Blog

In case you missed it, The Comics Console covered E3 for the comic book fan with news and updates on games like Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Scott Pilgrim: The Video Game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II and more!

It’s finally here! Transformers: War for Cybertron! All this month we’ve been playing previous Transformers games, counting down to War for Cybertron. But the wait is over! So transform and roll out!

Transformers: War for Cybertron

Publisher: Activision
Developer: High Moon Studios
Release Date: June 22, 2010
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB: Teen

Unfortunately for Nintendo Wii owners, if you went to the store to pick up your copy of War for Cybertron, you ended up with Transformers: Cybertron Adventures, the dumbed down version of War for Cybertron; but for this review, we’re focusing on the 360 and PS3 version.

With absolutely zero ties to anything Micheal Bay, but sharing the similar concept from Dreamwave’s Transformers: War Within series, War for Cybertron takes us back to Cybertron with the original G1 characters, long before they awoke on Earth in 1984. So serving as a kind of “Transformers: Year One” if you will, we get a better look at the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons…kind of.

The story never really explains why the Autobots and Decepticons have been at war for so long, but we do get some questions answered (as far as this continuity is concerned) about the Autobot’s Matrix of leadership, the history between Starscream and Megatron, and how Optimus became Prime.

The campaign is divided into two parts, Autobots and Decepticons, spanning five levels each. Story wise, the Decepticon campaign is first, but you can choose either to play from the beginning, and still understand the story just fine.

The entire game is loaded with tons of action, but the Autobots campaign is noticeably better. The Decepticon story suffers from too similar looking locations, and less recognizable characters; but that’s not to say it isn’t fun. And playing co-op erases any flaws you might find at first. The game is a third person shooter that feels very similar to Gears of War. Throughout the game you’ll come across lots of different weapons and upgrade options, but the most important part of the game (transforming your character) takes only a click of the thumbstick and can be done at any time. The controls as a whole feel great and are ideal for what a Transformers game should be.

The campaign mode is loaded with treats and references for the hardcore Transformers fans, and with Peter Cullen reprising his role as Optimus Prime, and other voice actors doing their best to capture the voices of the original animated series, this is the closest thing we’ve come to getting the 1984 cartoon back.

While the campaign mode will hook old Transformers fans, and hopefully create some new ones, it’s the multiplayer that will have them coming back. The multiplayer is without a doubt the game’s best feature.

There are tons of available customization elements, from the color of the paint to assigning specific attributes. You can create a custom character in each class: Scout, Soldier, Scientist, and Leader. From there, the Autobots team and Decepticons team has specific areas of expertise on battle, all of which feel useful and important.

Like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s multiplayer, you’re able to unlock more customizable options for your characters as you gain experience online. Game modes are the basics: permutations of conquest, bomb runs, capture the flag, and team death match, all of which are loads of fun and addicting.

War for Cybertron is no question the best Transformers game we’ve ever seen. Though the campaign may have been a bit short, and there are a few other gripes here and there, this is still an awesome game that is worth checking out, even if you aren’t a Transformers fan.

Transformers: War for Cybertron gets a 4/5.

For more segments of The Comics Console, click here!

Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net