We all know how it ends, how the Autobots and Decepticons came to our planet. Differences in the origin stories between the plethora of media still never really showed what actually happened, in detail, in the final hours of Cybertron. With a great job on War for Cybertron and an unfortunate trip into movie tie-in land with Dark of the Moon, High Moon Studios is back to show us all just how the Fall of Cybertron went down.
Clearly, some of the ideas from the movie tie-in game, Dark of the Moon, rubbed off in the early talks of the development process of Fall of Cybertron. Very cinematic opening to the game that doubles as a tutorial level is a great way to set the tone of things to come as well as getting gamers acclimated with the general controls. Though if you played War for Cybertron, you will instantly feel at home with the controls since they’re mostly the same.
As soon as the tutorial level ends, we are whisked away to 6 days prior to the events that just occurred. Instantly you can tell that the level designs are more open and spacious. The claustrophobic feeling of War for Cybertron is gone and replacing that feeling is now a feeling of size. Seeing the action going on in the horizon as you make your way through the battle field is great to look at. Very little pop-in textures that are known to happen using the Unreal engine when installed but it consistently happens when running off the game disc. Having a more diverse use of colors in the environment as well as on the Transformers themselves makes everything feel more alive than they was in War for Cybertron
Speaking of alive, the Transformers seem to have more humanity in their character traits. Throughout the whole game, I never felt like I was controlling mindless automatons. Instead, I was leading brave soldiers into a battle for their survival against a mad man hell bent on destroying everything and everyone in his path. It’s too bad that most of the voices are done by Nolan North, Steve Blum and Troy Baker. It felt like a contest of who could have his voice used the most in each character throughout the game. It really started to grate on my nerves near the end.
High Moon Studios decided give gamers a wider selection of Autobots and Decepticons to use in the campaign. Co-op had to be removed in order to pull this off, but most of us won’t miss it in the slightest since there are plenty of other ways to get in on some metal on metal action with the multiplayer and wave-based survival modes. The unique levels that catered to each Transformers’ special ability was a nice way to make each character have enough difference that things didn’t become too repetitive. Optimus Prime controlling Metroplex saddened me in a big way though. I wanted more control over the city-sized machine instead of painting the target with Optimus Prime and having Metroplex automatically do his A.I. scripted business. What could have been a better idea would be having Optimus riding on the shoulder of Metroplex controlling his every move. Controlling such a massive metal beast should be more of a jaw-dropping experience, not a special ability.
Cliffjumper’s stealth missions were a big surprise to me in how much fun I had since I am not a fan of how most games implement stealth. Simple in design, I couldn’t help but shout with glee when stomping the hell out of those Decepticon foot soldiers coming out of stealth. For all the hype that was built up around it, playing the Grimlock level was frustrating. From the slow movement to the attack moves feeling cumbersome and missing the mark a lot, I couldn’t wait for me to be done controlling him. At least High Moon Studios got it right with Bruticus, the final form when all five Combaticons merge together. I felt like such a menace to the Autobots. Using my helicopter blades as a shield then slamming my fist down to send a shockwave that destroyed everything within a radius of the blast was a great feeling. That’s the way I wanted Grimlock to play instead of being regulated to using a sword and shield like some poor man’s hack ‘n’ slash game.
It felt like the best parts of Fall of Cybertron were too short and the most frustrating parts were too long. I understand playing as Cliffjumper that he is fragile and is made to move consistently but Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons, although Starscream does take that role temporarily. He should be almost unstoppable yet there is a section of the game that makes you feel powerless with Megatron. That should never, ever happen when playing someone as powerful as Megatron. When I have to restart more than three times in that section of doom, it made Megatron fell more like a Megachump.
The climatic finish to the campaign was well paced and executed. Switching back and forth quickly during the final battle aboard the ‘Ark’ made me feel like this was a life or death battle. Throwing the Autobot/Decepticon symbol on the corner of the screen every time you switched sides was a nostalgic touch to those of us who watch the original cartoon. The choice you have to make in the final scene seems wasted since the outcome is the same. It would have been better to continue the swapping of sides instead of forcing players to make a choice that doesn’t mean much.
Once you devour the six hour campaign, you can look towards multiplayer and the wave-based survival mode, Escalation, to continue the robo wars. The biggest thing that has been added is customization of your own Transformer. Of course, you have to use set parts but at least it feels like when I make my Transformer, it stands out enough to make me feel proud of my new metallic friend.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a great tale of what actually happened in the final days of Cybertron. Saddled with some poor frame rates during the heavy action scenes, pacing issues with some of the levels, and some audio sync issues with the PS3 version of the game, High Moon Studios managed to still engage me enough to enjoy my time with Fall of Cybertron. Let’s hope that we see a lot more in the following Transformer games that don’t just tweak the formula, they reinvent it.