Transformers: War for Cybertron (games)
Transformers: War for Cybertron is a series of video games published by Activision and developed by High Moon Studios, Next Level Games and Vicarious Visions, set before the Transformers take their war to Earth.
The developers saw themselves creating a prequel to the Generation 1 cartoon, and as such, the look, characters and story of the game is steeped in Generation 1 and its lore. Hasbro, however, made it part of the foundation for their new "modern continuity",[1][2] beginning with Transformers: Prime. The novel Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron, adapts the game's events, presenting a version of the story that draws on elements from all across Transformers history in accordance with the new production bible Hasbro has produced to guide this new continuity family's writers. [3]
A sequel is in development and is set to release in 2011.[4]
Versions
- The standard version of the game, and the one most publicized, was made available for two out of three of the main consoles and the PC with few changes between each.
- The Wii version, titled Transformers: Cybertron Adventures, was handled by Next Level Games, and was developed as an on-rails shooter with some driving sections.
- The DS version, developed by Vicarious Visions, was released in Autobot and Decepticon incarnations, with numerous exclusive characters in each. Hasbro also released special codes unlocking a character in the decepticon version, which can be found in toys from the modern toyline.
Featured Characters
Transformer references
- Steve Blum does his best Victor Caroli impression for his role of the narrator. (way to go, Steve.)
- A variety of callbacks to The Transformers: The Movie:
- Ironhide greets the space slug with the universal greeting, like Kup did so in the classic movie. Warpath was baffled at this "greeting".
- In the Kaon prison, an Autobot is pronounced guilty and pushed off a gantry into a pit. He responds with "Spare me this mockery of justice!", quoting Kranix during his trial on Quintessa. Just like the movie!
- Rumble repeats another line from the movie: "First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside!" Now that was my favorite movie referance.
- When Starscream declares himself as Decepticon leader, Megatron mumbles "I still function!." Also a movie reference.
- The Punch of Kill Everything is a multiplayer Leader Class ability and a Soldier class upgrade. What a laaaaaaame name. Unless it does what it says, of course.
- When Skywarp calls Thundercracker 'ugly' he replies "we look the SAME.. Hmmm.
- Stan Bush's BotCon 2007 theme song, "Till All Are One (Transformers Theme music)" is used in the credits, and the special thanks describe the families that were involved "rock like Stan Bush".
- Air Raid has fun at exploiting Silverbolt's fear of heights. (Jeez, Silverbolt! You transform into a PLANE!)
- The in-game menu for stat tracking and leaderboards is called Teletraan 1.
- When Ironhide asks Optimus how he knows Megatron, Optimus replies that it is a story for another time. I wonder if he remembered...
- Pretty much all the Achievement/Trophy names are references to other parts of Transformers history, mostly G1.
- The ones for completing the campaign chapters include Dark Awakening, Starscream's Brigade, A Prime Problem, The Last Prime, You Got The Touch, The War Within, and Till All Are One.
- Gameplay names include Thief in the Night, Fire in the Sky, Chaos Bringer, Motormaster!, Devastator!, Brute-a-kiss!, Slugfest, Powerglide Performer, First we crack the shell..., Blast-a-rachnia and Ramhorn.
- Autobots and Decepticons alike are heard to swear by 'Primus', confirming his 'existence'.
- Trypticon has a 'conversion cog' that controls his transformation, and is probably a less 'branded' term for G1's transformation cog.
- The energon cubes bear strong resemblance to the Allspark cube.
- The game's Rocket Turret, when ripped from its mounting, is named the "Nucleon Shock Cannon" on the HUD. A better version of Ion, maybe?
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 Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Megatron and Soundwave. At Toy Fair 2010, they were confirmed to be part of the Generations toyline. At BotCon 2010 they said they would like to make more, and that Starscream (and likely other Seekers) are at the top of the list if they decide to produce more figures from the game.
Fiction
Comic adaptation
IDW Publishing published a War for Cybertron comic based on the game. News of this first got leaked when Australian website JB Hi-Fi offered a free copy of issue 1 if you pre-ordered the game from them. [11] Later, it was available for those that purchased either the PS3 or Xbox versions of the game at Sears or Kmart in America. The story is a partial adaptation of the Exodus book. [12]
The cover artist is revealed to be Marcelo Matere, who updated his DeviantArt gallery with the inked version, [13] with Priscilla Tramontano as colorist. [14] Alex Irvine and Don Figueroa are writing and drawing, respectively. [12]
Prose
- Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron - This tie-in novel explores the relationship between Orion Pax and Megatron before the war.
- Bumblebee at Tyger Pax - An unofficial short story billed as the tale of Bumblebee losing his voice.
Online
- Transformers War For Cybertron Timeline - Hasbro's official online timeline for the War for Cybertron. It basically outlines the events in Exodus up until the time Megatron discovered Dark Energon and directs you to the video game to find out what happens next.
Gallery
-
Surface of Cybertron -
Bumblebee fires his weapon. -
Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Prime in battle. -
Omega Supreme attacks a platoon of Decepticons. -
Starscream and Megatron get ready for the ground assault. -
More Decepticons! -
Soundwave sneaks around. -
Oh Primus.
-
Prime will destroy the title. He hears what people want.
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. |
However, when Activision began releasing more information on the game and the release date was closing in, this teaser feature was removed.
References
- ↑ 2009 TFW2005 interview with Aaron Archer and Matt Tieger
- ↑ "The official story of the original 13 and specifically Alpha Trion has not been explored fully in the modern continuity that Transformers War for Cybertron, Exodus, and Prime are a part of." Hasbro Q&A/September 2010: Answers.
- ↑ BotCon 2010 coverage at TFW2005
- ↑ TFW2005 Coverage Of Hasbro Investor Day November 2010
- ↑ Twitter post by Johnny Yong Bosch confirming his role as Bumblebee.
- ↑ Bestbuy.com preorder page featuring a special Jazz trailer
- ↑ Amazon.co.uk page with Jazz
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 First Transformers: War For Cybertron DLC Contains All Three Preorder Characters, Kotaku.com, July 3 2010
- ↑ Amazon.com preorder page featuring a special Demolishor trailer
- ↑ Image from Hasbro's June 22, 2010 news, on War for Cybertron
- ↑ TRANSFORMERS: WAR FOR CYBERTRON (Bonus Comic Book)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Transformers: War For Cybertron #1 Information and Team Revealed
- ↑ Inks-only comic cover at Marcelo's DA gallery
- ↑ Colored cover at Priscilla's DA gallery
