Transformers: War for Cybertron (TWFC) is quite possibly one of my favorite games of all time. I’m just going to put that out there right now. I will try my best to avoid bias, and give the game an objective analysis, but seriously, I love this game.
TWFC was an odd entry in the Transformers canon, as it was completely free of the wretched taint of the Michael Bay movies. This game takes place on the Transformer’s home planet of Cybertron, acting as a prequel of sorts before the original cartoon (or the awful movies, if you prefer). The story is simple (as it should be). Megatron and the Decepticons are trying to take over Cybertron, and Optimus Prime and the Autobots are trying to stop him. Doesn’t really need to get any more complicated than that.
The way the game tells this story, however, is very different from how most games might approach it. The game is split up into two halves, each half containing 5 chapters. In the first half, you actually play the “bad guys.” Taking on the role of Megatron and other Decepticons, you see how Megatron takes control of Cybertron. Naturally, the second half of the game lets you take control of the Autobots, attempting to stop Megatron (essentially trying to undo everything you did in the previous chapters).
I absolutely loved this take. Most games would have probably just focused on the “good guys,” much like the more recent Transformers: Devastation. But the fine folks at High Moon Studios recognized what a beloved property they were working with, and they understood that players would want to play as the Decepticons just as much as the Autobots. On a personal note, I truly appreciated this, because my favorite Transformer has always been Soundwave (sadly you can’t transform into a Walkman while playing as him, because the game needs to follow its rules, but I still loved playing as him). Variety and choice are always appreciated in games, and in this case, I would have insisted on it.
Speaking of choice, the game is full of it. TWFC allows the player a lot of leeway in who they want to play as and in what way they want to play. In fact, it’s possible to skip the Decepticon portion of the campaign, and just jump straight into the Autobot’s story. As for the individual chapters in the game, you’re given more choices. At the start of each chapter, you’re given three different Transformers to choose from. Each Transformer has his own unique abilities (some can cloak, some can buff themselves and others, some are healers, some have more powerful assault type moves, etcetera) and guns (rifles, machine guns, shot guns, snipers, grenade launchers, and so on). While guns can be found and swapped out while in the field, abilities cannot, so choosing a character based on that is rather important.
I will mention that the two characters that you don’t choose will join you as A.I. controlled partners. As one might suspect, these A.I. partners handle themselves well enough, but don’t expect miracles out of them. They can also sometimes get in the way. They have collisions on them, so, sometimes they’ll bump into you. It’s a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.
And of course, being a Transformers game, choosing your character will also determine what type of vehicle you can transform into. Most chapters are ground based and will usually have a choice between cars, trucks, and tanks (there are also jets in the game, but jets can break most levels [since they can fly], so they are restricted to a couple of special [and incredibly fun] chapters).
The transforming factor, unsurprisingly, is what really sells this game. If it didn’t have that, it would still be a solid third-person shooter. But with the added bonus of being able to turn into a fast little car, a powerful truck, a rampaging tank, or a swooping jet (for the record, “swooping” is a term I coined for a move where I would swoop down at an enemy, as a jet, transform just before landing, and strike the, usually unsuspecting, enemy with a hard hitting melee attack) is just such a fun mechanic. It adds a whole new layer of movement and depth to the genre. And luckily, it’s nearly flawless. Transforming is as simple as pressing a button. It’s quick, it doesn’t disrupt movement, it’s fluid as can be. And in a game like this, the mechanic works as perfectly as it could. The only caveat I ever noticed in transforming, is that you are oddly immune from taking damage while mid-transformation. But I guess that’s only fair, as you can’t really do anything else while in that process.
Controlling the vehicle modes of the Transformers is smooth. I would also mention that each vehicle has it’s own unique traits and abilities. Cars go faster than all others, so it takes a bit of skill to learn how to handle them, but not much. They use a machine gun as their vehicle weapon. Their ability is a strange sort of dodge roll, where they flip into the air (flipping either left or right depending on where you steer). Trucks are slower than cars, but they have a special ramming ability, which not only gives them a speed boost, but it also demolishes anyone in their way. They fire small rockets for their weapon. Tanks are even slower and more powerful, firing massive blasts from their cannons. But, as they have more restricted movement, their ability allows them to make sudden 180 degree turns. And finally there’s the jets. Jets, naturally can fly anywhere within a level. Flying works well. It’s easy to handle and isn’t overly complicated in its controls (something that too many games with flight suffer from). Their ability is the always classic barrel roll. And for weapons, they have both a machine gun and a rocket launcher (both of which have unlimited ammo, which is an oddity).
Speaking of ammo… sigh. It’s this game’s biggest flaw by far. I’m not exactly sure who thought this game’s ammo system worked. But they were severely mistaken. While in a firefight, I needed to reload almost constantly. And that’s not because I was a terrible shot, and I was just missing my mark all the time. It was because after firing the basic machine gun for about 3 seconds, it would need to be reloaded. And pretty soon, I’d be out of ammo completely. If I couldn’t find any ammo pick ups (which seem plentiful, while playing, but trust me, they aren’t), I would switch to my second gun. and when that ran out of ammo (in mere seconds) I would have to transform and start firing my vehicle weapon in situations where it really wasn’t optimal. There’s a time and place for vehicle mode, those instances were not it.
Mechanically speaking, the rest of the game is sound. Aiming works perfectly well. All the types of guns feel different enough, each having their own strengths and weaknesses. The camera is good enough to the point where I’ve never actively thought about it (which is how a camera should be). Movement and combat are fluid. In the aspects that you would expect any game to work well, this does just that. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about, either.
The game’s level design is also excellent. Although there is always an objective marker on screen, directing me where to go, it was almost never necessary, as I rarely felt lost in the game. The levels were laid out in a way that constantly guided me (in an unobtrusive way) in the right direction. Being a shooter, the levels also succeed in the pick ups department, mostly. Health, shields, new weapons and grenades, and ammo pick ups are seemingly plentiful. But as I said earlier, even though you’ll see ammo pick ups everywhere, it’s still not enough due to the unbalanced ammo mechanic. The levels were also broken up into good segments: battle scenarios, straightaways, simple platforming, and puzzle solving. Never too much of one thing. It was always laid out well. In addition to those, there were also vehicle areas of the levels where it was preferable or necessary to traverse in vehicle form. These segments were fun, as I was usually racing for my life, zooming along futuristic highways, escaping some horrible death. But, unfortunately, these sections sometimes included cheap deaths. Such as, not giving me enough time to react to a floor panel being suddenly destroyed while I was driving over it, for example.
There was also plenty of enemy variety. Each one required a different strategy to take on, which added a little spice to combat. There were, of course, your basic grunt soldiers, which could transform into cars. Nothing too special. Seekers, also known as fliers, were always a pain to me. When they were in jet form, they would making fast paced bombing runs, when in robot form, they would just fly around at a fast pace while shooting. The brutes were massive bots that carried a shield in one hand and a giant hammer in the other. These guys were only vulnerable from behind, so it required a bit of strategy to take them out. Cloakers sound just like what they are. Fast moving little punks that could turn invisible. Turret wielders also sound just like they are. They were big bots that required a lot of hits to kill. But once they were downed, you could pick up their weapon, a massive turret that took on one of two forms, either an extremely powerful machine gun or the nucleon shock cannon, an incredibly powerful rocket launcher with limited ammo.
Getting powerful weapons like the nucleon shock cannon is just one of the many, many cool moments in this game. It’s these moments that made the game feel especially fun. It is a rare and wonderful thing for a developer to let a player feel powerful, but not overpowered. But in TWFC, this feeling happens a lot. Whether it was riding atop a turret mounted space slug, or flying through then fighting Trypticon in the middle of space, the game was chock full of awesome (if not a bit fan service-y) moments. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to fight a giant robot dinosaur in space, while he’s hurtling towards a robot planet below?
A final note on fan service, this game was clearly made for fans of the original Transformers. There are constant nods to the old series and movie. And, well, having the credits open to Soundwave transforming into a Walkman and blasting out Stan Bush’s “‘Til All Are One” is just about the best way I can think of to end a Transformers game.
So far, I’ve only been talking about the campaign. Which is excellent, as I’ve said. But there was a whole other component to TWFC that turned it from a fantastic game, to one of my all time favorite games ever. And that component, oddly enough, is multiplayer. If you know me, then you know this above all else. I generally hate online multiplayer, in any game, with a passion. I don’t like competition, especially not competition over something as pointless as playing a video game with strangers online. It’s not that I’m just awful at online multiplayer games (although I’m sure some will make that conclusion regardless), I just never found them very fun.
This game was different though… The campaign was so much fun to me, I decided to try out the multiplayer component. I fell in love instantly. There was just something about it that struck me. It was good. It was fun. It was uniquely balanced. It could be challenging. And best of all, I was good. In fact, I was one of the best. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. Had I played as obsessively as some of the other players, I probably would have outranked them all on the leader boards. As it was, I couldn’t (and more importantly, I didn’t want to) spend all day, every day playing that one game, so my ranking was lower just by time spent, but I could hold my own against anyone. Hilariously enough, there was many a time where I would get PM’s from other players accusing me of cheating. But I digress. This analysis isn’t about my glory days. Let’s take a look at the multiplayer itself.
Multiplayer had many different modes: Team Deathmatch – Kill 40 opponents to win. Deathmatch – Kill 20 opponents to win. Conquest – Capture and defend several “power nodes” until your team gets 400 points. Code of Power – Capture the flag. Team with highest score after two rounds wins. Countdown to extinction – Plant the bomb in the enemy’s base three times to win. Power Struggle – Control the active power node until you get 400 points.
And although those seem like plenty of modes, most people (myself included) really only played Team Deathmatch and Conquest. The other modes, while nice for variety, ultimately just weren’t very fun. That said, both of those modes are fairly self explanatory, so I won’t go into too much detail than what’s already been said. But I would like to talk about why these relatively simple modes were so much fun.
Multiplayer played out differently than the campaign. You didn’t select specific characters, instead you created your own, based on four different classes, which were based on the four types of vehicles. Each class also had unique health, abilities, weapons, and grenades. Almost all of this was customizable, too, so no two players would be exactly alike.
The Scientist was one of my personal favorites. As Jets, they had superior movement, they also usually played the role of healer and support, but not always. As much as the scientist could heal, he could also bring plenty of hurt. However, all that air superiority meant that there needed to be a trade off. The scientist had only three marks of health, making them the squishiest of classes.
The Scout class took the chassis of the car Transformer. He was fast, and sneaky, as his skills usually revolved around the cloaking ability. With four health marks, he was on the lower end of the health pool, so using the scout required a bit of finesse.
The Leader was the truck. Big and hard hitting, these guys could pack a punch. But they also had a lot of defensive and ally buffing abilities. A Leader could lend support to his allies just as easily as jump into the fray. With five health marks, the leader was a well balanced class.
And finally, the Warrior. Warriors were tanks both literally and figuratively. With six marks of health, the Warrior was definitely the tankiest (sorry) class. Although they were definitely the slowest class, they still had the hardest hitting weapons and the most powerful offensive abilities.
With these four classes, multiplayer was a dizzying sight to the uninitiated. These very different classes all clashing together might have seemed chaotic, but it was, in reality, a beautifully balanced masterpiece. No class outclassed another. All had their strengths, and all had their weaknesses. The game never felt unfair, because of this. You could customize your character to however you liked, and you’d never be out of balance against the rest of the players. The only deciding factor in multiplayer, despite the massive variety, was skill. This is something I’ve not seen before or since this game. It was beautifully balanced. It was lightning in a bottle.
If you didn’t want to fight against other players, but still wanted to play online, TWFC had you covered. There was another multiplayer mode called escalation. In this mode, you once again took control of a specific Transformer character, and you, along with 1-3 other players, worked together to fight escalating waves of A.I. controlled bots. This was also, lots of fun and a great challenge.
And, much like the campaign, the levels for multiplayer and escalation were top notch. Excellently crafted levels made for great multiplayer experiences. Of which I had many.
Reflecting on all this has made me a bit sad, honestly, because this game’s multiplayer has been dead for years now. The reason for that happening, though, is even worse… Hackers. This game was, apparently, ridiculously easy to hack. Pathetic, dishonorable, cowards not skilled enough to win on their own merits, and not disciplined enough to develop the skill, instead turned to hacking their game. This ruined the multiplayer experience for everyone. The developers didn’t (or possibly couldn’t) do anything about it, so, in time, the multiplayer community simply quit. Going online nowadays, you will just be greeted by a barren wasteland of empty lobbies.
This game deserved better… but in spite of the sad loss of a great component, the game is still worth revisiting every now and then. At the very least, the campaign is just as fun now as it was seven years ago. It’s doubtful we’ll ever see a new entry into this franchise (there was one sequel, but it didn’t hold up nearly as well), but I’ll never forget the good times I had playing this game back in its heyday.
“Transform and roll out!”
