TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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HotShot81's Review: Transformers War for Cybertron: Autobots

Introduction
Hello gaming fans, let’s see what your cute, adorable, and hard hitting reviewer has dug up for us today. Why it’s Transformers War for Cybertron - Autobots. Just in case you’ve been under a rock for the last 20 years, or are wondering why you haven’t heard of this transformers franchise, it is my duty to give you a quick spoiler free recap.

As of the date of this review, there is no TV, movie, or comic book series for this version of Transformers. It’s something that Activision cooked up entirely in house with Hasbro giving them the green light on it. Now Transformers means usually two sides of robots that are in a million year civil war that are fighting it out, if the Decepticons win, every planet is open for conquest, and they know the rest of the galaxy can’t stop them. If the Autobots win, the war ends, and everyone lives in peace.

If you’re a seasoned fan of Transformers, and are wondering about the basic game. In some ways it’s tribute to the original franchise, you’re going to see allot of similar names, attitudes, and this is a plausible way that things could’ve happened in the original series. You will not see one Earth alternative mode here, since before now, none of these guys have been to Earth. Heck, when this game takes place, dinosaurs still rule the Earth, just to give you an idea of how far back in time this game happens.

Gameplay: 7/10

It’s always hard with an action adventure title to balance how hard it is, and to ramp it up. You make it too easy too long, and seasoned players will lose interest, make it too hard, too fast and casual players back out. I found that I only started to face medium resistance to this title, at the mid-way point. Deep enough in that it had my interest and it earned my determination as a game player to want to beat it. After that point the missions get harder, and the game removes certain earlier cheat points, instead of every mob having a fresh respawn point, you only get one every five mobs.

The combat system appears to be one where they’re offering you the game on a silver platter with chilly fries, since it appears so easy. You have two Autobots, by acquiring a target lock on a Decepticon you find out what it’s weak to, use the right weapon from the right Autobots and boom, he’s gone. One major flaw is in none robot mode, your weapon covers all three of the major weak point, to balance this you can’t get a target lock. Trust me, there are other curve balls here, but I am not going to reveal them here.

Bringing up the two Autobot system makes me want to briefly touch up on the unlockable characters. You start the game with two characters, but as the game progresses, some will be unlocked via the finding of items on different levels, others via game play from story, and finally some via the arena. It’s a good way to tease the old fans of the series in wanting to explore more, play more because everyone has their own personal favourites. It’s also great to entice new players in wanting to do more to find a character that fits their fighting style best.

Graphics: 9/10

Let’ remember the guys at Activision had no real designs to work with for the respective Transformers, except for certain general ideas from a traditional standpoint, and they could’ve said to hell with tradition, we’re giving transformer X, look Y. Instead they took the time to stick with tradition for the most part, and if you slow the game down, you can see the actual transformation, which has earned this high mark of 9 out of 10.

The world of Cybertron is a strange world, no real free flowing water, or what we would consider nature. Instead it’s an entire world of metal and energy. For the most part the world feels like how it should be. The real complaints can be marked down to the lack of detail of the surface texture on walls and such, which does affect game play in finding secrets. I found allot of areas were very repetitive in layout of the rooms and how they were designed.

The user interface is pretty straight forward and standard for a game of this nature. The top screen is where the action happens, while the bottom one acts as a radar/statues screen, there are no hard to understand sub-screens, everything is straight forward.

Story: 8/10

The story of this game is explained early on as you do your training missions via a young unnamed robot, until taking control of Optimus. They spread the out a bit over the Story Mode, and the Arena mode, so it’s hard to grasp a full picture of it at some points. That being said it does make sense, and it is fully explained what’s going on when via cut scenes between missions or arena rounds.

One of the nice things I’ve seen in this game is how all the pieces fit together, and why out of all the Autobots Optimus becomes Optimus Prime, Prime being his title. How, it can fit into the original continuity with things like The Ark mentioned, or certain Decepticons.

Sound: 8/10

It’s been said once, and it’ll be said again, the DS is not a boom box, still it’s got some nice background music for the an action adventure title. You’re not going to hear any soft classical music, or fun music, it’s designed to be dramatic, techno of dare I say it rock based.

The voice work is top notch here, and stunning to say the least. I figured they’d let Peter Cullen say a few words as Optimus Prime, and that’s it. There is multi-lines of voice work done by more than a few characters in the game. Some of the dialog is used for the story mode; other parts are exclusive to character selection. Every one of them doesn’t sound like a clone of Optimus Prime, they sound like completely different characters.

Multi-player : 5/10

The Nintendo DS version of Transformers War for Cybertron received the short end of the stick so to speak. The other versions are online, you can play against your friends, your enemies, who cares, just destroy the other guy or team. The biggest mark against this title as a multiplayer game is you can only play it locally against people who have this version of the game or the Decepticon version of it.

Mentioning Decepticons reminds me of a quirk in the game so to speak, you can actually unlock Decepticons for a handful of bonus single player missions, or it’s more likely they were meant to be unlocked so you could use them against your buddies in a multiplayer match that you set up. Odd thing is if you lose a Transformer during these multiplayer matches you can free them via a solo mission.

Replay : 8/10

This game does have some replay value, since you’ll want to up your characters in level for multiplayer play. There are hidden parts of the games, that can’t be found on the first play though, so it will take you time to actually play it to the 100%

FINAL CALL TIME!

Yes gaming fans, it’s FINAL CALL TIME, when we go thought the good, the bad, the ugly on this title, and I do my best to summarize things in a quick coherent manner for you as a reader. Now do you buy this game or not? The answer is . . . YES! It’s such a steal at $29, that the police may arrest you for it.

The game does have some weak points, such as a manual that is literally 4 pages long, which doesn’t explain some of the secondary ways to improve your characters in game, that aren’t explained via in game tutorials. The multiplayer isn’t the best in the world, and I am sad to say it’s bad in the end, and to top it off when compared to other versions of this game you’re getting a little over 60-70% of the version that none DS users are getting.

This game does have good sides as well. We have unlockable content that is exclusive to this game alone from characters to stat boosters. We have 2 ways to play the game solo without any help from your buddies. The raw value of this game can be felt economically since you’re paying $29 for 70% of the game than none DS users are paying more than double that price for the other 30%. The final detail work alone to watch a transformer transform before your eyes is worth the price of admittance alone.

Well gaming fans, that’s it, that’s all. Another title has had its story told, the good along with the ill, you need to judge it accordingly. This is a good solid action adventure title that I can see Transformer and none Transformer fans getting into, since with the exception of multiplayer it’s a solid game from top to bottom. This is your reviewer Hotshot81 saying, Till All Are One!

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