Why You Can Trust CNET Transformers: War for Cybertron review: Transformers: War for Cybertron
War for Cybertron is something of a mixed bag of a game. However, the multiplayer modes are fantastic; combined with the addition of some new canon Transformers lore for fans, we'd have to say it's worth the price of admission.
The need in movies and games to "grittify" everything has actually been used to good effect in Transformers: War for Cybertron. The first thing you really notice is your surroundings: everything is grim and austere. Even Optimus Prime's red, white and blue colour scheme is muted. This truly is a place for machines, and where machines work hard; you can almost feel a patina of oil beneath your fingertips.
Transformers: War for Cybertron
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The story is twofold. Cybertron, long before the Transformers ever came to Earth, is ravaged by civil war. On the one hand in this setting, you have the delightfully over-the-top evil Megatron rapaciously seeking out all the dark energon he can find in order to restore Cybertron to the "golden age" of yore — with himself, naturally, sitting square atop the pile. On the other hand, you have Optimus Prime trying to make his way as the new leader of the Autobots after the apparent death of his predecessor, Zeta Prime, while Megatron is making with the grabby hands. It's a great little history lesson for Transformers fans.
It's a lot of fun, with lots of bad-guy and good-guy posturing, awesomely overblown dialogue reminiscent of the original cartoon, and a stellar (in the voice-acting world) voice cast.
Once you've finished oohing and ahhing over how rad Cybertron looks, though, you might find that there are a few niggles that detract from the actual gameplay.
The first is, like many games being made today, the text prompts on the screen, which seem to have been designed for an HD screen at least 42 inches. If you're a bit behind the times telly-wise, or have a smaller, secondary TV for gaming, trying to read what buttons you're supposed to press leaves you squinting at the screen. This problem can be solved by looking at the manual, but it's irritating all the same.
Nevertheless, you leap this hurdle into the game. That's when you discover that the levels, while quite good-looking, suffer from perhaps a little too much uniformity; aside from the fact that it can sometimes be difficult to see where you are going, each of the 10 levels looks a bit too similar to the level before; there is, after all, only so much variety on a planet covered in machinery. You will become quite intimate with these environments, too, as you scour them searching desperately for the ammunition that seems so sadly lacking and run through corridors that all look similar while fighting the same enemies over and over. There's also no snap-to cover, so if you're used to Gears of War's gameplay, you might have to relearn how to hide properly.
That said, that's the single-player campaign. This is a game that possibly should have been an MMOG. Once you log onto the online multiplayer (which you'll need to, as no split-screen option is available), suddenly the samey levels become mazes for chasing and being chased through, and the lack of ammo becomes a frantic challenge to see who can find it first. Good times.
In multiplayer, too, you can create your own Transformers, customising them with weapons and colours, in four classes: soldier, scientist, scout and leader (or, if you want to get MMOG nerdy, melee DPS, healer, ranged/stealth DPS and tank), and this is where the game actually becomes an exciting battle rather than merely an OK shooter. There are several multiplayer modes: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, which we all know and love; Escalation, which is a four-player co-op survival battle that involves fighting against waves of enemies; co-op campaigns; and a range of capture-the-flag and king-of-the-hill style matches. There's enough here to make the game worthwhile even if you weren't engaged by the single-player story.
And, yes, of course you can transform. This is sort of a travel form, with a different weapon set, and allows thoroughfares and corridors to become a place for you to take a breather and enjoy the scenery. But it's not just a gimmick, either: transforming into a flyer becomes a necessity when you need to get from point A to point B, or beat a hasty retreat in multiplayer. As Megatron, transforming into cannon gave us access to a much heavier-duty weapon for getting out of tight spots.
Overall, War for Cybertron is something of a mixed bag of a game. It looks great, but then starts to look the same. The story is great fun and a way to spend quality time with favourite characters, but the controls are a little temperamental. However, the multiplayer modes are fantastic; combined with the addition of some new canon Transformers lore for fans, we'd have to say it's worth the price of admission.