Videogame adaptions of movies or TV series have rarely had a good stand. Gameplay seems to crush too easily under the elephantine weight of a film license.
The Transformers franchise has been no exception so far, since its cartoon launch on TV in 1984. The pain that fans haven’t had a good Transformers game in decades must still be reverberating in every vain of theirs.
But they are not alone in their misery. Just see what SEGA has done to Iron Man for the second time around now–not a too pretty sight if you ask me.
Nonetheless another Transformers game is to see the light of day soon. How pretty will the release date, June 22 this year, be to both gamers and fans?
High Moon Studios, mainly known–if at all–for their mediocre console port of Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy, have developed the new Transformers, monotonously subtitled War for Cybertron. Known for their Unreal Engine 3 expertise, the guys at High Moon have once more flexed their muscles to transform a silver-screen piece into a game.
At this point it would be fairly easy to dismiss War for Cybertron right off the bat as another patch of film license trash, its purport mainly being money-making. I fell for that kind of prejudice in the first place, but erred heavily in the end after having experienced High Moon’s interpretation of the mech franchise.
If you believe that Transformers: War for Cybertron be just for geeks, nerds, and fanboys who have sunk their teeth into some fictional world made up of the noble Autobots and nefarious Decepticons–how ridiculous, is it not?–, if you really think that, then I fear you must be erring as well.
In case you are fond of a third-person shooter that values skill over anything else–one that leaves you with a warm, mellow feeling in the belly–, prick up your shiny metal ears now, and listen to how I had been lost in paradise but eventually regained it during my hands-on time with the new multiplayer demo of Transformers: War for Cybertron.
Lost in Paradise
Two vs. one: Do you call this fair, Decepticons?!
What the heck is going on? Having joined a Team Deathmatch session, the assuredness of my victory and my overconfident smirk is fading away like ice in the sunshine, only that I get slaughtered left and right; a turning of the tables is nowhere in sight.
Fiendish Mechs are literally everywhere. Scouts, previously invisible to me, uncloak behind my back cleaving my Autobot asunder or they snipe me dead from an absurd distance. Heavily-armored and gorgeously equipped Decepticon Soldiers hover in the air and unleash devastating bombardments upon my head or they slaughter me with their roundhouse whirlwind attack that cuts through everything in its immediate range like through microwaved butter–only that butter really turns out to be the thin-like-paper hull of my lovely Autobot Scout.
Transformers: War for Cybertron is no simple affair, no mediocre game port of a blockbuster movie or cartoon series as I surmised it would be. Instead, what High Moon Studios made sure to deliver first was a deep and rewarding third-person shooter. Only then did the guys at High Moon begin to layer on the solid core gameplay a thin veil of Transformer license.
The result sits well with me: the action is intense, the heat of the battle, unforgiving.
And, as another plus, opening whole worlds of strategic depths, Transformers: War for Cybertron is class-based. The multiplayer demo comes with two of the four playable classes, Scout and Soldier, which are also customizable regarding their weapon loadout and special abilities (in the full version you can also color each body part of your Bot).
Molten, the only map in the demo, is huge, and leaves enough room for Vehicle mode in which you can reach remote corners of the level in no time, especially if you choose the swift Scout as your preferred class. The mobility factor becomes important in play modes such as Conquest where you need to get to different nodes as quickly as possible to capture them for raising your team’s score.
Unfortunately, the MP demo lacks any kind of a tutorial that attunes the new player to High Moon Studios’s well-thought-out but quite elaborate control scheme. And believe me when I say that every beginner, and not only me, will long for such an introduction upon his first plunge into the game’s deep control mechanisms.
Because, honestly, right now, I feel lost, overwhelmed by the frantic pace of multiplayer in War for Cybertron and its elaborate controller layout. While getting fragged abound on Molten, I regard a rage-quit for an appropriate means to vent my frustration, anger, and confusion. Xbox Guide button, Y, and “Yes” is all it needs.
Back on the dashboard, I have time to breathe in the calmness that the dashboard radiates. It invites me to think over what I have just experienced.
War for Cybertron has compelling graphics, with the right amount of metal sheen for its robotic world. Dazzling action awaits the player, with respawn times under two seconds, and Transformers that simply feel and control “right.”
The sum of all this is what refuels the players’ interest ad infinitum to come back to War for Cybertron, even if they have, just like me, been scared off by its complex control scheme in the first place. Every Bot has the right feel to it and comes with a special play style that you can further customize to your needs and wants however you wish.
Time for a second attempt.
Paradise Regained
This time around I take my time to prepare myself better before embracing battle. Having leveled up quite a bit (through my team making up for my inabilities), more customization options are available to my preferred Scout class now.
Similar to Call of Duty 4, you unlock abilities and weapons in War for Cybertron by leveling up. Winning the match, killing your enemies in spectacular ways, producing kill chains adds to that.
War for Cybertron lets you define your own play style through the four classes that play very differently and its manifold customization options.
The Stealth ability of the Scout comes in handy for my purposes. I choose to extend that ability with Ghost, which prolongs the duration of being cloaked. Surprise Action rounds off the package, allowing me to do hideous damage for a few seconds after becoming visible again.
With the Scatter Cannon as primary weapon, I turn any Transformer at phone-booth range into metal scrap. For more ranged attacks, I reserve the following method as my battle plan: a sniper rifle combined with Surprise Action makes up for hideously damaging bullets, killing even the fiercest Soldier whenever you uncloak and get engaged.
But I bring another special ability to the table: Decoy Trap spawns a fake weapon item that stuns once an enemy touches it. It has an incredible long cooldown, making it one of the less practical abilities, but when you trap an enemy with it, the joy couldn’t be bigger.
You can even cast Decoy Trap while cloaked so that running up to your enemy just to spawn the fake item upon becomes a viable tactic to stun him, allowing you to finish him off.
The potpourri of abilities and weapon loadouts really work hand in hand in War for Cybertron. You can play exactly the job you have designed your Bot for. More than three slots per class that you can choose to save your customization configuration to guarantee that you have enough variety when entering battle.
Forgotten is the frustrating attempt of my first unguided plunge into the game, and for that I am grateful, High Moon Studios.
Perhaps the most important question still remains to be answered: Should you Play That Game?!
Just imagine doing this: Double-jump, cloak, transform into Vehicle mode, and ignite the afterburner. The controls and fluid animations allow for such actions seamlessly and effortlessly. It is a joy to watch your Bot transform into a fully customizable, responsive killer machine.
It is usually true that movie games suck. However, Transformers: War for Cybertron does not. Play that demo!
erdraug
October 12, 2010
Nice review – one question though: i couldn’t help but notice that picture of optimus… can you really play as him?! How about other well known characters?