Transformers: War for Cybertron Review

The first two games based off the Transformers movies were disasters, so I'm told. Truth is I never played them but I saw the vids, read the reviews and they just didn't seem worth my time.

Then someone obviously took note of those shortcomings, knew what it took to make THE Transformers game, and did it for this interpretation.

Transformers: War for Cybertron takes place during the war, before anything on Earth started. It's a part of the story we've only seen fleeting moments of, or heard about in the past tense through the various series incarnations from the bots. It's a dash of everything transformers while trying not to be confined to one continuity. Instead it took something never touched and made it its own, so it could apart of nearly any incarnation's interpretation. Hasbro had control over this, and it showed.

Was it more than Meets the Eye? Let's find out...

The Good:

Characters: Your major Iconic characters from the show (minus a couple you can pick up as downloadable content by now) are playable. For the most part the character resemble their G-1 counterparts although there are some variances, these aren't the Michael Bay Transformers, and that's a VERY good thing. They are voiced really well and again, for the most part, resemble the G-1 counterparts. Peter Cullan is Prime, whom we all love, but he's the only one who's consistently come back, sadly Frank Welker (who voiced Megatron in the original) is not back, but it seems over time we've gotten used to the kind of voice the current Megatron has, which is more like the voice from Beast Wars, deep, dark, handsome. The only other voice actor to note is Johnny Yong Bosch whom you'll recognize if you're either a fan of anime, who's done many well known and not-so well known voice work, and was on MMPR.

Transform!: One of the best things about this game is (as it should have been) was that you can freely transform at any time during the game. The transition is so smooth and you're not useless in your vehicle mode, in fact sometimes it's advantages to be the vehicle depending on the situation. And they look as good as their "human" forms. It's even got the fudgy 80's transformation look and sound, although no one is turning into the size of a handgun.

Controls: It plays like a standard FSP for the most part, pretty Gears of Wars is but there's no cover system, with took a little getting used too. It also took some getting used to when you transformed into your vehicle modes (more if you were a plane, not a car in my experience). But they were solid and straightforward. Transforming was easy, switching weapons too.

Details: Just for me, or any other longtime fan, there are those quips in there that if you're familiar with the 80s movie, or other incarnations, you'll just smile. IT were details like this that makes me believe it's closer to the G-1 Universe than anything else.

Multi-Player: For once I didn't feel like I was getting cheated out of my wins here. I played the GoW multiplayer a lot and after a while just stopped cause it was no fun to play. But here it was hella fun, and I kept playing a while and is one of the features that actually would make me want to keep the game, and the campaign mode is multi-player as well. Although the "customization" is not all fantastic, were they to do another one, they at least have a area they could improve on.

On the Fence:

Story: For as long as it took me to get through this game, I don't think a lot happened. It shows the rise of Prime, more or less, but it's also showing the "rise" of Megatron as a real force, but it could also be taken as a "fall" as he just goes kinda crazy thanks to the longstanding war (you could argue he's been crazy all along, but that's a discussion for another time.) I was kinda disappointed by the end, not by the battle itself, but just how I thought it should have turned, out, then again I guess I shouldn't have expected a rehash of a familiar battle (containing possible spoilers here). Overall it's handled well but it could have been shorter, but thankfully it wasn't.

A.I./Level design: Overall the A.I. was decent, although there were spikes of either extreme overpower-ment or under power-ment. My biggest issue here is that some of the bigger fights that included some of the larger transformers felt to be really hard to no reason, and sometimes your allies might not have been much help. I think it was THE LAST scene that I played that I felt this the most, that the level design just seemed a bit lacking and made it hard for no reason. Another passing note, as grand as the environments are, they do get a bit repetitive sometimes, but this is a minor issue.

Verdict:
This game is definitely a diamond in the rough despite some of its minor shortcomings, the score is now 2-1 against good transformer games. It's got the nostalgia factor but it's also got the touch; the gaming meat that makes it more than just a pretty package to look at. I feel the same as with the Ghostbusters game from awhile back, if you are a fan, you should pick this up. Even if you aren't a fan, heavily consider it, I think it'd be a good companion game if you want something to play with a friend (you should be able to do side by side playing if I remember right). If you just want the experience, it's definitely worth your rental price.