformers fans can happily pick up along with anyone looking for a great action/adventure.  [9]