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Transformers: Cybertron Adventures
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Graphics & Sound:
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures takes place in the Transformers world, actually, on their world, during a war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. With the setting comes dark, gritty surroundings. Perhaps it's always dark on their home planet, but things here are really dark, save for the occasional explosion, or the hint of a sunset over the horizon.
The Transformers themselves are nicely done on the Wii, or perhaps that's a side-effect of the dark environment too. The shiny highlights on every Transformer's body really pop out, and everyone looks appropriately battle-worn.
It's hard to focus on the music when there's so much speech, but then that's where the game really shines. The voice acting is so close to the original cartoon series that it's hard to tell the difference. Everyone, right down to Soundwave, sounds like their original counterpart, and has that dramatic 80's cartoon style of speaking. The campy humor of the original isn't present, but that's a good thing for this war-themed game. But yes, if you want to hear anything anyone's saying, you'll probably have to turn that music down in relation to the sound effects, especially if you want to understand, well, what Soundwave is saying.
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Gameplay:
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures takes place during the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, has created a super weapon named Trypticon, and he's bent on using it to wipe out the Autobots. Unfortunately, it feels like someone took to hacking away at the story that's present in the other Transformers: War for Cybertron games, because this is about it for story. Throughout the game, you bounce from one mission to another, with your comrades chattering on about how you need to hurry up and defend this, or attack that. In fact, you barely see what Trypticon even is when you play the Decepticon story.
Initially, you can play through the Decepticon or Autobot story, but later you can unlock challenges to play through. Unfortunately, these challenges are pretty much the same stages you just played through in Story Mode, but with different goals such as "destroy 20 asteroids." Worse still, you simply have to play through these levels over and over, with no immediate feedback. You'll only find out if you met the goal after you've gone through the entire level.
There is a two player co-op mode, but this, again, is just more of the same levels, but with a different playing scheme. One person will control flight, while the other will control shooting. In areas where you're in humanoid form and the Transformer character moves on his own, it will be one person aiming, and the other actually firing. Though that kind of forced cooperation can be fun, it's not really a reason to play though the game again with a friend (as it doesn't actually make the experience easier or more fun).
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Difficulty:
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures has a decidedly more "kid friendly" title than its "War for Cybertron" counterparts. Perhaps this is the reason the game is a bit challenging, but definitely easy enough for younger players to tackle. Checkpoints are pretty close together, and with the automatic healing in most parts of the game, there's always the opportunity to catch your breath and keep going. Also, since this is a rails shooter, it becomes predictable, making your subsequent playthroughs that much easier.
During the humanoid transformed sequences, you can pull the old Gears of War and regain your health as long as you're in cover. These sequences are made even simpler and easier because that's all you can do: duck for cover or shoot.
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Game Mechanics:
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures doesn't have much in the way of gameplay variety, so not surprisingly, it doesn't have much in the way of game mechanics variety. As grandpa might say if he were watching you play, you've got the "car guy" and the "plane guy" and that's about it. You'll either be flying, with a character like Skywarp, or driving with a character like Megatron. Between the flying or driving sequences, you'll transform into the character's humanoid form. Everything is on rails, so there's not much to do but aim and shoot. While you're driving an aerial or vehicle transformer, you've got the ability to dodge and maneuver, but you'll be guided through the landscape on a rails system. The humanoid forms don't have much more freedom: basically you hold a button to take cover, and shoot when you're not taking cover.
If you're expecting an array of weapons customized to each Transformer, well, that's not there either. Most everyone has the standard set of gatling gun, missles, cannon, and sniper rifle.
As restrictive as it is, at least the game engine is designed well around its narrow focus. For example, when you've defeated all the enemies in a particular section but one, the camera will tilt over toward that enemy to "nudge" you in the right direction. And though the flying and driving controls seem a bit sluggish, you're never penalized too much for not making it through the course precisely, and the checkpoints are spaced pretty close together.
As exciting as the voice work and the classic feel of the game were initially, Cybertron Adventures just doesn't capture you and keep you playing. With the predictable lack of online play on the Wii as well, there's just not much to keep you coming back once you've beaten the relatively short stories on both sides.
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-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville |
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