Transformers, being the huge franchise it is, surprisingly passed me by when I was a child. I was aware of their existence, and played with a few of their toys as you do, but I was always more of a Beano and Dandy comic man, and the TV programs never really hit my radar either. Transformers for me, like many others I would imagine, has recently been forced down my neck in the form of the over the top Michael Bay collection of films. I’m a fan of the films, but after trying one or two of the movie tie-in games (which were not quite so good) I’ve been hesitant to try another Transformers game.
Now, a few years after my last Transformers outing on a console, I find myself playing Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, and can happily report, that I’m now also a fan of a Transformers game.
Fall of Cybertron is the sequel to Transformers: War for Cybertron which was released in 2010. It is a third person shooter that see’s the Autobots (good guys) attempting to defeat the Decepticons (bad guys). The events of War for Cybertron have left Cybertron (home planet) unable to sustain life, which leads the Autobots seeking to flee the planet in order to continue the existence of the Transformers race.
The campaign takes place over 13 chapters, which will see you control different Transformer character over each chapter, from both factions. Each character has their own special ability which keeps the game relatively fresh throughout. It allows for different game play styles to manifest during the course of play, for example one level will see you take a stealth approach using a cloaking device, another will see you controlling a monster of a robot, destroying everything in its wake, and then you’ll find yourself in an aerial combat situation. It’s nice to see the guys over at High Moon Studios take an approach like this, and avoiding repetitive play throughout the game, while staying true to the third person shooter genre.
I enjoyed the storyline of the campaign. At first I wasn’t a fan of switching factions half way through, and felt that they could have just allowed you to play the whole campaign through as either autobot or decepticon. But I was soon drawn in and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
There were a few slowdown issues in the game, which fixed themselves after around 10-20 second, and once or twice I found myself needing to restart to the last checkpoint as the game wouldn’t allow me to continue. The game controls well, and anyone familiar with third person shooters will be instantly at home. Being able to switch from robot form to vehicle form as and when you want is nice, and allows you to play through areas differently if you wish. You have 2 weapons for each forms, one light and one heavy. Throughout the game you can purchase and upgrade weapons for your robot form, including buying one use gadgets (defensive and attacking), as well as the more expensive permanent upgrades (such as ammo and armour upgrades).
The game is a linear affair, not allowing you to go off the predetermined track. Saying that, there are collectables to be found around the place (audio logs, weapon blueprints) which will no doubt have the achievement hunters coming back for more to find each and everyone.
I did feel a lot of ‘invisible wall’ presence throughout the game, but it didn’t seem to make sense that it was there, considering the actual wall was around 30 cm away from where I was standing. It seems the developers didn’t want players standing on top of slightly raised areas next to a solid wall.
As a fan of the Gears of War series, the cover system in the game seems dated. The game gives you the ability to switch shooting arms to shoot from around objects. You don’t ‘get into cover’ per se; you stand behind a wall and choose which side to shoot from. This isn’t a massive issue, but a stronger cover system is something that would have made the game better for me.
Graphically the game is decent. There is nothing that is going to blow your mind here, and I think it’s an area that could be improved this far on in the console life cycle. But a different setting for each level shows an artistic team wanting to demonstrate their capability to set a game in many different environments. The voice acting throughout the game allows the character driven aspect to shine. The relationships between the Transformers comes through well, and a lot of this is down to the narrative and the way the actors have performed, allowing each character to have their own distinct personality.
Fall of Cybertron offers your standard online multiplayer modes that you would come to expect from a game in the shooter genre. Nothing to shout about here, but being able to change forms from robot to vehicle on the fly does add a nice twist to the gameplay of modes that a familiar to most. Character customisation is present, allowing players to use their Energon (which is amassed through levelling up, killing etc.) that they have built up to personalize their classes as they will.
Escalation is Fall of Cybertron’s Horde type mode. You and up to 3 others take control of a character (each with their own abilities) to survive as long as you can against waves of enemies. There are 15 waves in total, and killing enemies increases the amount of Energon you have to spend on upgrades, weapons, new areas etc. I’m a fan of this type of game mode, but was disappointed to see that there is no offline option to play split screen.
Overall, Fall of Cybertron is a strong addition to the Transformers franchise. I very much enjoyed the campaign mode, and the multiplayer options. A few niggling issues such as no offline support, the out of date cover system, and a few technical issues knock the games score down. But it is a game that I would recommend to others. If you are a fan of the transforming robots, or a shooter fan in general, there is plenty of fun to be had here. 8/10.