TRANSFORMERS: THE WAR BY CYBERTRON (PC)
Transformers returns to the charge in the world of video games, although this time it does so in the form of a third-person shooter with better premises and factors than its previous deliveries, marked by the fact of being games based on movies. It's time to know what happened before these characters came to earth
Before mythical characters like Optimus Prime and company landed on earth, various events happened in the universe of Cybertron. A war without quarter in which two factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons, did not stop for a moment. These are the events that narrate the new videogame of High Moon Studios, creators of recent works such as Darkwatch or the Conspiracy of Bourne. These mechanical heroes of years ago are back in fashion, and it seems that in video games begin to take steps in the right direction.
Transformers starred in an authentic boom during the mid-eighties. In Japan, a series was released in which Decepticons and Autobots faced each other and it was a success. The special toys that allowed transforming huge robots into vehicles came to life, and the jump to the western zone, the United States and Europe, also had a great impact. For years the success accompanied Megatron and Optimus Prime, who recovered those glorious days in 2007. Michael Bay took to the big screen these characters, with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox claims that went beyond what you could get from the own fans. Taquillera movie that had its consequent continuation. And here jumped, again, the relationship between cinema and video games to which we are accustomed.
Transformers: the Game was a first attempt, failed, to collect box office success in the virtual world. The same happened with the sequel to Revenge of the fallen, which despite slightly improving the first virtual product but without reaching a minimum. The rush, the fact of relating directly to a film and what this entails (rigid adaptations, poorly polished products) and surely an investment lower than recommended were factors to be taken into account. This time, Transformers: War on Cybertron distances itself from its two predecessors in something that may seem anecdotal but is not at all. It is not linked to the release of a movie. And you can see it. The work of High Moon Studios breathes a game, and not a license that should be used yes or yes. And although there are some things that can be improved,
A world, two visions
War of Cybertron takes us to an unspecified moment of the civil war that the planet suffered and in which the Autobots and the Decepticons were involved. The game tells a stretch of the last throes of this millenary battle from both points of view. Here lies one of the attractions of the work of the creators of Darkwatch, since the campaign mode is split into two visions. On the one hand, we can accompany Megatron and his henchmen in their quest to gain an obscure power that would wipe out everything and everyone. On the other side is Optimus Prime, who try to survive and stop their enemies in an increasingly battered Cybertron.
And so, in a division of ten chapters, five for each faction, the last, at the moment, video game of Transformers is narrated. About ten hours of play, each chapter is quite long but it has constant save points and checkpoints, in which the most important thing is the shootings and the action without rest. High Moon Level, following the tone of this generation, joins the third-person shooter genre. Although at least thanks to the characteristics of the protagonists, in certain details the differences with kings of the genre such as Gears of War or Lost Planet are more than evident.
The staging of the campaign mode, which will have us more entertaining than it may seem at the beginning, is more than known in this generation. A small squadron tell a pack of enemies. In each episode we can choose one of the Autobots or Decepticons, with their own abilities and characteristics. The other two that accompany us will be controlled by the AI or, if we want, by other players to do the campaign cooperatively. The abilities of the protagonists, for example to be able to make evasive movements of great speed or powerful melé blows, is the main change that we can notice according to our election. All are transformed into vehicles, can carry two weapons, throw grenades and have melee attacks.
It is one of the interesting points of War of Cybertron. With a single click on the analog stick, the protagonist can become a ship that moves at great speed through the stage and has a different cannon, and more powerful, than the initial arsenal. This allows us to deal with situations in different ways, because if we are armed with short range rifles, an enemy squadron in the distance will stay more at bay via the vehicle on duty. Naturally, the protagonists are not the only ones who have the power to transform themselves, and many enemies will arrive in the form of a ship and until they are the object of our shots, they will not move to the robotic form.
The range of weapons is not too original, since all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, are adaptations of the classic medium-range rifles, cut-off shotguns, grenade launchers, snipers and others. The movement of the protagonist is much faster and more open than in Gears of War, which makes the action much faster, cover more spaces and have a point of madness in the work of Epic and derivatives or similar is not so present . The enemies also move with agility, so it will not be strange to be pointing at different sides of the screen in a short space of time.
The rain of bullets that there is in each scene and these factors commented make of the work of High Moon Studios a frantic game, without a moment of rest. Enemies that come from any corner, coming from the sky or at ground level, that shoot in the distance ... a constant movement for a game that, surely due to all these elements, has not included the system of coverage so established in the present generation. It is not missing, since the battles have a more arcade point in this sense, and we will rely more on evasive movements, on the double jump available (the second allows us to plan a moment) or on the transformation of others to escape from the enemy attacks.
To all this we add details of the playable mechanics that also escapes current topics. Our protagonist has a life bar that is divided into parts. When we receive impacts, the energy of each part is reduced. If we cover and wait, the energy is recharged, but each part that is emptied will no longer recover. This gives a touch that recalls the old school, when we had to be careful in what moments and when one of the priorities on the stage, rather than hiding to regenerate life, was to look for kits, which in Transformers automatically recover all the bar and all the parts we had. Nor ammunition shines for its abundance. To understand us, if we waste, surely we must finish a specific area at a short distance hit -they are devastating- but immediately afterwards we will find boxes of ammunition without problems to be able to advance. It is easily spent, but there are no stretches where we can not count on it. Unthinkable considering that it is a pure and hard shooter.
All these elements together work correctly, but we can not omit the most important and that has already been discussed at the beginning. The possibility of cooperatively playing the story mode. This gives a remarkable leap to the campaign, since at three levels the fun, due to the simplicity and frenetism of the proposal, multiplies. It sounds like a cliché, but in this case it is like that. Being able to flank final bosses, huge enemies that have certain defense mechanisms (a shield, a barrier) or cover their backs when there are attacks from different angles ends up being more satisfying in company. The companion AI will not put us in trouble and end enemies, but it is not the same. Yes, the campaign can be enjoyed alone without any problem, but the cooperative is a plus of quality.
The playable mechanics, yes, is not free of sins. Transformers: War of Cybertron has a design of levels with few surprises and that sins of simpleton. The truth is that many of the areas, but above all situations, will be repeated constantly. once past the first hours of play, he sins to fall into repetition for two reasons: the first, each phase in which we crossed shots with rivals has been seen previously (too generic, with very similar structures between them ); Secondly, because there is not a great variety of enemies, that despite appearing in large numbers, many are clonal and their patterns are the same over and over again. This tarnishes the entire experience of the game, which ends up being something too simple and without fresh ideas once the first contact is made.
The plot development designed by High Moon Studios also has some setbacks, since despite having some cinematic (many of them spectacular), the truth is that many times we will be moving without knowing exactly why. There are dialogues between characters constantly, but it is difficult to follow the thread especially during the action, since the objectives are updated many times going from one point to another, something that confirms the linearity of the game - a classic too, taking into account the nature of the same one - and that also does not help to narrate of the best way the plot of which they consist the two factions, Decepticons and Autobots.
The game modes of Transformers: War of Cybertron are completed with the competitive multiplayer and Escalation. This last one picks up the essence initiated by Gears of War 2 with the Horde mode or the Firefight of Halo: ODST that also has been confirmed for Reach. Waves of enemies are appearing and they have to be eliminated with other companions. Entertaining and a challenge, especially because the game in high difficulty brings them, although if the same story mode is repetitive, Escalation is only suitable for those who want to shoot without stopping under a frantic and fun combat system. Special mention for the online multiplayer mode. High Moon Studios said they wanted to enhance it to be one of the keys to the success of this War of Cybertron.
And the truth is that there are no surprises in game modes, those already known in other action games currently, although it makes use of a system to raise experience, improve skills and personalize more than interesting characters in which cooperation between members of the team is basic. The same scenarios that we can see in the main campaign are used, and the battles are for up to ten players at a time. The structure does not work perfectly, and although there are no signs of delay in games with European people, the problems grow when it is time to face American players. They start with the advantage and many of them can end up being unplayable due to the lag that although it does not affect the movement of the screen, it means that we can not kill point-blank an enemy and he kills us with a shot.
Technical section
The work of High Moon Studios looks at a remarkable level. The modeling of the characters is excellent, and their movements are smooth and fast. Everything goes at great speed, so to see the animations, transformations or impacts respond to perfection is appreciated. To this is added, of course, a successful artistic design. Cybertron is in ruins and we see how many of the structures are up to date. The play of lights, explosions and others, are also in line with the technical level for which the developer company has bet and for the artistic design that suggests a technological world such as that of Transformers. There is only one but, and it is found in the frame rate. When there are some explosions in the middle of some enemies and others the game suffers shocks. They do not affect the gameplay, but they can become annoying and tarnish the overall result. Of the three versions (PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3) it is compatible where the game is best stopped, thanks to the greater technical power and the improvement in resolution issues regarding the consoles.
At a sound level, the truth is that special effects, shots, explosions and others are in line with the audiovisual show. They sound good and accompany the visual section. The soundtrack, which is sometimes in the background for the amount of effects that sound constantly, also helps to give a frantic touch to the game. It arrives folded and translated into Spanish, something that is appreciated, although the voices in English, special mention to Megatron with its aggressive tone and somewhat despotic, have no point of comparison.
conclusion
Transformers: War of Cybetron is a good third-person action game. It is based on the foundations that have given success to the genre in this generation, and provides details that set it apart from the rest, such as the skills of the protagonists, their transformations or the importance of hand-to-hand fighting. A good experience in itself that wins whole thanks to the cooperative and that has a little original but effective multiplayer that promises hours of fun (without counting the lag with according to which regions). It is a step forward of this franchise in the video game industry, but it has some errors, such as a secondary plot or, more relevant, a level design and an advance that becomes repetitive and simple, leaving it somewhat below what it could become. Even so, this is a game that is not only recommended for fans of Optimus Prime, Megatron and company, but also for those who have the genre of action in the third person as their favorite. Play the campaign from the two factions- The possibility of overcoming the cooperative story mode- Graphically looks at a good level- Provides small playable details that give it its own entity inside of such a hackneyed genre
The best
- It provides small playable details that give it its own identity within a genre so hackneyed
- Graphically looks at a good level
- Play the campaign from the two factions
- The possibility of overcoming the story mode in cooperative
Worst
- Argumentally has little interest
- The repetition of situations and enemies
- Problems in some games online with other regions (lag)
- A little worked level design
It fulfills the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and it does not present serious faults, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher heights.
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