“Transformers: War for Cybertron” is a solid, third-person shooter that tells the story of the final war between the Decepticons and the Autobots as they fight an epic battle that will determine the survival of their entire race. As the player, you will have to choose between the two factions, doing battle in both robot and vehicle form on land and in the sky above the Transformers’ home world of Cybertron.
One of the best features of “Transformers: WfC” is the strong multiplayer, offering plenty of cooperative action. Friends can drop in and out mid-game to join in the fray without interrupting the flow. Along with the competitive modes, one particularly excellent multiplayer co-op mode offered a clever twist on the “Horde” mode familiar to “Gears of War” fans called “Escalation” that pits you and a friend against an ever-increasing number of enemies.
The ability to transform at will, whether or not the situation calls for it, is also nice. It would have been a shame if the developers had decided to lock you into one form or another. After all, that’s what make the Transformers unique — they transform. Giving you the ability to customize your own Transformer is a nice addition, as well, with access to plenty of weapons, skills and abilities.
With the good, however, comes the bad. My chief complaint is in the fact that this is a third-person shooter. I’m not a fan of third-person — especially the disassociated feeling I get staring over my character’s shoulder. I get that gamers want to see the robot, they want to watch it transform — that’s fine. I find it annoying and difficult to aim at enemies. It just feels weird.
Dumb artificial intelligence plagues this game. Your cohorts mindlessly rush into battle and ignore any attempt at self preservation. Why attack the boss’s vulnerable point when you can just run around and get killed shooting at nothing? At least you can count on real players to be smarter than that in a co-op battle. Well, sometimes.
Despite offering two ways to play, the game remains linear and derivative. It’s a lot of running and shooting with more running and shooting, and more running and shooting. Maybe that’s all you really want from a third-person shooter; I kinda got bored with it after the first few hours.
The deeply confusing world of Cybertron, itself, seemed stacked against me. Despite the flashy graphics and the look at a unique, alien world, too much of Cybertron just looks either bleak and barren or so completely similar that you lose your bearings easily.
Finally, we have the rage-inducing boss battles that stretch on forever with bosses that easily take a licking and keep on ticking. Well, I guess, that’s what makes them bosses, right? Still, fighting off the urge to smash my keyboard and fling the mouse became about as epic as anything that was happening on-screen. Oh, my, did my AI-controlled comrade just run into the line of fire and get killed again? Yeah, he did. And now I’m dead, too. Great.
It’s almost a shame that the gameplay got so tedious considering how well-done this is for a licensed game. If not for the awesome multiplayer modes — and I’m speaking almost entirely of the heart-pounding, intense Escalation mode — there wouldn’t be much left for me to enjoy in “Transformers: WfC.” Going back and replaying the game as the opposing faction does offer some replay value, but it’s really all about the excellent multiplayer modes that give this title its legs. If you’re looking for some good, multiplayer action, “Transformers: WfC” is going to get a lot of play time.
“Transformers: War for Cybertron is available now for Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (as well as two, toned-down versions for the Nintendo DS).
w
| Tweet | Follow @wkdr |
|
|
