It has been a very long time since we last saw a good Transformers game. Fortunately Transformers: War For Cybertron bucks the trend by being an enjoyable title. High Moon Studios has done a great job in creating a back story for both the Autobots and the Decepticons. For those who haven’t been following the development of this title, Transformers: War For Cybertron is an origins story for the Transformers. This is a story that has never been told before and, for the first time, you get to see and explore Cybertron. Apparently Hasbro liked the story so much that they made it official cannon within the Transformers universe. This game is broken up into two campaigns allowing you to experience the story from both sides. It is your decision on which one you go through first although it is recommended that you go through the Decepticon campaign first and then the Autobot campaign. There are ten chapters within the game with chapters 1-5 being the Decepticon campaign and chapters 6-10 being the Autobot campaign. Each campaign is pretty short but if you put the two of them together, the amount of time it takes to go through both of them is comparable to other shooters.

When you start a chapter you are given the choice of three Transformers to choose from. Your choices will differ depending on what is required in each mission. In some missions you will get the option to control Megatron while in another chapter he won’t be playable. High Moon Studios also nailed the control scheme pretty well. The controls are standard shooter fare with the right trigger being used to fire, the left trigger being used to aim and things of that nature. You can also transform on the fly by pushing in the left analog stick. It’s an intuitive control scheme and I was able to pick up on it right away. One thing that gamer will enjoy is the three player co op that is available in this game as well. Going through this game with two of your friends only adds to the amount of fun that you will have with this game. Graphically speaking High Moon Studios did an amazing job conceptualizing and delivering on the vision of Cybertron. Everything has a very mechanical look to it. It is a fantastic setting for this game and they did a great job on making it feel like the Transformers home world.

While this definitely is one of the best Transformers game to come out in a long time the game does have its share of issues. There were times when my Transformer would seem to briefly get stuck in the environment. There were also other times when another Transformer and I would go for the same gun turret. When that happened neither of us could use it and my Transformer simply ran in place like he was on a treadmill. If you are in a big firefight then this is unacceptable because those few seconds could be the difference between life and death. There were also a couple of times where the frame rate seemed to stutter for a moment. It only happened on a couple of occasions but it was noticeable. Another complaint I had about the game was that the animations took far too long. What I mean by this is that it seemed like it would take my Transformers around five seconds to go through the animation of interacting with a gun turret. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I still take damage while my Transformer is going through this animation. There are some pretty big fire fights in this game which means I can’t afford to stand there helpless for five seconds while the enemy is shooting at me.

No shooter would be complete without multiplayer modes and Transformers: War For Cybertron definitely has those. The modes included are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Conquest, Code of Power, Countdown to Extinction and Power Struggle. Some of those are self explanatory while others might need a bit of an explanation. In the “Code of Power” mode you must capture the Code of Power. Teams switch between offense and defense. In “Countdown to Extinction” you use the neutral bomb to destroy the enemy team’s base. In “Power Struggle” you need to gain control of the active power node. During my time with these modes they all seemed to work perfectly fine and I didn’t experience any lag at all. There is also the “Escalation” mode which is essentially the Transformers version of Horde mode. Whether you are a Transformers fan or just enjoy playing this game those modes should keep you busy for a while.

Overall, Transformers: War For Cybertron is a fun title. I was a little nervous when I heard about yet another Transformers title but High Moon Studios has done a tremendous job here. There are a couple of nagging bugs like I outlined above, however, that doesn’t really detract from the overall experience. If you are a big Transformers fan then I would definitely recommend that you give this game a chance. Even if you aren’t a Transformers fan you should give this title a try. If you are a fan of third person shooters then chances are you will enjoy this title. Hopefully High Moon Studios will be the studio for future Transformers titles.

Score: 8/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network