Just recently, I had the chance — same as everyone, in fact — to go on the Xbox 360 Marketplace and download the demo to the upcoming title Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The demo, clocking in at about 2GB, is fairly hefty.
Now, I’m excited for this title, as a lot of people are — both Transformers fans and non-fans alike. The question is, though, is it any good? Is it looking any better than the previous title, Transformers: War for Cyberton? Well, you’ll just have to find out by reading more now wont’ you?
The demo is both single-player, and multiplayer and includes two separate campaign missions, one for the Autobots — where you play as Bumblebee — and another for the Decepticons, where you play as Vortex. Each campaign mission is quite thrilling, and feels overall like a real improvement over the previous installment.
A Quick Primer on Transformers: War for Cybtertron
I’ve always been a fan of Transformers: War for Cybertron’s multiplayer gameplay. It has all kinds of great things that an online game should have theoretically: great competitive modes (like a traditional Team Deathmatch playlist) and an exceptionally diverse objective-style gameplay modes similar to most other “shooters”. What made WFC a cut above others, though, was the deep variety of refreshingly gameplay that it managed to bring to the table. Being able to transform into a vehicle and then back into a robot in the midst of a finely-crafted competitive third-person shooter just felt oh-so right. In fact, after playing the game for many hours, I ended up switching it up and playing another shooter, and I found myself getting depressed that I could no longer turn into a tank and blow the faces off of the noobs while I was fighting.
Some Good Ol’ War for Cybertron Online Action
The game has all the different elements from other quality shooters incorporated, such as killstreak bonuses, unlockable character abilities, and much, much more. It also has an amazing online cooperative game called “Escalation”, which plays similar to the Horde mode in Gears of War. You and three friends must defend a position as long as you can against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. It also has other elements similar to the “Zombies” mode in the popular Call of Duty franchise, as you get kills and assists, and can get what are known as “Energon chips”, which can be used to purchase better weapons, grenades, and other helpfully violent things. All in all, it’s a phenomenal online experience.
The Skinny on the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Demo
Okay, now onto to what this article is actually about, the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron demo. I got to play the demo over the week and played it profusely. I literally spent every free moment I had running across the battlefield, sucking the eternal XP force from every robot carcass I could lay into the ground. Is that really enough, though? Does it feel new enough to make me want to get all excited and ultimately pay $60 for it? To be honest, the answer to this question is both yes and no…
What I Liked:
The game looks and feels great. Each Transformer is well-designed, the motion-blur effects are a nice touch, and the colors really “pop” off the screen this time around. It also sounds pretty great, especially since each sound effect has been either altered or redesigned — some of them even beyond recognition. The sound effects themselves are also great, as is the voice acting as well. The best part about the sound aspect of this game, though, is the music — and oh what amazing music it is!
Come At Me Bro!
What I Didn’t Particular Care For:
I really liked this demo, don’t get me wrong, but there were some things I really disliked as well as some things I just downright hated. I will try to keep this brief and not rant, but one thing I disliked greatly — actually, nay, hated – was the framerate. Now, I know the framerate of the full game will likely run just fine, but man, sometimes the FPS just dropped to what amounted to pure crap. Just don’t go flying through the map as a jet and expect a smooth ride, because it’s just not going to happen. Another thing that I disliked was the lack of double-jump. I realize there is a logical reason for High Moon Studios getting rid of it as a gameplay mechanic, but I have yet to think of the actual reason yet. I enjoyed it very much when I could just traverse a vertical level with relative ease in War for Cybertron utilizing the double-jump. But, no, sorry — not anymore. High Moon Studios has declared no more soup double-jump for you!
Lastly, I wasn’t too big of a fan of the things involving character customization in this sequel. I will admit, it’s very good and actually a step or so above War for Cybertron in most ways. However, in WFC, while you had pretty limited options, they were still really good options — especially when it came to color customization. As for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron? Nope, sorry. No dice. When you want to pick a color you actually have to pick a preset pair of colors, which would be perfectly fine if every single one of them wasn’t butt-ugly. You can’t even make an Optimus Prime Autobot! I mean, that’s a travesty!
Sure, you have the parts to technically do so, but without a red with blue color combo, it’s just impossible. This, at least when it comes to the logistics of life, makes absolutely zero sense. Why would you take a step backwards from your previous game like that? It boggles my mind!
The Verdict
All in all, this was a really great demo. It has some bad moments, but overall they’re more than outweighed by the good ones. I hope the particular things that I didn’t like will be sorted out by High Moon Studios before the games actual release, but if not, I’ll just have to learn to live with it, because this demo was definitely good enough to make me crave the full Transformers: Fall of Cybertron game even more.
This is Tony D, aka the BoneShackles, signing off!
Tony Dupre is an avid gamer and longtime geek. He started his adventure in online journalism when he hosted his short but sweet online radio shot, The CartoonManX Show. He then moved on to create a website and blog of his own, which he likes to work on and develop in his spare time. He also is a musical artist of Electronic Dance Music under the stage name Dancing Ducard.
