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August 30, 2012

Review – Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Review Transformers Fall of Cybertron
Picking up directly where 2010’s War for Cybertron concluded, Fall of Cybertron follows the desperate attempt of Optimus Prime to lead the remaining Autobots off their homeworld of Cybertron – which has been ravaged by civil war with the Decepticons and seen the planet’s core shutdown as a result.

Much like Rocksteady Studios’ recent Batman titles, High Moon seeks to fill the void of Transformers titles worthy of the franchise, which like Batman, has been largely non-existent save for 2004’s Transformers: Armada. If I could throw out one more comparison to the Arkham series, it would be the way in which High Moon embraces the depth of the source material while still delivering a story unique to the videogame in the flavouring.

The primary narrative of the Transformers is a familiar battle between two foes, Optimus Prime and Megatron, which has been explored and remixed repeatedly over the years – boiling down to the battle for power versus the fight to unite. And High Moon captures the essence of that story, pulling countless familiar pieces into play, but still finds space to play with the origins of characters and set pieces such as the Dinobots, the space bridge, the Nemesis, and many more shout-outs that likely mean more to me as a long time fan of the series.

Fall of Cyberton certainly is a fan-splendid title, wherein I can get giddy over the attention to detail along with small moments such as petting Laserbeak while playing as Soundwave. The characters of my childhood are waiting around every corner of this game, but these fan moments shouldn’t scare off anyone not as familiar with the subject matter – at the end of the day, Fall of Cybertron is about giant heavily armed robots engaged in battle, and who can say no to that on the few occasions the essence of such a conflict seems to be captured as well as it is here?

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June 11, 2012

E3 2012 – Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Transformers Fall of Cybertron E3 2012
Every E3 brings at least one guilty pleasure title for me. One title I enthusiastically mention while others skeptically raise an eyebrow in my direction. This year that title was definitely High Moon Studios’ Fall of Cybertron.

Having grown up with the original Transformers series, and extended my affection later with the Beast Wars franchise, I’m incapable of resisting a title that litters its stages with characters from my childhood.

As with 2010’s War for Cybertron, there are still less than ideal design elements – I have no reason to suspect that I won’t once again find myself at odds between loving large-scale battlefields and loathing tedious grind sessions. But I’m already convinced I’ll accept less than ideal mechanics in exchange for the content. I don’t know if this makes me a bad person, just that it certainly labels me a Transformers fan – one that appreciates High Moon’s efforts to portray these characters the way they continue to within the Cybertron series.

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