Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third-person shooter video game based on the Transformers franchise, developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision. It was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows in June 2010. Two portable versions were released for the Nintendo DS, one featuring an Autobot campaign, the other a Decepticon campaign. A game for the Wii, Transformers: Cybertron Adventures, was developed by Next Level Games and utilizes the same characters and setting as War for Cybertron.
Set on the Transformers' home planet of Cybertron, prior to their arrival on Earth, the game depicts the deadly civil war between Autobots and Decepticons. Players may pick either faction to play as, as each has its own separate campaign (though the Decepticon campaign chronologically takes place first). The game's plot revolves around Dark Energon, a more dangerous and destructive version of Energon, the substance which powers all Transformers. While the Decepticon leader Megatron seeks this substance for himself, believing it will allow him to return the planet to its "golden age", the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, attempt to stop him, knowing it would instead doom their homeworld.
War for Cybertron received generally favorable reviews, with many viewing it as an improvement over past Transformers games. It was praised for its multiplayer, character designs, and voice acting, with criticism reserved for the visual design of the game's setting. A sequel, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, was released in August 2012, and a third game, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark - which serves as a crossover with the live-action film series and bridges the gap between War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron - was released in June 2014.
Gameplay War for Cybertron is played from a third-person perspective. Transformers are classified into four main categories: Leader, Soldier, Scientist, and Scout. Each character in the campaign is classified as one of these types, and their weaponry, abilities and vehicle form are largely influenced by their character class. Players can change between forms at will, and each form has unique abilities. While in robot form characters can also collect different weapons, reminiscent of those found in first-person shooters. While in vehicle form each character can boost their speed.
Each campaign level gives the player a choice of three Transformers. The campaign can be played in single-player or cooperatively via online multiplayer, and players can enter or leave the game at any time. If fewer than three players are present, the game's AI controls the remaining playable characters. Cooperative and competitive modes of the game are limited to online play, with no split screen features available. The game levels are designed to allow characters to comfortably navigate and play the game in either mode.
Multiplayer Competitive multiplayer games do not allow players to control official, named characters, and instead must design their own Transformer. Similar to the campaign, generic multiplayer characters are split into four character classes. Contrary to the campaign, however, each created character features some amount of customization. Players can select a base model and vehicle form, then alter major colors for their character and modify weapon loadouts and abilities based on that character class. The multiplayer aspect also features an experience and leveling system, including perks, and upgrades reminiscent of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, another Activision game.
War for Cybertron has several multiplayer modes to choose from. Deathmatch is a free-for-all game type where the player with the most kills at the end of the game is the winner. In Team Deathmatch players are divided into Autobot and Decepticon teams. The winning team is the one who earns the most kills. Conquest is a capture-and-hold style game, similar to the conquest mode found in the Star Wars: Battlefront series. Multiple control points are spread across the level. The object is for players to capture enemy control points by standing near them for a set amount of time while defending their own control points. In Countdown to Extinction players must take an active bomb and place it at an enemy base, similar to the Assault mode in the Halo series. Power Struggle is the game's equivalent to the common King of the Hill game type. Finally, Code of Power is a mode consisting of two and a half minute rounds where teams fight for a giant melee weapon.
Also available is the Escalation game mode, the only multiplayer mode where players can control characters from the campaign or downloadable content. Players choose a faction and then work cooperatively to defeat continuous waves of enemy robots until all players are defeated, similar to the Horde mode found in Gears of War and the Halo series Firefight game modes. Players earn credits by defeating enemies which can be used to unlock ammunition, weaponry, health and new areas in each map.
Synopsis
Setting War for Cybertron is set on the planet Cybertron, prior to the Transformers' contact with the planet Earth (70-65 million years ago), and is set in the series' Aligned continuity family. Robotic in nature, each Transformer has the ability to transform from their robot mode to an alternate form, usually a vehicle, such as a tank or jet. The Transformers are engaged in total civil war with one another, with two factions emerging: the Decepticons, a splinter group led by the powerful and ruthless Megatron, who seeks to conquer Cybertron to force a regime change, perceiving the current leadership as weak and corrupt; and the Autobots, who follow the command of Zeta Prime and seek to put an end to Megatron's revolution and restore peace and order to Cybertron. However, after Zeta Prime is killed in battle, an inexperienced leader named Optimus must take his place and lead the Autobots to victory before Megatron can corrupt the planet, itself a Transformer, with Dark Energon.
Both factions have their own campaign, each containing five chapters, and players may choose either to play through first. Chronologically, the Decepticon campaign takes place first, with the Autobot story directly following it.
Characters AutobotsArcee Air Raid BumblebeeIronhide Jazz JetfireOmega Supreme Optimus Prime Ratchet ScattershotSideswipe Silverbolt Warpath Zeta Prime Decepticons Barricade Brawl Breakdown Dead End Demolishor Frenzy Laserbeak Megatron Onslaught Rumble Shockwave Skywarp SlipstreamSoundwave Starscream Thundercracker Trypticon Originally a pre-order bonus Downloadable content for multiplayer Not playable in campaign Not playable in multiplayer Unlocked as a multiplayer character
Decepticon campaign The Decepticon leader Megatron seeks to return Cybertron to its "Golden Age" using the legendary Dark Energon, an unstable, corrupting substance of immense power which is rumored to be kept in an orbital research station guarded by the neutral Sky Commander Starscream. Megatron leads the Decepticons, including Barricade and Brawl, in an assault on the station, fighting their way through Starscream's troops and seizing control of the Dark Energon manufacturing plant. After Megatron successfully immerses himself in it, Starscream offers his fealty to Megatron in exchange for teaching him how to control Dark Energon. Megatron accepts when Starscream reveals he knows how to manufacture more Dark Energon. Shocked by Starscream's betrayal, his partner Jetfire escapes to warn the Autobot leader Zeta Prime, to which Megatron allows.
Now Decepticons, Starscream and his fellow Seekers, Thundercracker and Skywarp, are ordered by Megatron to reactivate an Energon Bridge beneath Cybertron's surface, which will feed the station with raw Energon and allow more Dark Energon to be manufactured. Once they succeed, Megatron develops a plan to infect Cybertron's core with Dark Energon and launches a full-scale assault on Iacon City, the Autobot capital, to obtain the Omega Key, which will grant him access to the core. As the Decepticons lay siege on the city, Megatron, Soundwave, and Breakdown confront Zeta Prime, defeating him and obtaining the Key. However, Zeta reveals that the Key is not the actual means to unlocking the core, but rather a device that summons the real key: a colossal Autobot called Omega Supreme.
With Omega pursuing them and destroying everything in his path, Megatron, Soundwave, and Breakdown devise a plan to lure him into an ambush using commandeered Autobot turrets. They succeed, and Omega is shot down, plummeting into Cybertron's lower levels. Omega makes a last stand against the Decepticons but is soon corrupted with Dark Energon and taken prisoner. After forcing Omega to unlock Cybertron's core, Megatron infects it with Dark Energon, which quickly begins to spread its corruption over the entire planet.
Autobot campaign While defending Iacon from the invading Decepticons, Autobot soldier Optimus is informed by scout Bumblebee about Zeta Prime's presumed death. Temporarily assuming leadership of the Autobots, Optimus recruits Bumblebee and Ratchet to reactivate Iacon's defenses and communication grid. The trio then travels to the Decagon Plaza and defeats Starscream, thwarting the Decepticon attack. Soon after, the Autobots receive a distress call from Zeta, who is still alive and being held prisoner in the Decepticon capital city of Kaon. Skepticism of the validity of the distress call arises from Bumblebee and Ratchet, to which Optimus pushes aside. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe allow themselves to be captured in order to infiltrate the prison complex, whereupon they break free with the help of Air Raid. However, the distress signal made by Zeta Prime is revealed to be a trap laid by the Decepticon Leader, Megatron. Megatron sends them back to a different prison cell and strip them of their weaponry. They break out, gain their weaponry back, and rescue the other Autobot prisoners. As the prisoners escape using Decepticon transports, the trio discovers that Zeta Prime is alive, and being held in lower levels within Kaon. With this knowledge, the trio fights their way to Zeta's cell, guarded by Soundwave and his minions Frenzy, Rumble, and Laserbeak. The Autobots fight them off, but Zeta succumbs to his injuries and Decepticon torture. Optimus brings Zeta's body before the Autobot High Council, who name him the new and last Prime, and inform him of Megatron's activities.
Tasked with purging Cybertron's core of Dark Energon, Optimus, his friend Ironhide, and rookie Autobot soldier Warpath travel to the core's entrance, discovering it has been converted into a Decepticon stronghold. The trio frees Omega Supreme, who has been tortured with Dark Energon, and defend Ratchet while he heals him, whereupon Omega grants the Autobots access to the core. Fighting their way past Deception soldiers and a Cybertronian worm corrupted by Dark Energon, the Autobots eventually reach the core, which speaks to Optimus and reveals itself as a Transformer. It explains that the only way to fix the damages done by the Dark Energon is to reboot itself, which will leave Cybertron a cold, barren and lifeless planet for millions of years. However, the core can stay partially alive during this time if Optimus carries a small piece of it with him. Optimus accepts the burden and the core bestows the Autobot Matrix of Leadership into Optimus' chest.