Transformers: War For Cybertron Review

By Jon Hamblin Published 24 June, 2010

It's on like Cybertron.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Despite Transformers' three-decade history dovetailing almost exactly with the rise of home gaming, it's been a constant source of frustration that Hasbro has only ever managed to commission one decent videogame - and Transformers: Armada was far more successful as a tech demo than an exercise in pushing your nostalgia buttons.

But then, like a mirage, came the first shots of War For Cybertron, a back-to-the-old-school prequel that looked like the sort of game Transfans had been hounding Hasbro to make for years. The shockwaves put the community on red alert, prowling constantly for new information - Decepticon and Autobot campaigns, design your own transformer, COD-style multiplayer - could this actually be good? They had the latest Unreal engine, Optimus Prime voice god Peter Cullen and all developers High Moon Studios (Darkwatch, The Bourne Conspiracy) thought they needed was a little Energon and a lot of luck. Maybe that list should have included a few fresh ideas, too.

Transformers was always a mongrel franchise; the original toy range was cherry-picked from a range of different Japanese toy lines, and so perhaps it's appropriate that War For Cybertron has strip-mined the gaming trends of the last few years. The bulk of the gameplay has come from Halo: two-tier rechargeable shields, a loadout of two weapons plus grenades, and more glowing purple décor than an irradiated New Age emporium. The rest is all Gears of War "OMG look over there!" explodo-porn.

'Transformers: War For Cybertron' Screenshot 1

Sadly, there's no moral message at the end of each level, delivered in sober tones by Optimus or Bumblebee.

Copying two rights doesn't necessarily make a wrong, it's just that shooting and gawping aside, there's not much more to it. We're firmly in a rinse-and-repeat cycle of corridor, room full of enemies, man turret, push button to open door - and these days, that's just not quite good enough. The robots lack a sense of weight and inertia too, and it's hard to shake the feeling that you're just controlling human soldiers who've overspent on their Halloween costumes. Although we do have to give props for the world's first "on snails" shooting section.

In fairness, High Moon has attempted some extra gameplay spice by giving the robotic warriors a range of Team Fortress-style character classes. Leaders (like Megatron and Optimus) are hulking tanks with group buffs, Scouts (like Bumblebee) are agile and able to disguise themselves, Scientists (like Ratchet) are medics, and Soldiers (like Starscream) are all-rounders. In practice, other than speed it doesn't really make a huge difference; with the exception of the Scientist's medi-rays, none of them have any particularly useful abilities or perks anyway.

The classes work much better in multiplayer co-op than they do in solo play, as the friendly AI is too flaky to be much use - especially when you're standing next to Ratchet with almost no energy screaming for a heal from the jug-horned fool while his Cybertronian ambulance rams against a wall repeatedly.

'Transformers: War For Cybertron' Screenshot 2

So, where exactly does all of the metal come from? From a global resource point of view, Cybertron is a massive paradox.

High Moon has also made some quite strange gameplay decisions. Take the recharging shield, which only recharges a miserly 25 per cent, rarely enough to get you out of danger. Brilliantly, checkpoint restarts only give you back the energy you had when you triggered them, so you can end up endlessly dying as you try to defeat a boss with only the quarter-full health bar you had when you first met him.

Similarly, thanks to a fiction-bending reliance on ammo for Transformers weaponry, you often end up in situations that just don't feel right. Watching Lord Megatron repeatedly suffering the indignity of being shot at by drones while he desperately scours the debris looking for an elusive ammo box to replenish his, er, fusion is just sad. Why not have the all-but-useless Energon you pick up from fallen enemies replenish your weapons instead? It's a case of transforming the concept to fit into a Gears-shaped hole, and it's sloppy thinking. And we haven't even mentioned the invisible enemies yet.

It's a shame that it gets these basics wrong, because sometimes, War For Cybertron is almost great. High Moon has nailed the transforming, no mean feat in itself, and jumping over a foe as a car before transforming and shooting them in the back is awesome - although you occasionally wish there was a Max Payne slow-mo option so you could appreciate the nuance of these feats a little more. The sections that are specially designed for vehicles (exploding highway chases for the cars, simple Starfox-style space-shooting for the jets) work well too, although they're few and far between, and most of the time the game's spaces feel too confined for vehicular modes.

The levels are long, with very little architectural repetition (other than the fact that everything's made of metal) and the two five-mission campaigns (one for each faction) have no content overlap, making it feel like an eight-hour game of two halves, rather than a four-hour game you have to play twice. The Decepticon campaign comes first, and it sees you kicking off the war that you'll later have to survive as an Autobot. It's an interesting idea, forcing you to instigate your own downfall, but the concept stays largely unexplored - sadly, War For Cybertron isn't big on dramatic irony.

It does have at least two good jokes though, and a few moments that will give fans geekgasms, so if you're the kind of person that goes from six to midnight when Soundwave produces a hollow Energon container from his chestplate, you'll be well served here. Lines from the 1986 movie are scattered sparingly throughout, and finally getting the chance to explore Cybertron is a thrill in itself.

'Transformers: War For Cybertron' Screenshot 3

Because, really, what you want from a game about giant robots from space which transform into cars and planes, is a level of believability.

From a fiction point of view, pretty much the only thing you can complain about is Ironhide not being a cowboy (especially odd as they'd already hired Peter Cullen for Optimus - surely they could have got one "leaking lubricant!" out of him?). It also seems a bit remiss to feature several Autobot and Decepti-creep combiners like Silverbolt, Air Raid and Brawl and not have them turning into huge gestalts - a Bruticus/Superion grudge match could have been epic.

The multiplayer comes with a handful of COD-style level perks and the ability to "design your own Transformer" (read: ability to choose the primary and secondary colours on a selection of pre-built bots), but it seems unlikely to challenge Bad Company 2 or Modern Warfare 2 for your fragging needs. The perks are too slight to be worth the effort, and as with the campaign, the character classes aren't quite different enough.

'Transformers: War For Cybertron' Screenshot 4

Believability and Megan Fox.

That said, using the Arcee frame is well worth the effort just to hear the screams of anguish as gamers are destroyed by what is, essentially, a weaponised Penelope Pitstop car. Particularly if you yell "HAY-ULP!" at the same time. The Escalation mode lets you play with a handful of exclusive characters but even shape-shifting robots can't hide the fact that it's Horde-in-disguise.

While it often hits the big-canvas sci-fi G-spot that Michael Bay has spent the last four years searching for, you're constantly aware of the gears of chore that rumble throughout this game. It's plodding and lacking in imagination, and it's mostly the great cut-scenes that will get you through. It's certainly not 'rip out your optics' bad - but Transformers: War For Cybertron hasn't got the touch either.

6 / 10

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About Jon Hamblin

Read more articles from Jon by visiting the Jon Hamblin archive page.

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Comments (84) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RandomRash #1 2 years ago

    hello everyone this is my first post but been a reader for years, good review, the multiplayer demo was ok but it seemed copy of other games like mw2, getting +125 for killing after death for instance, all multiplayer games are going the same way i feel

  • Haloboy #2 2 years ago

    Transformers. Semi-decent game in disguise.

  • coolbritannia #3 2 years ago

    Looks awesome, I'm buying it.

  • convercide #4 2 years ago

    "but Transformers: War For Cybertron hasn't got the touch either."

    Nice reference. :)

  • Sonic_D #5 2 years ago

    Man, why can't there be an awesome Transformers game.

  • Anthony_UK #6 2 years ago

    It's published by activison, and like Blur I think Acti must be pushing developers to go the whole COD route with leveling up etc....

    Anyway, this my be the first Eurogamer review I ignore, I loved the demo completely and I'm not even a Transformers fan. Some comments in the review did stick out for me, I can't say i've thought of gears of war once while playing and I found the sense of weight to be just right...

    /buying of the back of the demo

  • Hantheman #7 2 years ago

    @Anthony_UK

    I care not for Activision, but the idea of you claiming that experience for multiplayer kills is due to Activison forcing it is just ludicrous without any evidence. I'm sure COD wasn't the first to do it.

  • GundamJehutyKai #8 2 years ago

    I have to admit that I totally agree with this review!

    Having played the single player demo at the recent MCM expo and played the multiplayer demo on Xbox Live, I can say that all the hangups and concerns I had while playing it were all mentioned here.
    It's not that the game is bad from what I have experienced, it's just utterly forgettable.

  • Gandelin #9 2 years ago

    I don't really get why this review is so completely different from other leaders in the industry online, IGN, G4, 1UP all give it around 4/5 or 8/10... purely by numbers this review is an anomaly... so why believe Eurogamer over the rest?

  • NBAoz #10 2 years ago

    This is an 8/10 for me. Yes, It's similar to Gears of War, but not too much. The gameplay is solid and responsive. The graphics are pretty good, the frame rate is smooth for the most part and there are so many multiplayer options such as co-op and a mode similar to Horde. IMO, this is the best Transformers game since the Atari Transformers game on PS2 and well worth picking up. The only bad thing I can really say about this game is that there were a few times when i went to pick up health and it wouldn't let me even though my health bar was near empty.

  • mushroomyakuza #11 2 years ago

    Love the "got the touch" reference :)

  • MatMan562 #12 2 years ago

    well this review surprised me a lot, although admittedly I have only played the MP demo. I did however find said demo extremely fun. The highlight for me was driving as a car towards a player whilst shooting him with machine gun fire, then flipping to the left behind some cover, transforming to a robot and at the same time initiating camo, moving around the cover I then smacked the guy (who was still looking for the car the other side) with the melee attack. My favourite kill on any game so far. I think I will buy this game when the inevitable price drop occurs.

  • dangerousdano #13 2 years ago

    It appears this reviewer did a great job highlighting the games weaker points, but paid little (at best) attention to this games stronger points... This game must have some great mechanics or elements to get such strong reviews from other media (gamerankings is my reference), but this article seemed to have missed whatever they were?

    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 06:06

  • SClaw #14 2 years ago

    I don't get this review at all. It's the exact opposite of virtually every other review I've seen so far. Are you marking it down because it copies from other games? Fair enough... but that's what every game in the last five years has done. At this point I don't think new ideas exist anyway.

  • FreudianTrip #15 2 years ago

    The writer may just be reviewing this game as he did because it's what he thinks. I mean how dare he think numerically differently from other people. Who does this guy think he is?[reference] FRACKIN OPTIMUS PRIME?[/reference]

    Do like number 15s post though. New Ideas Do Not Exist. Thats totally deep man.

  • anomagnus #16 2 years ago

    Again, a high profile game comes out, and its reviews seem contrary to the trend of most other reviewers.

    If you look at metacritic, you can see a trend which doesn't match the Eurogamer review.

    On its own, an individual review is nearly worthless, but the real strength in aggregated scores is the abilty to see lots of different reviews.

    Why does eurogamer go against the curve so often?

    Yet one more review i don't trust from EG.

  • metalangel #17 2 years ago

    So do they turn into the proper 80s cars, the stupid Michael Bay cars, or something else?

  • Terrorvision #18 2 years ago

    I trust EG's scores more than other websites. If a game gets 8 or higher on EG, I am almost sure that I will like it. I can't say the same thing for other prominent websites. Also EG don't cut the score for the sake of giving low scores, they give 9's and 10s when it's due.

  • muscleblade #19 2 years ago

    I thouth the hour or so playtime ive had was very fun. The controls is the best ever for a TPS.

  • Geordiemp #20 2 years ago

    Jon Hamblin kept referring to "gears of Chore" in his article.

    Is it just because its a funny sound alike or does he have issues with Gears ?

  • LondonSquare82 #21 2 years ago

    I'm with Anthony_UK on this one where the "COD style MP" is concerned. While it works well in COD, it doesn't mean that every game with online has to have this system, and I for one would like to see developers with fresh ideas from the Activision teams rather than rehashing the COD multiplayer design.

  • Amblin #22 2 years ago

    I was supposed to buy this.....apparently the multiplayer was really good.....6/10? No way i'm wasting my sheckles on this.

  • Gearskin #23 2 years ago

    Holy Crap! BS review!

  • Darren #24 2 years ago

    Ha. HA!!! This is the game IGN gave 9.0 to?!?!? :?

    From the feedback I've been reading on the PC forums it sounds like the game is OK, better certainly than the dire Revenge of the Fallen from last year, but sadly compromised from being effectively a console port. It's framerate is capped at 30 fps, there's bare-bones graphics options and, as per-usual with Unreal Engine 3-based games, no native support for anti-aliasing (although it can be forced using the UT3 renaming trick on ATI graphics cards).

  • UKGN_Zoidberg #25 2 years ago

    @Sonic_D "Man, why can't there be an awesome Transformers game."

    Pick yourself up a PS2 and get Atari's Transformers game. That was brilliant!

  • clemenules #26 2 years ago

    6/10 seems spot on from my experience, it's all very very average. I stopped playing after the first mission/level and was retroactively shocked this got such glowing reviews at other outlets. Don't see anyone that has played one or two other decent shooters in the past getting a lot of enjoyment out of this, even if they are (or were, like me) a big Transformers fan. Makes you wonder what kind of acid other reviewers were on when they rated this 8+ (9 from IGN?!?!).

    I played the PC version btw: no customizable controls and it has that retarded reduced fov / claustro-tunnel-vision that's typical of most console ports. Also my 2 cts about the review: being harsh about copying, and then referencing to GoW? Like that was the hallmark of originality...

  • Gearskin #27 2 years ago

    I played half the Autobot campaign last nignt and it was a blast.
    Multiplayer is a blast.
    Escalation Mode, with the points sharing and item dispensers, is a blast.

    As a fan f G1 Transformers, this does an epic job channeling the feel of that original series whilst leaning toward the more complex designs of the recent films. It has fun dialogue, an entertaining story, it feels responsive, it feels tight and more than anything it feels like it was put together by people who love the source material.

    I don't care how many things it borrows from other games... it's borrowing from the best and does a damn fine job of it!

  • photoboy #28 2 years ago

    I 110% agree with this review, my copy arrived early yesterday and I've been playing it all night. The gameplay is extremely average and has quite a few flaws. Just like the review says, ammo is way too scarce, so you end up with situations where you have to dash out and melee enemies. I don't remember any embarrassing moments in the cartoon where Megatron has to say "Hang on, Prime. I just need to go and melee those ammo boxes".

    Next up, also like the review says, the health bar system is really annoying. Not only does it mean you restart checkpoints with no health, it also means after each section of combat you've got to go hunting around the environment looking for an energon cube. The beauty of the recharging health system that Halo pioneered was that you didn't have to spend ages hunting around for health items (like in older titles like Doom or Quake). It basically streamlined that bit of "dead air" from the game, but this game has brought it back and it really does feel surprisingly antiquated because of it.

    On the subject of energon, what the hell are all those little cubes that appear after an enemy dies for? They seem to have no use whatsoever as far as I can tell.

    I was surprised there was no cover system, as the trailers had Bumblebee using cover. Instead you just run around being shot from all directions, hoping you take everyone else out before your energon runs out. The gameplay is lacking finesse and style, it's just a messy free-for-all. It needed something like cover to give the combat some structure and pattern. Without that it's just chaos (and I'm one of the people who gets annoyed at all games being expected to have cover systems).

    The controls aren't great either. The highest sensitivity setting isn't very quick for my liking, and no matter what scheme you choose, critical controls like transform or melee end up mapped to clicking the analogue sticks, which I find awkward to use to say the least.

    This is a spoiler, but I think it's worth mentioning that for some bizarre reason, Optimus Prime and Megatron have no face-off in this game whatsoever. They never even meet up! I think that's a really bizarre oversight. I also don't understand why Frank Welker didn't do his original Megatron voice. They've gone for something that sounds like Megatron from Bayformers, which seems stupid to me.

    Now, it probably sounds like I hated the game, but I didn't. I'd say it's worth buying for the end credits alone. All I'll say about them are: Stan Bush!!!

    This game is like the Ghostbusters game, the gameplay isn't the greatest thing ever, but it's more than made up for by the chance to interact in a story with some of your favourite childhood characters. After several years of Michael Bay's reign of terror with films that I absolutely despise, it's fantastic to finally get something that is very close to Gen 1 Transformers. I hope we get a sequel covering the Autobots and Decepticons arrival on Earth (with a few gameplay tweaks and enhancements).
    Edited by 2 at 25/06/10 @ 09:07

  • Coughthulu #29 2 years ago

    I'm a bit confused as to how the only decent Transformers game he mentions is Armada, when Kristan gave Transformers by MH for the PS2 8/10. And it *was* a good game. Should probably have checked that first. ;)

    Anyway, this is quite fun in Coop. I'd say 7/10 so far, one chapter in.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 09:21

  • kentmonkey #30 2 years ago

    The Transformers game (Atari) on the PS2 gets a hefty +1 from me as well. It's still a fantastic game to play, with lots of nostalgia.

    It has its problems for sure; jumping on to anything more than 2cm's away is likely to end badly, but then these are all completely wiped from your memory as you drive up to a waterfall, launch yourself off the side, go 'wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha' as you transform in mid-air and start launching missiles at your enemies on the other side of the chasm, quickly transforming back into your vehicle form as you land and running the bastards over to finish them off. Great fun.

  • anomagnus #31 2 years ago

    @photoboy

    the reason frank welker didnt do megatron is that he is no longer physically capable of doing the voice anymore. He cant get the pitch right as he has aged.

    You might want to cut the guy some slack in your rush to tear the game apart.

  • metalangel #32 2 years ago

    @frod: Ah, they turn into the cool futuristic vehicles from the first episode? Okay, thanks for letting me know :)

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #33 2 years ago

    To be clear, the Armada game Jon mentions here IS the Melborne House one. I believe its original title was "Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon" but it was later shotened simply to "Transformers".

  • Coughthulu #34 2 years ago

    @Oli:

    Ah, ok. I'm still confused as to why that 'was far more successful as a tech demo than an exercise in pushing your nostalgia buttons'.

    Pushed mine, they got pretty much everything right as kentmonkey points out!
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 09:54

  • photoboy #35 2 years ago

    @
    @fröd

    Prime and Megatron had a fight in the cartoon every week. Why couldn't they do that here? It doesn't need to be anti-climatic unless they're not very imaginative as developers.

    @anomagnus

    I said the game was worth buying, even though it has some flaws, I hardly ripped it apart.

    I didn't know Welker couldn't do the voice any more, where did you read that? He was able to do the voice for the first Bayformers game. I'm not surprised he finds it hard to do though, it always sounds incredibly harsh on his throat.

  • phatb0y #36 2 years ago

    More an 8 than a 6 for me. This game is no more guilty of the usual crimes that most shooters are guilty of. It just doesn't have the benefit of a credible license behind it.

    Well worth a purchase. Especially for multiplayer.

  • simplerotation #37 2 years ago

    I'm really enjoying this game, and it's more of an 8 than a 6 for me, I was totally surprised by that score, yes I have had a couple of slightly annoying moments where I've run out of Ammo and the odd "wtf" moment when restarting checkpoints, but overall the sheer spectacle and the amount of fun I had when playing it as I felt so immersed in the Transformers universe, the gameplay is decent enough to make it worthwhile for that alone.

    Eurogamer needs to look at normalising it's review scores, and having some form of self check that says "is this really better than this?" because I really don't believe Singularity is an 8 if Transformers is a 6, yes they're not directly comparable, but a fairer score would have evened them both out around a 7 imo.

  • Haloboy #38 2 years ago

    I just watched the Autobot ending on youtube and my 20+ year passion for Transformers just shifted to an entire new level.

    Ok screw it, I'm buying this game today.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 10:36

  • BlitzwingHaz #39 2 years ago

    I've only played the demo, but I feel the reviewer was being as bit harsh on the game. Even from the demo I can tell that the different classes play quite differently. I'm not a big shooter fan but do shoting games get marked down for not having ciover systems now? I reckon it would have possibly overcomplicated the game a bit.
    And who cares about Megatron having to reload, its such a minor niggle.
    As a Transformers fan I wish it wasn't just a shooter right enough, seems every game right now is a shooting game.

  • jhs8swd #40 2 years ago

    "shockwaves put the community on red alert, prowling constantly for new information "

    groan!

  • Haloboy #41 2 years ago

    Grimlock sad. Me no in good Transformers game. Grimlock get MAAAAD!!!!

  • muscleblade #42 2 years ago

    @Darren

    Well. The gameplay is good so none of the things you mention matter much anyway.

  • kentmonkey #43 2 years ago

    Why has the comment (by Pgerrs or something like that) about Jon Hamblin being a developer and games reviewer and that being a conflict of interest been removed?
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 11:01

  • zisssou #44 2 years ago

    Seems pretty harsh for a game which is actually pretty well made. I was actually surprised how good it was when considering I had no idea this game was being released. The controls are a major plus.

  • sagat #45 2 years ago

    Cybotron is made from a giant robot, hence all the metal.

    It was all explained in Legacy of Unicron.

  • darkmorgado #46 2 years ago

    looked like the sort of game Transfans had been hounding Hasbro to make for years.

    Transfans? Sounds like a sexual fetish!

    On another note, is it me or are ALL Activision games now obsessed with perks and levelling up in multiplayer? Can't developers come up with something new?

  • lucifonz #47 2 years ago

    Seems the reviewer is pretty down on the fact the game borrows elements from other titles, borrow from the best I say!

  • fongy #48 2 years ago

    Got to say, the review is spot on...
    My main niggles with the demo in particular is this leaning towards COD stats and points system (again, similar to Blur) and for some games (like COD) it works brilliantly, but just transposing that onto other styles of games and games where other things could be added - feels sloppy and lacking in originality...
    My next main niggle is the now totally underwhelming and very tired unreal engine 3... it genuinely feels like play an excellent PS2 / Xbox game - but next gen it is not...
    Aaaaaand finally... the Gears comparison is totally justified, bar the excellent cover system Gears has - this is a (let's face it) the same engine skinned differently with the same lumbering action...
    For me it gets 1 or 2 points higher because of the source material (hell, who doesn't love Transformers)...
    I'd also like to have seen classic skins in there from the cartoons - these new robots all look a bit generic to me - certainly in multiplayer they did...
    :o/

  • Freek #49 2 years ago

    A review is one persons opinion, backed up be arguments and examples to explain why he or she feels that way. There shoulden't be a trend where all sites score the same way, that doesn't make any sense. And it doesn't happen.

    That's why Meta Critic fails, it just shows you a score. By itself that's meaningless. An avarage game on EG might score a 6 or 5, where as an avarage game on IGN might score a 7 or 8.
    Both scores are valid if you know how they got to that point. But there is no one universal scoring system that all sites and magazines adhere to.

  • Deckard1 #50 2 years ago

    wow its not like eurogamer to give a much harsher review than every other website on the internet?!? Colour me surprised.

  • Zerobob #51 2 years ago

    FFS, did nobody hire Stan Bush for the soundtrack for this game?!

    But as stupid as that sounds, I don't think I'm far from the 'G-spot' mentioned in the article.

    How hard can it be to watch the old Transformers cartoons, write down the storylines, even record the sound effects and dialogue directly from the cartoons, and make this into a game? No slightly different take on proceedings. No jazzed up Autobots / Decepticons. Just a straight port of the old cartoon, or just the cartoon movie, made into a game. The same cutscenes. The same feel to textures and landscapes. This is what I want. This is probably what a lot of people want. In fact, Michael Bay could take this approach and use it to make the next movie successful.

    Just somebody bloody do it and give the Transformers franchise the game it deserves. It's such a great, solid concept which seems to somehow fail every time these days.

  • telboy007 #52 2 years ago

    Looks like we'll be instruments of destruction, doomed to foul play if we buy this game.

    I'll get me coat.

  • Feanor #53 2 years ago

    Warning to Mr. Hamblin - The IGN reviewer who gave this 90% will almost certainly be blasting you and your review on his Rebel FM podcast in the near future.

  • darkmorgado #54 2 years ago

    @Feanor

    Are IGN really so butthurt over their loss of credibility now that they have resorted to throwing tantrums on podcasts?

    Oh dear.

  • tezforrest #55 2 years ago

    The game is awesome way better the first two even the multiplayer is fun I think eg got it wrong this time around

  • hein_van_b #56 2 years ago

    I totaly disagree with this review.
    Its complete bs.

    I really enjoyed the singleplayer and it was spot on.
    The multiplayer will go on and on for a long time.

    No Eurogamer for me anymore...
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 15:17

  • BarnesyM #57 2 years ago

    Just registered specifically to say that this review it nothing like the game I'm playing. The single player is great and filled with nostalgia and the Multiplayer is awesome. Pretty dire review to be honest, I'm scrapping EG off the go to list for accurate reviews!

  • Godz_Mercenary #58 2 years ago

    Have to say I loved this game. The ammo issue really annoyed me sometimes but playing as Optimous Prime through a bleak environment and getting set upon by countless big robots never got old for me. And the fact that when I completed it I could then move on to being bad playing Megatron. First game I actually want to replay for a long time. and I am replaying it now.

    EDIT And Soundwave's voice is amazing! As soon as I heard it again so many memories were bought back from my childhood.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/10 @ 16:10

  • TheJuriel #59 2 years ago

    I would get excited about a Transformers game, but... I want it set on Earth, not on a metal planet, amongst other metal beings.

  • FenderMaster #60 2 years ago

    I really want to hear opinions from people who've played this and the excellent 2004 Melbourne House game, if this is even 3/4 as good, then I'm sold!

  • telboy007 #61 2 years ago

    Who let the IGN crowd in?

  • Feanor #62 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado.

    Rebel FM is the IGN reviewer's personal podcast, and he's been casting aspersions on (mainly European) sites that give review scores he doesn't agree with since well before he worked for IGN.

  • GooseUK #63 2 years ago

    Transformers game in outrageous 6/10 shocker.

  • hein_van_b #64 2 years ago

    And they give LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (X360) a 9 .... serieus?

  • Godz_Mercenary #65 2 years ago

    For anyone with any doubt about this game answer this...Did you love the original 80's Transformers? If so then realise this game is a love letter to those people. After completing it it has now left me wanting to catch up on Transformers lore. I played the other two games as well based on the films and not once did those two make me want to care about the Transformers universe. This game has made me want to get into it all again.

  • cupcakers #66 2 years ago

    Hamblin is WRONG! This is an awesome game and Tom- the reviews editor should have ordered a re-do. Jon... you are WRONG WRONG WRONG.

  • kentmonkey #67 2 years ago

    Yeah Tom, order a re-do...what is a re-do?

  • FiOth #68 2 years ago

    EG has shoveled many good games in the past and this is no exception. Maybe pointing out the worst possible aspects of a game while overusing "humor" seems cool to the reviewers of this site, I don't know. I remember a stellar title called MGS4:GoTP getting an 8, the first Halo getting an 8, RE5 getting a 7 etc. Surely, something must be amiss here since those games were all great in their own regard.

    Maybe they want to look very austere and prove that their standards are high or whatever. Most of the time its just "being harsh for the sake of it". I propose not to pay much heed to this review.

  • kingcole225 #69 2 years ago

    Wow I have to say this review is so off. I own the game and none of the negatives are true besides the graphics complaints (which are over-exaggerated).

    "The bulk of the gameplay has come from Halo: two-tier rechargeable shields, a loadout of two weapons plus grenades, and more glowing purple décor than an irradiated New Age emporium. The rest is all Gears of War "OMG look over there!" explodo-porn."

    Wow I cannot express fully how wrong this is. First of all Transformers doesn't even have rechargeable shields, they use health as stated further down the 1st page. Yes you do start out with two weapons and a single grenade but this is true in most games simply because it works, would you be happier if they possibly added some kind of original mechanic that added a third weapon EG? Oh wait you forgot about your vehicle weapon.... Whoops. Also Transformer has two customizable abilities that are completely original. Gears of War has nothing to do with Transformers besides the fact it is a 3rd person shooter, so the fact that the reviewer calls them similar makes me believe that he is against the idea of a 3rd person shooter and was biased to begin with.

    "Leaders (like Megatron and Optimus) are hulking tanks with group buffs, Scouts (like Bumblebee) are agile and able to disguise themselves, Scientists (like Ratchet) are medics, and Soldiers (like Starscream) are all-rounders. In practice, other than speed it doesn't really make a huge difference; with the exception of the Scientist's medi-rays, none of them have any particularly useful abilities or perks anyway."

    Okay this is 100% false. The characters are so different from each other I have trouble switching between them and staying relatively consistent with my kill-death ratio. Not only can each class be played multiple ways (Ex: Scientists can be Medics, Support, or a Sneaky tactician) but the abilities and perks are game changing. These class summaries are completely wrong as each class can be used in a multitude of ways. Another class defining feature is health which ranges from 3 bars to 6 bars depending on your characters class. This forces you to change tactics throughout gameplay.

    "The classes work much better in multiplayer co-op than they do in solo play, as the friendly AI is too flaky to be much use - especially when you're standing next to Ratchet with almost no energy screaming for a heal from the jug-horned fool while his Cybertronian ambulance rams against a wall repeatedly."

    I find this funny because not only are there no classes in co-op but the AI is not even close to being that bad. Of course a medic AI will not heal you every time you lose life because that would make energon cubes (life) useless and would make the game so boring, instead you have to lose a decent amount of life in order to be healed. All in all I feel like this was possibly the most biased and worst review I have ever seen in my entire life. So much so that I felt I had to register an account just so I could explain to others that this game is actually very very good and should be considered the Batman Arkham Asylum of Transformers.

  • clemenules #70 2 years ago

    @ all the complainers: it's just an opinion! of a computer game! Try not to be offended by someone that has a different opinion about what is most likely one of the most useless and unproductive ways to spend your time! (even if it can be a fun way to spend your time).

    Also, don't go mistaking 'being critical because that's what a review is for' with 'being harsh for the sake of it'. Those are two very different things. Just because Tango & Cash is your best movie ever because it's the only one you've ever seen, doesn't mean that it's not going to be crap to someone that has also seen 48 Hours (in a buddymovie-computergame-analogy-kind-of-way).

  • FiOth #71 2 years ago

    @clemenules

    You are a troll and by your writings - Try not to be offended by someone that has a different opinion about what is most likely one of the most useless and unproductive ways to spend your time! - you are not even a gamer. So I will not feed you. The only thing I have to comment on your otherwise totally useless post is that you CANNOT know what someone has watched, played, listened to or done. Don't try to play "mature and wise guy" here, the net is FULL of anonymous, dysfunctional chaps like yourself who obviously have nothing better to do.

  • clemenules #72 2 years ago

    @FiOth

    Lighten up dude, don't get a heart attack! If I had known that not thinking gaming is a very serious way to spend your time dis-classifies someone as being a gamer, I would have totally not posted here. My bad for thinking games were primarily a way to procrastinate and wind down a little. Or have fun with friends. Or whatever.

    And I sincerely apologize (really, I do) if I came across as trying to be "mature and wise" - just trying to point out that different people will have different experiences and as a result of that different perspectives. And I think EG does a better job than most in catering to people that have utilized a wide range of leisure software (see how I'm avoiding "play" and "games" so as not to further antagonize you) over the course of at least a few years.

    Anyhoo, in the future I'll try to be less dysfunctional and agree with you more. Friends?

  • FiOth #73 2 years ago

    @clemenules

    Sure, tacos are on me.

  • mrboshingles #74 2 years ago

    It seems the developers didn't dare to be stupid.......


    /Coat

  • Enigmax #75 2 years ago

    This game is much better than the review says it is. Sure, there are a few things that could've done a bit better... but overall it's an entertaining game. The single player is a blast, the multiplayer is hectic and fun. The classes are quite different compared to many other FPS games with classes.

    Would only wish that I could change the key settings on my PC version. It's no huge problem, though I'm used to a certain setup from the other FPS games I play.

  • Seabeast #76 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 21:25:13 19-12-2011

  • BlitzwingHaz #77 2 years ago

    I just went to Gamespot and they gave the game 6.5. People have been complaining a lot about that over there too.
    I reckon this review (EG's) just focussed too much on particular things the game doesn't have that the reviewer wanted and didn't fully look at the gameplay potential in the classes and abilities. Even if other games have done it before, we haven't neccessarily played or grown tired of all those games.
    I still find the reviews here well written and entertaining, even if they maybe have flaws.
    Edited by 2 at 27/06/10 @ 23:50

  • technotica #78 2 years ago

    You know after playing this game I can't help but wonder when we will see a Transformers MMORPG :)
    Edited by 1 at 28/06/10 @ 09:58

  • Redeye #79 2 years ago

    Technotica: As soon as Acti work out a suitable way to separate more Transformers fans from their money on a regular basis.

    OT: Overly-harsh review, I thought, which focused far too much on nod-and-a-wink gags and putting the boot in, rather than providing a balanced perspective of what was right as well as what was wrong. Not to mention pointing out the obvious...it's the start of a new franchise for Acti, so they're not going to throw in the kitchen sink from the off, are they? You can bet dollars to doughnuts that combiners will make an appearance in the sequel, and as for a Megs/Prime face-off, the war has only just started...

  • DeusX #80 2 years ago

    I'm actually incredibly surprised at how uninformed this review is. You've forgotten completely about the constant in-game dialogue which enriches the campaign experience. You also completely omitted Escalation mode, which is a much better version of horde mode in that it requires strategy and MORE team play than Gears 2's Horde mode. And you also mentioned that the MP classes aren't really that different from each other? Hello? did you play the online? Each class is very different from each other. If I were to go on explaining the differences, I'd write up a review of my own. But just to get my point across, it's VERY different when a scout cloaks and uses a passive ability that raises damage after emerging from cloak, and a soldier uses a whirlwind attack for crowd control, both techniques being available ONLY to their respective classes. Not to mention health bar differences which I think is the first and foremost main difference between each class. And this site gave Halo 3 a 10? You'd give WFC low scores for repetitive gameplay but Halo 3 gets full marks for doing absolutely nothing different from the second game? Are you guys serious?? Just how much were you paid to shit-talk this game?

    Thankfully, there are a few others here that think similarly. There is just way too much left out of this review and way too much flat-out false information to take this seriously. It really feels as though the reviewer heard about this game from friends and wrote a review based on hearsay. Or as I mention above, accepted a fat wad of cash and bullshitted a bad review. whatever the case, I'm not coming back to this site for reviewing purposes. I created an account specifically to voice this opinion.

    goodbye.
    Edited by 1 at 29/06/10 @ 16:02

  • Yodzilla #81 2 years ago

    Game has some issues but it's overall pretty good and fans will certainly eat it up.

  • Haloboy #82 2 years ago

    [link url=http://forums.steampowered.com/forum s/showthread.php?p=15705101#post15705101
    ]http://fo rums.steampowered.com/forums/sh...[/link]

    And that's why we love PC gaming chaps!

  • scieh #83 2 years ago

    -----------"A review is one persons opinion, backed up be arguments and examples to explain why he or she feels that way. There shoulden't be a trend where all sites score the same way, that doesn't make any sense. And it doesn't happen.

    That's why Meta Critic fails, it just shows you a score. By itself that's meaningless. An avarage game on EG might score a 6 or 5, where as an avarage game on IGN might score a 7 or 8.
    Both scores are valid if you know how they got to that point. But there is no one universal scoring system that all sites and magazines adhere to."--------------- 'Freek'

    I completly agree with Freek on this. Spot on.

  • governmentyard #84 4 months ago

    Bewildering review in many ways, I picked this up today and am utterly in love with it, the robots feel spot-on. Hard mode is pleasantly challenging too.