Transformers: War for Cybertron

[Fairweather Pure]

I've been playing the demo on the 360. It's a multiplayer only and console exclusive demo.

This game is a mix between Modern Warfare, Gears of War, Battlefield Bad Company, and feels like Unreal Tournament in a weird way. Of course, you can also turn into vehicles at any time so that adds a whole new level to the gameplay. It has a surprising amount of depth and customization. You can create custom loadouts for your class (4 classes total, only 2 playable in the demo) and even make customized transformer models in the release version. The characters move really well. They have a heavier feel to them, but they're not cumbersome at all. The action is fast and furious, that's for sure! It's a front runner for the best looking Unreal Engine game on this generation so far. The character models are all complex and impressive. The animations are top notch.

What's even better? Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, is the commentator for the Autobots! I jumped off a platform, transformed in mid-air and shot a Decepticon in the face. "Another Decepticon offline"! Sooooooo cool! My nerd cock twitched.

The single player also looks very good. You have a campaign for both the Autobots and Decepticons, with each one being completely different (ie: no recycled set pieces) and has 3 player drop in/drop out co-op. I don't think they held anything back.

HD Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFZrL0x63c8

Gameplay Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlKGbXLFvU8 (holy shit!)


This game deserves more love. I think it deserves to do well. Check out that gameplay trailer!

[Fairweather Pure]

The best way to describe the character customization in multiplayer is to compare it to Worlds of Warcraft classes. For example, just like a druid can be specced 3 different ways for 3 different styles of play, you can spec the Scientist class in Transformers to be a healer, buffer, or de-buffer. This means you can have multiple versions of the same class playing together, yet each one brings something new to the team. There are 4 classes in Transformers, so there's a lot of room for experimentation. I have no idea what kind of synergy this wil create between the same class that is specced differently, but I look forward to trying them all out!

[Aslanna]

It sounds like it could be interesting. I'm not really a Transformers fan but has there ever been a Transformers game that hasn't sucked?

And when Peter Cullen dies Transformers will be done. Or should be. I couldn't imagine something Transformer related without his voice anywhere in it. It just wouldn't be the same!

[miir]

It sounds like it could be interesting. I'm not really a Transformers fan but has there ever been a Transformers game that hasn't sucked?

The last one wasn't too bad... there was definately some fun to be had.

[Fairweather Pure]

I leveled both classes available in the demo (scout and soldier) to the demo induced cap of level 3. It took about an hour to do both.

The surprising quality and fun in this game reminds me of the same feeling I had playing Batman AA for the first time. Licensed games are simply never this good.

I'm kind of in love with the scout class. You can choose a class skill that does extra melee dmg when coming out of cloak. It's pretty much a 1 shot kill if you can position yourself for the opener. My weapons are sniper rifle for primary and a chargable plasma cannon as my secondary for up close and personal confrontations.

I would say it took about 5-6 games before I was really comfortable with the controls. I use control scheme 2, FYI. But once everything clicks, holy shit! I am hovering around as a car shooting on the fly, transforming mid jump and cloaking, then sneaking up and wrecking fools from behind. I love how they have the double jump (ala Unreal Tournament). You can even double jump while in vehicle mode!

This game is fucking great!

[Aslanna]

Eh. I gave multiplayer a go.. Maybe I didn't play it enough but I didn't really like it at all. Unless the single player campaign is a decent length I'll be passing on this. And even then I'll probably wait until it's $20. I just can't really get into online multiplayer games where it's the same shit over and over again.

[Siji]

I gave it a try for the first mission before shutting it off for something else. It's ok, but since I'm not a Transformers fan I'm looking at it from a neutral point of view.. for some reason it reminds me of Aliens vs Predators, though I don't know why. The controls did take a little getting used to, but robots yelping in pain from being shot really annoys the piss out of me.

Not being able to save your game at will annoys the piss out of me too. Singularity has this problem also - for some reason it seems to be a growing trend in games and I hate it.

The graphics were holy omg wtf busy and hectic inside the base of the first chapter/mission and initially it gave me a headache. Once I got used to it I was ok but it does make pickups and powerups harder to see. It also took a little getting used to that I could jump down a 2000 foot deep shaft without dying, that was worth a thrill anyway. The sound was ok, though if you turned even slightly away from wherever the source of the voice was coming from you nearly lost the ability to hear it at all.

Overall I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5 or I suspect if you're a Transformers fan probably a 3.5 or something.. if you're a fan you've probably already got this on your list, if not then my recommendation is to rent it first. Unless the MP demo gave you wood, then go for it. I wouldn't pay more than $20 for it and even having it, don't really see myself putting back in to play. Too many other good games to mess with coming down the line and already in my collection.

[Animalor]

Got the game yesterday and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Instead of just heading into single player I sent the 2 people people on my friends list that were playing the game invites and we tackled the first 2 chapters of the game in co-op.

It's a very well made game overall. Multiplayer is drop-in even in co-op and you get the full single player experience in co-op mode as well. cut scenes and all.

The only real weak point up till now is that the environments seem somewhat generic. A lot of the locations tend to look very similar. Basing the game on Cybertron though would lead to that type of effect.

If someone is lagging when the other 2 reach the checkpoint, it teleports the last guy to you and keeps going with the story.

Did some Multiplayer this morning and out of sheer luck ranked #1 in a conquest game and landed the "More than Meets the Eye" achievement for #1 MVP in a MP game. A pleasant surprise.

I played a few games but it does seem to be somewhat laggy on less than pristine connections. Hopefully this is something they can patch out.

If you're a huge fan of transformers, this one is a no-brainer. In my opinnion, 40$ is the perfect pricepoint for this game and I'm very thankful that most retailers up here priced it that way for the first day.

[Fairweather Pure]

I played some of the single player last night. I really like the voice acting a lot. It's pretty fun, but now I'm waiting to complete it co-op instead of with 2 AI partners.

The multiplayer is where it's at! But I tell ya, the players are a hell of a lot better in retal than they were in the demo! I'm leveling scout first, then will likely switch to the scientist for awhile. Being able to fly looks liberating. Those hit and run attacks are annoying as hell! I hope they offer more maps soon because 8 isn't a whole lot, even with 6 different multiplayer modes. I've heard great things about Escalation mode and I can't wait to try my hand at that for a bit. However, I want to know the other classes a bit better first.

The game is getting nice review scores. I just hope it sells well.

[Animalor]

I've playing the campaign purely in co-op until now and it's highly worthwhile. 3 players first night and 2 players the subsequent.

Finished the decepticon campaign last night and hopefully will be able to start tackling the autobot one this evening.

[Fairweather Pure]

I heard that the campaigns start slow and really ramp up on the coolness factor. Would you agree?

Multiplayer is just so weird to describe. It's such a mash up of so many other games. I just played a game where everyone stuck together buffing, debuffing, meleeing, and zapping. We were unstoppable! I think I died twice in that match. It's the opposite of how I've seen the game played so far. The other team started to get wise towards the end of the match and do the same thing, so we had some epic throwdowns in wide open areas. No hiding or attempting to out flank. It was just sheer carnage!

[Animalor]

The last 2 chapters of the decepticon campaign were definately the best IMO. You see a lot of the traditional Starscream/Megatron interactions there. That was really awesome.

I've really enjoying MP but I'm bummed that a lot of people are just going into Team deathmatch and the other modes seem to be largely ignored.

[Dregor Thule]

I played the 2 campaigns co-op with a couple of friends, that was a lot of fun, like nerdgasm good time. Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong!

I don't have much interest in the deathmatch shit unfortunately, so not much re-playability for me.

[Fairweather Pure]

Double XP this weekend!