While in San Diego the past couple of days I had a chance to get some hands-on time with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron at a Transformers event held at the Stingeree in San Diego, California. While at E3 in LA last month Black Ops 2, Skylander Giants and The Amazing Spider-Man ate up most of my time at the Activision booth. So I never really had a chance to check out any of the Fall of Cybertron offerings. So needless to say, I was looking forward to the event considering High Moon Studios’ Transformers: War of Cybertron (2010) is argued by many to be best Transformers game on next gen consoles to date and Fall of Cybertron takes the franchise back to the mechanical world of Cybertron. I was also very curious to see how High Moon could build on the success of the 2010 game and hopefully put Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) in the rear view mirror.
While at the event, I had a chance to check out a few levels in the single player campaign, the 4-player co-op Escalation mode and the 5-on-5 multiplayer mode. Before I even jumped into any of the online games, I had to chance to check out the games main menu. The main options in Fall of Cybertron are campaign, multiplayer, escalation, settings and extras. Pretty standard stuff so without further delay I immediately snagged one of the multiplayer seats and sat down to play a game of 5-on-5 conquest mode.
Before I get into my impressions of the conquest mode, I must say I was simply blown away by the amount of customization available in the game. Before you start any online game you spend some time in the Fall of Cybertron character customization screen. Much like other recent mech games I have played in the last few years, Fall of Cybertron offers up a comprehensive customization scheme where you can customize your transformer any way you please. You can adjust his head, body, legs, shoulders, arms, decals, etc. You can also play around with the Transformers colour schemes as well which was pretty neat. You can also tinker with his weapons, and loadouts. This allows you to essentially play with your own custom Transformer. Myself, I prefer playing with one of the existing Transformers for a variety of nostalgic reasons. This being said, having the option to make your own Transformers should certainly appeal to the masses.
Before you start tweaking with your transformers body parts and colour schemes you have to pick your class. Fall of Cybertron offers up 4-classes. The Infiltrator Transformer is the smaller car class, the Destroyer is the larger truck class, Titans are the massive tank Transformers and the Scientists have the ability to fly. All have their own strengths and weaknesses but after my extended playtime session with the online aspects I found myself much more proficient with one particular class and that is the Scientist.
With 10-maps in total out of the box, Fall of Cybertron is far from an afterthought or a cheap add-on. From the get go, you can tell much time and energy was spent into the game online aspects. The first map I had a chance to play took place in the depths of Cyberton. Much like the rest of the Cybertron World, the map is mostly metal and very industrial in a futuristic kind of way. It is a well crafted map and certainly very balanced. Both teams spawned at either ends of the map and the layout was balanced from one side to the other. The map certainly did a wonderful job at capturing that Transformers feeling. The level of detail was stunning and I was incredibly impressed with the overall look of the level. Not to mention, the games Transformers look fantastic themselves. The games are fast paced and involved much more strategy than I anticipated. Most of all the online gamers are silky smooth as well. Even during some of the most chaotic moments I never really noticed any significant slowdowns.
When playing online I found using speed became critical to my survival. Being able to ‘get out of dodge’ when a couple of Transformers are hammering away on you was critical. Those pesky flying Scientist Transformers managed maintain the upper hand in many matches as they are able to hover around the enemies and zip away when they are being targeted. While the Scientists didn’t quite pack a punch like say the Titans, the speed factor made up for any of its shortcomings. My most successful matches came when I used the Scientist.
In terms of the negatives, I did find it difficult at times to differentiate between enemies and my teammates. Fortunately, the “friendly fire” option is not available (as far as I could see) and accidently killing my teammates was never an issue. Yet after a few games, I started to get into the swing of things and I realized that when aiming your weapons towards the enemy your reticle turns red which signals that is indeed your target. It seems like such a silly little issue but believe me I had problems during those first few matches.
Overall the 5-on-5 games were enjoyable and much like the conquest modes seen in other shooters such as Rainbow Six Vegas and Modern Warfare 3 that involve capturing 3-points (A, B and C), playing as a team and communicating can go a long ways. Sure some of the Transformers are equipped with some heavy primary and secondary weapons that can do some damage; however, when you are left to fend for yourself more often than not you will get taken down by enemies who are playing a more as a team. While the combat itself was nothing incredibly innovative or original it was enjoyable. Mowing down Transformers is satisfying as the enemy shreds into pieces after they explode on destruction. I should mention ammo is a little sparse in the game and I ran out quickly more often than I would have liked but this just adds a level of strategy as “spraying and praying” will only get you so far.
After I finished playing a few conquest and team deathmatch type match-ups, I lumbered my way on over the Escalation mode area where I sat down and played the games 4-player ‘horde-like’ co-op mode. Here we took on waves of enemy transformers. There are a total of 15-waves in all. Much like Gears of War’s horde mode the difficulty amps up as you progress along. I found that after the 3rd wave, the difficulty really cranked up. Giant insect-like Transformers, enemy Titans and a slick assortment of enemy Transformers hone in on you wave after wave. It is enjoyable but plays out much like other Horde-like games. This being said, each Transformer you choose has some unique abilities which help you along the way and it also encourages you to stay together as play as a team. The ability to give other players more health, replenish ammo, or set up a sentry beam are just a few examples of the unique abilities that are available depending on which Transformer you choose to play with.
Much like Tranformers: War of Cybertron, Fall of Cybretron‘s multiplayer will have an XP system or Game currency system that will reward players who invest some time into the games online component. The single player campaign has a similar progression currency system; however, Carlos Rodriguez (Brand Manager for Activision) was unable to confirm if this XP system transfers between the single player and multiplayer. Bottom line, the more you play the more cash you will earn which gives you access to more customizable options for your Transformer.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron online multiplayer and 4-player co-op escalation mode. With 10 maps out of the box, silky smooth gameplay, the level of customizations available and a visually stunning atmosphere, Fall of Cybertron has all the right ingredients needed in to be considered a successful online game. Fans of previous Transformer games should welcome the new additions with open arms and even those who make this their first Transformer game should be happy as well. Are you getting a Call of Duty online experience? Absolutely not; but when you consider the games target audience, Fall of Cybertron’s online game is perfectly suited for its audience.
