Transformers

War for Cybertron

Gamer Erik Paolo Escueta

Platform PlayStation 3

Games based on the Transformers franchise cull their source material from either the animated shows or the live-action movies. War for Cybertron concentrates on neither, focusing instead on the beginnings of the animosity between the Autobot and Decepticon factions.

Scrap Metal

As a third-person shooter, War for Cybertron is pretty decent. Aiming is not that difficult and has adequate enough precision—although it seems where you aim makes little difference. Headshots with the Null-Ray sniper rifle result in one-hit kills due to its high power, but other weapons will take a couple more hits. Body shots, whether on the torso, arms or legs, don’t generate limb-specific destruction. Or maybe Transformers are just really sturdy to take a dozen rounds of machine gun fire and still have their limbs intact.

The available weapons for pickup are also ample, although in some levels ammo crates are either plentiful or scarce. At least your melee attacks are powerful enough to compensate, provided you get in close enough to use them. Grenades of varying uses can also be equipped for emergencies. There are also stationary weapons you can equip such as cannons and anti-air guns.

Transform and roll out

The implementation of the vehicular modes, however, is a real disappointment. More often than not, they don’t serve any real purpose in combat and are instead relied on for mission-specific sequences and set-pieces. Part of the problem is you can’t change your vehicle’s weapon loadout; whatever two weapons are set for your vehicle class, that’s it.

Another is maneuverability—you pretty much strafe and move in the same manner as in robot mode, except you can’t exactly pull a 180-degree turn to see what’s behind you as easily. At least the transforming animation looks fantastic.