Transformers: War for Cybertron (games)

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Transformers: War for Cybertron is a video game developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision, set before the Transformers take their war to Earth. Hasbro intends it to act as a foundation for Transformers franchise storylines for years to come, and so they've been giving a lot of input and stressing character development.[1] The upcoming book Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron may be a tie-in to the game and its fiction.

Unlike previous Transformers video games which feature distinctly separate campaigns for the Autobots and the Decepticons (traditionally depicting the playable faction utterly defeating the other), War for Cybertron will feature a single, linear storyline; the Decepticon campaign occurs chronologically before the Autobot campaign, but fans can play through them in whichever order they prefer.[2]

The game itself will be an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter in which the player can choose his character from a small roster of either Autobots or Decepticons. The game will be released on June 22, 2010, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and personal computers.

One shall stand.Optimus
One shall fall.Megatron

Synopsis

Prime auditions for Unreal Tournament. There were no survivors.

The game is set during the waning days of the Great War on Cybertron before coming to Earth. Megatron is searching for a dangerous power source known as Dark Energon to fuel his conquest of the planet. Optimus Prime assumes temporary command following an attack on Iacon that killed Zeta Prime, but he is not yet leader of the Autobots. Starscream joins the Decepticons as second-in-command, but does not consider either Optimus or Megatron to have the planet's best interests at heart. (We will apparently learn why Starscream is such a whopping traitor and why Megatron doesn't just kill him).

Characters

At the start of each level, the player can choose from one of three characters. The characters available will shift from level to level. Known playable characters include:

Autobots

Decepticons

The Decepticon campaign includes a boss battle with Omega Supreme and the Autobot campaign includes defending Iacon. Trypticon appears in the IGN trailer, but he's, uh, probably not playable. Players should expect references to Cybertron locations taken from all previous Transformer stories, "things which may have only been referenced once, in one comic way back when, could be used and expanded upon."[1]

...They're totally reading the Wiki, aren't they? Hello, designers!

  • Bumblebee fires his weapon.
    Bumblebee fires his weapon.
  • Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Prime in battle.
    Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Prime in battle.
  • Omega Supreme attacks a platoon of Decepticons.
    Omega Supreme attacks a platoon of Decepticons.
  • Starscream and Megatron get ready for the ground assault.
    Starscream and Megatron get ready for the ground assault.
  • More Decepticons!
    More Decepticons!
  • Soundwave sneaks around.
    Soundwave sneaks around.
  • Oh Primus.
    Oh Primus.
  • Resistance really does seem to be futile.
    Resistance really does seem to be futile.
  • Dynobot?
    Dynobot?

Features

  • Campaigns will be co-op both online and off for the first time in a Transformers game.
  • All playable characters have two special abilities, such as absorbing health from enemies or marking targets.
  • The game will run on the Unreal engine.
  • High Moon is prepared to "support the game after release," meaning either patches or downloadable content.
  • Online Multiplayer is being developed for the game.
  • All environments, including cover, can be destroyed.
  • Characters transform at any time with an easy and quick tap of the Left Analog stick. There is no "cool down" so players can transform as often and as freely as they wish.
  • The ability to create your own Transformers character for multiplayer. [6]

Production

As an early marketing campaign, the game's website included the feature "Operation Transmission Recovery": using transmission and coordinate dials, you could pick up "transmissions" from Cybertron (or "video clips" to you and me).

The art and design team did intense research (i.e. watched the original cartoon, looked at comics, and watched "typical sci-fi cool stuff" like Blade Runner) to work out the aesthetic of Cybertron; lead artist Ivan Power remarked that the original cartoon was the main inspiration, and that Cybertron wasn't shown there so they had to rewatch the same few clips "over and over". While many of the city designs are elaborate and shiny, Decepticon Kaon was deliberately designed to be sharp-edged, rusting, and slapped together to show the Decepticons weren't interested in building a functioning society. [7]

Operation Transmission Recovery

As an early marketing campaign, the game's website included the feature "Operation Transmission Recovery": using transmission and coordinate dials, you could pick up "transmissions" from Cybertron (or "video clips/images" to you and me).

There are two dials, blue (outer) and yellow (inner). Using your mouse, you can drag the dial to set coordinates. The blue dial is set by aligning it to marks on the outer circle. When aligned, it becomes a blue ring. After that, the yellow dial is set so that signal strength is full, as indicated by a meter on the right. Once a transmission is unlocked its symbol lights up and the "Total Recovered" amount increases a little bit. When you reach 100%, it tells you how many hours remain until next batch.

As of January 12, 2010, the following transmissions (Batch 9), almost all of which are part of the second trailer (link below), were available:

S. No. Blue Yellow Type Description
1 351 327 Video Game Trailer (unlocked by default).
2 018 088 Video Starscream flying.
3 018 088 Image Starscream standing.
4 029 209 Video Battle scene: Camera behind Autobots, Optimus is prominent.
5 040 328 Image Holographic map of Cybertron and its two moons.
6 051 110 Image Cybertron .
7 073 190 Image Optimus vs an average Decepticon.
8 085 298 Video Decepticon insignia (on Starscream).
9 096 347 Video A bomb explosion on Cybertron's surface (possibly the same one which made a huge hole in it).
10 107 035 Image Megatron crushes cranial unit of a poor Autobot, Starscream is visible behind him, just before the ground assault.
11 120 040 Image Cybertron as seen from a moon.
12 140 201 Image Starscream flying towards Cybertron .
13 162 359 Image A red robot (Ironhide?).
14 173 003 Image A hall (Council of Autobot Elders?).
15 192 147 Video Injured Autobot, trying to get up .
16 203 094 Video Battle scene: Trypticon joins the battle as a burning asteroid (Entry mode) behind Decepticons and Autobots run towards it.
17 214 004 Image A city seen from a tunnel .
18 225 199 Image A city tower falling and hitting another tower.
19 265 011 Image Optimus Prime.
20 284 021 Image Megatron firing his gun (at YOU).
21 295 249 Video Optimus uses his axe on a Decepticon.
22 306 041 Image Cybertron as seen from another moon.
23 317 081 Video City skyline, camera moving down, some music in the background (start of the second trailer).
24 328 221 Video Battle scene: A missile hits a battlestation and an Autobot falls down from it.

Toy tie-ins

Hasbro has confirmed that several toys will be made to tie into the promotion of the video game. These include figures of Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee. At Toy Fair 2010, they were confirmed to be part of the Generations toyline.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 War for Cybertron interview with Aaron Archer and Matt Tieger @ TFW2005.com
  2. ↑ Seibertron Q&A with Activision
  3. ↑ Twitter post by Johnny Yong Bosch confirming his role as Bumblebee.
  4. ↑ Bestbuy.com preorder page featuring a special Jazz trailer
  5. ↑ Amazon.com preorder page featuring a special Demolishor trailer
  6. ↑ War For Cybertron trailer news at 3news.co.nz
  7. ↑ Game Informer: Behind the Art of War for Cybertron
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