Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a great title with alot of the same from the original but lacks a little “spark” the previous title “War for Cybertron” had so let’s transform and roll out as we take a look at the latest title in this highly anticipated sequel. As usual, we continue to stride to avoid as many spoilers as possible.

Fall of Cybertron immediately follows the the events of the wildly popular and successful title from 2010 Transformers: War for Cybertron as the Autobots and Decepticons wage war with one another in the final epic battle for supremacy of their home planet. We begin with the final stand of the Autobots vs the Decepticons as they prep for their final jump to our solar system. After some gun play and tutorials, we see the story take a step backwards by 6 earth days and thus begins our journey.

The graphics engine stayed EXACTLY the same as the previous game which disappointed me as it’s age really shows during the cut scenes. That’s not to say the game looks bad, just a little dated.

The game play is by and large still fully intact from War for Cybertron. We still have the 3rd person perspective, and all the base control schemes stay the same as they did very little to tweak or fart around with the original. Hey if it’s not broken don’t fix it right? Excellent. Some minor tweaks to the gameplay include purchasing weapon upgrades and perks through upgrade stations using points earned by dispatching your enemies. Further to the upgrades and perks, you will come across weapon loadout stations which allow you to purchase new weapons.

True to the previous instalment, FoC put the gamer in control of a variety of popular characters from the series across the 13 chapters. Every character feels and plays differently as they lead you through the story to the epic conclusion (my personal faves included Jazz, Megatron and Grimlock). One thing to note was that a few of the characters felt insanely over powered for his levels. An absolute cakewalk for me on Normal. I had no sense if urgency using these characters which can be both a blessing and a curse at the same time.

One of the things that really stood out to me while playing through Fall of Cybertron was that, despite the feel of urgency that many of the levels had, I never once felt that I was under the gun for time or overly stressed out because the gunfire was getting to be too much. See, the problem, was that I honestly felt like I had far too much time to breathe in between battles. It was almost as if the moments of balls to the walls action were far shorter than the moments of story telling…which in turn resulted into a slightly stunted campaign experience of approximately 9hours from start to finish.

***Edit*** In my haste, I somehow missed the Multiplayer portion of the review when I copied it over.

Keep with the theme of “if it aint broke don’t fix it” High Moon has opted to keep much of what everyone liked about the multiplayer with a few tweaks. The classes have been renamed as  Infiltrator, Destroyer, Titan, and Scientist. In FoC, the player can add their own personal touch by picking and choosing the various body parts  Head, Chest (the chest also determines your vehicle) Shoulders, Arms, Legs, Wheels, Tank Barrel, Wings, and Decals to create their own unique machine.

With 10 levels at launch the team Death Match and free for all modes are fast, frantic action chock full of chaos. Cooperative Escalation mode(my personal favorite) is back and just as fun as it was 2years ago. I spent a fair amount of time playing multiplayer when War for Cybertron hit and just abruptly stopped for some odd reason. Fall of Cybertron is everything I liked 2yrs ago. I don’t know why I even stopped playing it. I suspect this title is going to be in my system for a good long while.

High Moon Studios and Activision had a bona fide hit with this series. They told a great story, and keept to the basics without mucking around too much with the recipe that made War for Cybertron so special. Despite the few missteps this time around but that hardly made this a bad game.

Pros:

  • Great Story recounts the final days of Cybertron
  • The base recipe of War for Cybertron remains intact
  • Added RPG element with weapons upgrades and perks
  • 10 well designed multiplayer maps and escalation mode.

Cons:

  • Some characters felt over-powered
  • Campaign felt short

Feed Your Console gives Transformers: Fall of Cybertron 8 out of 10