I had been looking forward to this release for quite a while, what videos I saw intrigued me, and I am also a huge fan of the original cartoon series, which if you are aswell, you will be pleased with this game, especially the way all your favorite characters look in the game, and the end credits were also a pleasant surprise. If you have played Gears of War, then you will feel like you are playing the same game except in the Transformers universe. This may sound like a bad thing, but in this case it really isn't. Finally a Transformers game that isn't shit, even if it has to steal core game-play from Gears.
As I said the gameplay is pretty much Gears of War, including the sometimes frustrating boss fights. For those of you who haven't played Gears, War for Cybertron is a third person shooter, where you get to play as both the Decepticons and the Autobots (and not necessarily in that order if you so choose). At the start or each level or "chapter", you get to choose to play as one of three available characters, each with their own types of weapons and abilities, and their own unique vehicle form. The campaigns won't take you that long, even on a higher difficulty but the boss fights (especially the end bosses) may frustrate you and even cause you to rage quit, but the single-player isn't really where the game shines. Although, with online co-op available for the campaign, it may be more enjoyable and less frustrating.
The story is basically a prequel to the original animated series, and according to Hasbro, should be considered official canon. The writing is on par with the series, which is a good thing, and Peter Cullen returns to reprise his role as Optimus Prime, which will please many Transformers fans.
The multiplayer is where the game gets really fun. It has the standard game types of other shooters, team deathmatch, conquest etc. It borrows from other games multiplayer modes aswell, as it has the Modern Warfare 2 experience and leveling up and customization system, and the Halo-type customization for how you transformer looks. There are four types of classes, Leader, Soldier, Scout and Scientist, who, like the single player characters, each have their own unique weapons, abilities, perks and killstreaks. As with Modern Warfare, as you level up, you gain access to more abilities and perks, although all the weapons are available straight away. As well as these modes, there is a mode like Gears of War's horde mode, which is called escalation. You and three others fight against increasingly difficult waves of enemies.
Scores:
Gameplay: 7/10 Has pretty much the same gameplay as Gears, which isn't a bad thing, and being able to transform to and from vehicle mode when you want to is pretty cool, although the single player campaigns are far too short.
Sound: 7/10 The voice acting is ok, but not having many of the original voice actors is a bit dissapointing. The sound effects are ok, but the music is pretty average.
Graphics: 9/10 The graphics are pretty good, and the visual design is faithful to the original series.
Replayability: 7/10 You may not want to play the campaigns more than twice, but the multiplayer is fun and should keep you entertained for ages.
Overall Score: 8/10
Just Chiming in on a nice little review with my own perspective.
ReplyDeleteNow while it can be said that the gameplay is reminiscent of Gears, it manages to pull it off much better. None of this duck for cover bullshit. You are a transformer, so if you are in trouble, transform and get the hell out of there.
Now there is one thing that bugs me about this game, and unfortunately it is the multiplayer. No offline modes, which is a shame. All the big names have offline multiplayer, Halo, CoD, so why not this? And why only a single player per console?
But other than that, from a huge Transformers fan, it most certainly takes the giant robo-cake.
8.75/10 Most definitely not one to be missed.