The Transformer Game that Fans Have Been Waiting For

The new Transformer game, Transformers: War for Cybertron for Xbox 360, is the videogame that Transformer fans have been waiting for. It has features tailored for the gamer and the Transformer fan alike. It is an all around great game with several notable features including good graphics, good replayability, an interesting gameplay engine, and nods to the transformer fans.

The graphics are well done and give the game a great look. Since they are not using any humans or any other real-life occurring objects (since the game takes place on cybertron before the transformers come to Earth,) it gave the creators of the game a lot of artistic license within the game and they have used it well. There is a great attention to detail and a lot of motion that gives the background interesting and complete look. Although, there is some clipping in zoom mode.

This game has lots of replayability when you consider the achievements and the three levels of difficulty as well as the live play options. If you have Xbox live gold, this allows you to utilize the three liveplay options which are unavailable if you don't have the online capability. The first one is three player campaign where you play through the storyline with up to 2 other people. Considering the fact that each level allows you to play 1 of three characters this fits seamlessly with the already present campaign. The second online mode is called escalation where you and up to three other people fight numerous waves of robot drones. The third option is online multiplayer where you can fight nine other people in various mode including team death match and etc. As far as game itself goes, the campaign includes ten chapters. Five chapters are decepticon centric and the other five are autobot centric. These online Features are comparable to other shooter games but not other license games like the transformers movie games. This makes Transformers: War for Cybertron unique.

In the terms of gameplay, the engine for transformers is the unreal engine (standard for most 1^st and 3^rd person shooter games) with a slight twist which is being able to transformer in the middle of a battle. It takes a few moments to transform but doesn't really weigh you down in the middle of a fight. As far as character control, when you are a robot (non-transformed) all the characters handle as a typical third person shooter. However, there is some difference in how different vehicles are controlled in the transformed mode. There are several ground vehicles: cars, trucks and tanks which handle different then the aerial transformers such as airplanes. You also have two different types of enemies: general enemies that you encounter throughout the levels and a large boss that you encounter at the end of each of the campaign divisions. One limitation of the game is that the tutorial on how to handle the characters is not a hand holding tutorial but all controls are listed and readable available on the pause menu

Pluses for the Transformer fan are that they use a lot of the voice actors from either the movies or the old cartoons and they use many of the phrases from the 1980's cartoons and movies. Plus, you can select a variety of different characters with which to complete the campaigns. You get to choose between three different recognizable characters at every level (the three you get to choose from are predetermined by the game). In the multiplayer part of the game, you don't play as a particular character but instead you choose a chassis that mirrors the image of a familiar robot and you can color it to your liking and choose its weapons and abilities from those appropriate to its class. By progressing through the multiplayer and gaining points, you will unlock more abilities. By progressing through the campaigns you unlock more chassis. The multiplayer includes aerial based robots as well as ground based robots and multiple classes of fighters but it is a very balanced system and you can be as successful as any of the robots or classes no matter what combination you choose.

Another drawback to the game is that the 10 campaigns will take most gamers only 10-12 hours to complete initially, so it doesn't have a long initial storyline to complete.

You can pick Transformers: War for Cybertron up at any of your local major retail stores for $59.99 MSRP. You should enjoy this game if you like 3^rd person shooter games or are a fan of Transformers.

References

John Stottman, personal communication, June 27th 2010.