Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Review - "One shall stand, one shall fall"

By Sam Coles:

The Transformers franchise has been rather hit and miss when it comes to interactive media, with the horrid Famicom game, to the excellent game on the PS2 game based on the Armada series. Transformers Fall of Cybertron has to be one of the best games based on the license I have played in years, as the conflict in this game is not the classic black and white good vs evil, as both sides are trying to survive.

Transformers Fall of Cybertron takes place on the titular planet where the Autobots and the Decepticons are trying to flee the planet due their resources being depleted. Optimus Prime has devised a plan to escape on a ship called The Ark, but they need energon, Megatron has the same idea but does not want the Autobots alongside him. What I like about the plot of this is that it is not the standard good vs evil as both sides want the same thing they want to survive, plus it is great to play as both sides of the conflict and in the end it is down to you if you want side with Megatron or Optimus.

The gameplay is a third person shooter, as at the time of release Gears of War was extremely popular and many publishers and developers tried to replicate that game with mixed results. This game however gets it right with tight and responsive controls, coupled with excellent feedback as you cut down other transformers with a wide variety of weapons. Each weapon feels different and you can utilise them in different situations, these can range from your standard machine guns to my favourite Megatron’s arm cannon which can clear a crowd of Autobots.  You can upgrade each weapon by gaining experience points, but these are nothing special it’s the standard increase your accuracy, ammo clip size and damage, they will help in the later stages as the game throws everything it has at you, but the upgrades are uninspired.  

Presentation wise the game looks fantastic considering the game is nearly six years old, with an art style that mixes the look of the 80’s cartoon with the realistic look of the Michael Bay movies, it works really well. Explosions and gun fire looks fantastic, coupled with the excellent sound design with thunderous explosions and the terrifying chatter of machine gun fire. The soundtrack is worth noting too as it has some beautiful orchestra scores for dramatic tension and fast paced action. I did notice some graphical issues, as the textures had a problem loading in sometimes with the in-game cutscenes as some characters look very blurry. Performance was another problem as it does start to drop below its targeted frame rate of 30 fps; this tends to happen during really busy sections where everything is exploding.

Transformers Fall of Cybertron is a fantastic interpretation of the shape shifting robots in video game form; with a story that doesn’t follow the classic formula coupled tight and fun gunplay. You should pick this game up, it’s not as cheap as other 360 and PS3 titles for some reason, but I never see it above £10 so give it a go.