Have you ever looked at an automobile and thought to yourself, "I wish that 'insert random vehicle name here' would turn into an awesome robot with lasers and rockets!"?
Well, in "Transformers: War for Cybertron," you can do that and more.
The game is set on Cybertron, the home world of robots, made by robots for robots. Two sides have formed and decide to kill each other. (Surprise, surprise!)
I am a huge "Transformers" fan and an even bigger video game fan, but, honestly, I feared bad things when this game was announced. I expected nothing at all from it. However, I was pleasantly surprised!
In this nicely wrapped package, you get single player, multi-player and co-operative modes.
The single player mode has campaigns for both of the warring factions, the Decepticons and the Autobots. It's up to you whether to play as good (Autobot) or evil (Decepticon).
The multi-player mode is awesome, and the co-operative horde mode, made famous by "Gears of War 2," is really fun. My only nitpick with the co-op mode is that I think the classes should be customizable.
The game's big feature is, of course, the transforming. After all, you can't have a "Transformers" game without transforming; it just wouldn't work. The more I played with this feature, the more fun it got. Around the last level, I was seamlessly switching back and forth between vehicle and robot form.
Landing combos wasn't difficult at all. And when it got to the point of having to manage multiple strategies at once -- such as transform here, activate ability here, shoot here, go take a bathroom break, come back and do it all again -- I found myself doing something I don't often do. I was smiling.
I know you are saying. "Well, mister video game nerd, you're supposed to love video games, so why not smile all the time?" Well, silly person asking ridiculous questions to your computer screen, the reason is simple: as with any hobby you take on, you slowly grow up and the charm wears away. This game had revitalized my belief in games that are just plain fun.
One final great note for hardcore fans of the awesome '80s TV show: the trophies and achievements are all quotes from the movie made then. There's none of the garbage that Michael Bay has pawned off on America of late.
In the end, I give "Transformers: War for Cybertron" a 9001 out of 9000. (That's a 10 out of 10 for you "Dragon Ball Z" illiterates out there.) Now transform yourself and roll out to your local retailer to pick this baby up!