Given the exponential increase in the playability of the Transformers games from one generation to the next, the third installment in the blockbuster movie-video-game adaptation was the most highly anticipated release yet. Strangely enough, it was actually the only game in the series not tied to the plot of the movie at all, diverging from the exploits of the Transformers on Earth, to the travails of their original home world of Cybertron (just in case the title didn’t tip you off).
Fans and critics alike were mostly awed by the vast mechanical structures that spanned the planet Cybertron, itself, and the series-consistent increase in graphics capability. We never see Earth in War for Cybertron, and given the repetitive nature of the environment in both Transformers: The Game and Revenge of the Fallen, maybe that’s a good thing.
High Moon Studios Produces War for Cybertron
Once again, the developers at High Moon Studios stuck with what worked in the previous games: the splitting of campaigns. You can either start with the Decepticon campaign, which is centered on a new, dark source of Energon discovered by the relentless Megatron, and the powers and abilities it wields; or, begin as an Autobot which is, obviously, a response to the Decepticon menace.
Just as in its predecessors, there is a premium on the ability of the Transformers to transform fluidly from robot to alt-mode; War for Cybertron takes it beautifully further: there are actually levels based on the ability of the Transformers to transform! As in, you practically must use this ability to make things easier on yourself and accomplish certain objectives.
The multiplayer mode went up a notch even from Revenge of the Fallen, where it was already so good as to be one of the former game’s few redeeming qualities. There is the added attribute of developing your own Transformer completely from scratch, which could be a game all unto itself. When combined with the surreal graphics, sound effects, and game control – hey they even got that right this time – War for Cybertron readily makes the other games obsolete, and serves as a reminder of how far they’ve come.
In sum, the developers finally got it right. In fact, they got it better than that; War for Cybertron may be the best game of the year. If there was one bad thing about War for Cybertron, it’s that the game likely represents the burning twilight of the video-game adaptation; it isn’t likely to get better than this. I’d put this game up against Black Ops and Gears of War any day. It would lose; but still.