Transformers: Fall of Cybertron review

Developer: High Moon Studios

Publisher: Activision

Genre: Third person shooter

Rating: 12+

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC

Release date: Out now

After the success of 2010’s Transformers: War for Cybertron, the sequel Transformers: Fall of Cybertron had some pretty big shoes to fill. Check out the review below to see if it lives up to its predecessor.

Some people might not like the following analogy, but I have to say Fall of Cybertron feels like a love letter to Transformers fans. It has the action, the story and the humour that Transformers fans have seen in the franchise animated series.

The games story begins with the remaining Autobots escaping Cybertron on the Autobot ship called the Ark, but before they can escape through the space bridge they are attacked by Megatron. Shortly after the attack the game rewinds back six days prior to launch where the Autobots are desperately searching for energon to power the Ark. The campaign sees you jump between both Autobot and Decepticon with various interweaving stories which Transformer fans will enjoy to watch and play as the Autobots search for energon.

As I mentioned above the games jump between the two factions and due to this there is a wide cast of characters you play as. Some of the playable characters throughout the game are Optimus Prime, Megatron, Grimlock and the massive Decepticon Bruticus. Each transformer you play as feels different due to various abilities and transformation. The most strikingly different character is Grimlock as he is a Dinobot. Grimlock unlike the rest uses melee combat and also transforms into a fire breathing T-Rex as the result of some experimentation which you learn about as the game unfolds.

The campaign missions offer up a surprising amount of variety for a game that basically has you killing waves of enemies most of the time. Some missions might see you make use of your transformers ability for example when playing as Cliffjumper you can use stealth which can give you the ability to perform one shot kills from behind enemies.

Honestly right now I’m trying not to reveal too much by just touching on parts of the campaign. Honestly if you are in any way a Transformers fan you will enjoy it a lot especially the campaigns credits, if you buy Fall of Cybertron the credits are not to be missed because well here is an example: Metroplex is playing with two Transformers as if they where toys.

Character wise the Transformers very much act like their Transformers: G1 counterparts. Optimus is all about saving the Autobots, and Megatron is hell-bent on destroying Optimus and the Autobot. The most stand out character in my opinion is Grimlock, he acts the way people remember him with his lowered intelligence and brilliant lines/conversation that just make you want to laugh especially a well known conversation with a fellow Dinobot which will make any fan of Grimlock smile.

In the campaign you will come across terminals during your missions, these terminals are used to upgrade your weapons, unlock perks and purchase temporary utilities called T.E.CH. The upgrade system is a good idea and better still it is simple to use, to upgrade you just need shards and these come from bots you have killed. As you might imagine some weapons do become nearly overpowered with the likes of the cannon Megatron uses being able to deal out 500% extra damage when it is on its last shot.

For people who like to search every nook and cranny of a map there are hidden audio logs and blue prints (these unlock new weapons) on nearly every maps and while some you will pretty much trip over others are more hidden.

The controls for Fall of Cybertron is well pretty much perfect, with the ability smoothly transform and the ability to change your firing hand which is a nice touch because it makes shooting around cover easier and it also changes the camera angle (camera angle is your standard over the shoulder position).

Music in Fall of Cybertron is pretty much bang on from music played during big fights bring you into the game to the well known end credits song which will leave you smiling.

Unfortunately no game is perfect no matter how much you want it to be and Fall of Cybertron does have its issues. There are two glaring obvious issues with the game. The first is when you have large amounts of bots and explosions on screen the frame rate drops off the cliff with the game seemingly struggling to keep up with what’s happening on screen. The second obvious issue is mid mission loading, it is pretty horrendous and it caught me by surprise. The loading seems to happen in large mission and it appears it could be down to the game trying to load in what you so much information at once.

Well I have talked up a storm about the campaign, but what about the multiplayer? The multiplayer isn’t exactly something I would be going crazy over as it feels like your bog standard online third person multiplayer.

In the multiplayer you can customise four characters/classes (Autobot and Decepticon variants) with each one having their own array of abilities and weapons, loadouts are pretty sparse with each class having only four weapon and two abilities (2 weapons and 1 ability have to be unlocked). While loadout options aren’t exactly massive the customization for both personality and armour is a good bit larger with the ability to change colours, voice and different parts of your armour. Finally there are 4 modes team deathmatch, conquest, capture the flag and head hunter (head hunter sees you kill and capture enough sparks to win), I doubt I need to explain the multiplayer any further.

Outside of the multiplayer there is Escalation which sees you and friends fight of waves of enemies as you try to survive for as long as possible.

In summary Transformer: Fall of Cybertron is a game with a solid and great 6-7 hour campaign, but with petty standard and mostly forgettable multiplayer. If you are a Transformers fan or enjoy third person shooters Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a must buy.

SCORE: 88%

Pros:

+ Great, memorable campaign
+Solid controls
+great soundtrack

Cons:

-Not so memorable multiplayer
-Two immersion breaking issues with the game.