Game Name: Transformers: War For Cybertron
Platforms: Xbox 360
Publisher(s): Activision
Developer(s): High Moon Studios
Genre(s): Action
Release Date: 6/22/2010
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) Violence
Price: $59.99 (USD)
Demo: Download the Multiplayer Demo Here.

Story
“Experience the legendary battle between the Autobots and Decepticons before their exodus to Earth in the untold story of the civil war for their home planet in Transformers®: War for Cybertron™. Two distinct and intertwined campaigns chronicle the heroism of the Autobots in the face of total annihilation and the unquenchable thirst for power of the Decepticons. Play both campaigns in team-based online co-op, or go head-to-head in several online multiplayer game modes. Battle as your favorite Transformer characters in the war that spawned one of the most brutal conflicts of all time.” [Via Xbox.com]

The story takes place during the fall of Cybertron where the Decepticons decide to rule the planet and kick out the Autobots. The campaign lets you play both sides of the story, and while there is a chronological order to the campaign you can play as either class first. The game normally starts off with you playing out the Decepticons story but you can jump to the Autobots side of the story first and then go back to what the Decepticons were doing. Play out the battles that started it all in this game. Play as both sides as you fight to save or destroy Cybertron.

Singleplayer Gameplay
Singleplayer consists of a story with 5 missions on the Decepticon side, and 5 missions on the Autobot side. You can play either side first, but the main story follows chronologically with you playing as the Decepticons first and then following it up by playing as the Autobots.

Both sides play generally the same, and both sides fight the exact same enemies just with a different color signifying the different sides. The campaign is pretty long with a series of battles on the way and a few scattered boss battles that require you to kill something in a specific way. At the beginning of every mission you can pick the character you want to play as, each character has a specific starting weapon as well as specific abilities and vehicle forms. This choice enables you to play the game the way you want to play it. Like being defensive? Then pick the bot that lets you deploy shields. Like being aggressive? Pick the bot with the strong weaponry and rage ability.

Each chapter is also broken down into 10 checkpoints that pretty much let you replay any chunk of a level you want. If you liked a certain spot in a level, load that spot back up. There is no need to play through the long levels just to get to one location. This feature helps greatly in doing a number of the achievements and keeps them fun rather than irritating.

Multiplayer Gameplay
There are multiple modes for multiplayer, whether it is competitive or even co-op based multiplayer. You can unlock more characters for multiplayer by playing the single player campaign. The multiplayer aspect adds a lot more gameplay to the game.

Co-op is for up to 3 players online, and lets you put on competitive scoring. There aren’t many people playing co-op because there isn’t really any reason to play it. The two achievements linked to it can actually be achieved by yourself. So co-op is reserved completely for you and your friends instead of just random people. While you can play with randoms, finding them will be difficult and most people on don’t actually want to play with you and just want to get the achievements by themselves.

There is also an escalation mode that pits you against increasingly stronger waves of enemies. This mode enables up to 4 players to fight alongside each other. With multiple waves and multiple kills you gain points that you can spend on ammo, health, or weapons. The mode is a lot of fun with a group of friends, but also enables you to play with random people. As the waves get harder, it will become increasingly hard to play with randoms that don’t know each other’s play styles.

The final multiplayer mode is the multiplayer itself. This mode lets up to 10 people duke it out on a number of levels and in a number of gametypes. There is also a mass of customization options for both your loadout and your character. There are 4 classes to pick from, each having a bunch of different Autobot and Decepticon models. You can pick the specific model you want for each team as well as a series of color options. The loadouts work a lot like Call of Duty load outs. You can pick two weapons, certain skills which you can use in the field, and then certain perks that help you in the background. Each of the 4 classes can be leveled up to level 25 and you unlock more stuff for each specific class as you increase in ranks. Once you max the level on all 4 classes there is a mode that basically lets you prestige. This probably sounds extremely familiar, because like I said it follows closely with what you find in a Call of Duty game. This isn’t bad though, and throws you into familiar ground as you hit this Third Person Shooter’s Multiplayer running.

Audio & Graphics
The audio in the game varies. While the soundtrack is pitiful and not even memorable, the voice acting is superb. Many of the famous transformers sound like they do in the TV shows and the movie. On top of that, they all say things that relate to or reference famous Transformer lines from other media forms. Some of them are quite funny, such as when Megatron says “Stay on the track… If you want to die!” as you cross the tram tracks. These little things make the game funny as well as connect it more closely with the Transformers world. The most notable thing is that there is no Transformers theme song. How can you not have the theme song in a Transformers game?

The graphics in the game are average, but there are a few things that are extremely nice to look at. Transformations are top notch. When you switch weapons the gun transforms out of your arm. When you transform in and out of vehicle form you can see all the parts sliding into to place very quickly. When you control turrets your body will merge into it, when you activate switches your arm becomes humanoid in order to hit it, and when you go into computer consoles your body merges with certain aspects of the computer. It is all aesthetically pleasing to see. Eventually you get used to it and stop noticing it, but it never actually gets annoying to see.

Achievements
The achievements in Transformers: War for Cybertron are actually pretty good. There are the regular achievements for beating all the levels, and then the stackable difficulty based achievements, and of course the multiplayer achievements. Transformers: War for Cybertron does manage to wrap all these generic achievements with achievements that will actually get you replaying levels and are quite fun. There are the collecting achievements but those aren’t bad at all and with the game broken down into a series of levels and checkpoints, you can pretty much jump to any 10 minutes located in the game. No need to go through an entire level just for 1 item. Other achievements include doing a certain task so many times, but these are greatly helped by an in game tracker that pops up every time you you successfully complete another part of that task. Need to kill 10 people with a detached turret, it will tell you every time you get a new kill with a detached turret and keep a tally for you. There are also a few speed runs located in there, and those are actually fun and a bit challenging your first try. Overall the singleplayer achievements are bareable and not that bad. As for the multiplayer achievements, those just consist of grinding and no one likes doing that anyway.

View the Achievement list here.

Overview
Transformers: War for Cybertron is actually a pretty good game. Many people may come into it thinking that it is just another Transformers game but the developers have done a very good job at creating something that is fun and enjoyable. With a swath of stuff to do in the game there is something for everyone. A singleplayer that is broken down into two teams and each level can be loaded at any checkpoint at any time to relive those awesome moments. There is an escalation multiplayer mode that lets you fight against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Finally there is a multiplayer that features multiple classes, skills, and weapons to customize your loadouts. There is something for everyone in this Third Person Shooter, and it is all wrapped up in a Transformer’s skin.
I give Transformers: War for Cybertron

Pros

• A lot of Multiplayer options
• Beautiful Transformer aesthetic transformations
• Some story on what occurred during the war

Cons

• Vehicle forms are almost pointless
• Not enough unique characters in the story
• No Transformers theme song