Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

[LadyTevar]

Why are you guys not talking about how AWESOME this game is yet?!?!?

War for Cybertron was fantastic for the look, for the gameplay, and for the script. Fall of Cybertron amps it to 11, and my god what a ride. The environments still suck you in, there's a huge feel of other people being busy while your character is doing his, and in many there is a sense of Time Limits, without having an actual ticking clock showing you how much is left. It's all in the radio chatter.

Then you have the PCs. Besides BumbleBee, Prime, and Vortex, you get to play Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Swindle, Cliffjumper (who's actually FUN), Jazz (and he's all Scatman), and of course Grimlock and Bruticus. The play changes with each character, so there's nothing repetitive about the missions, and the enemies have very good AIs. This is also why Using Cover is a strategy High Moon strongly suggests. These are not Stormtroopers, these mooks Can Kill You.

The Script. Once again, HighMoon doesn't miss a step. It's tight, covering just 6 days before the Ark launches, so there's urgency to get the job done. That doesn't mean there isn't funny comments, snark, and of course out-right tributes to the 80s series and Movie. Several of the visuals made me stop and say "Wait, what? I've seen that before.... HolyShit it's from the MOVIE!!" There's also some that are surprisingly "D'awww" moments, such as when you have the option for Soundwave to pet Lazerbeak.

Gameplay has improved, of course, as has the camera angles. The new weapons system (one normal, one heavy) gives a lot of flexibility to your firepower. Teletron not only lets you purchase more weapons, but allows upgrades to the ones you have on you, as well as offering Perks like extra health and better armor. Even better, the Perks transfer to whichever character you're controlling, so you don't have to re-purchase them. By the last huge Megs/Prime battle, the one you chose to play could be maxed out in scary ways.

Oh, yes. Spoiler. **YOU** chose who your Final Character is: Prime or Megatron. Either way, you're going to be in for the literal fight of your life, as these two are fully out to scrap the other and they are not holding back. It's edge of seat, cinematic, jaw-droppingly violent last-bot-standing action... and be damned if I can't wait for more.

So... yeah... why are you gamers NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME?

[Stark]

It's awful. The multi levels too fast and the maps are samey figure eights, the story is badly communicated (even for people who already knew what was happening), the level design of rooms wih three waves of spawns is crap, and the final level doesn't even match events in the first level. The storytelling is so bad that the intrinsically powerful story about leaving cybertron is sidetracked and misses almost every dramatic beat.

The final titanic clash between prime and megatron is so scripted you don't even need to be hitting the enemy to get the next cutscene.

[Vendetta]

Thinking about it more, as I've farmed some achievements and collectibles, the story pacing is really odd. The start of the game is all "this is last minute and urgency and we must complete the ark now and it is being shelled from all angles" and it is on the brink of destruction, but then we leave the ark where it was for like the whole game until suddenly we're back on it and being chased by the Nemesis.

Because it flits around between characters so much, and each set has a different feel to their environments and narrative (even if the gameplay is broadly similar outside of stealth bits or Grimlock, and even then when you get the upgraded lolcannon it's all the same anyway as you clear out rooms by spamming rockets at them, thoroughly defeating even the shotgunner's advanced strategy of "run towards you soaking up a million bullets and then two shot you"), it doesn't feel like the cohesive desperate struggle for escape that it could have been, it feels like the first two levels with the big desperate fight to protect the Ark should have been at the end, just before it actually launched.

And then on the last level despite the fact that you use like five different characters in one level that does feel like a cohesive narrative and it's actually cool and mildly thrilling. (If unchallenging when you're Soundwave and you can send Rumble to spawncamp the Autobots to death)


Also a pity that only, like two of the guns are any good at all, and one of them is so good that once you have it literally every other gun in the game feels useless.


Oh yeah, and this game features the first known instance of you laser designating targets for your giant robot buddy who then walks over and punches them. Laser guided punching is mildly entertaining, but really...

[Stark]

The last level combined the fun of having good guns with the fun of doin stuff that wasn't 'walk around with finger in ear like gears'. It could only have been improved by using the cartoon sound effect when changing sides.

Doot doot dootoot DOOOOOOT.

Everyone I know that played it has returned it and agrees that the Megatron level was the best even as it totally destroys the character drama with trivial resurrection, even more than prime just letting every named Decepticon go for no reason.

[CaptHawkeye]

Oh there's totally a reason, IE: maintaining irrelevant continuity with a 30 year old cartoon series.

Things have...changed. The single player is more coherent this time around but playing through it that seems to feel more like a curse than a blessing. Perhaps the bizarre sort of confused mess that was War for Cybertron's SP worked in it's favor because you could ignore the shit story. It had coops. MP was where the game shined, with loads of customization, decent balance and interesting mechanics at play between the mobility-focused shooter gameplay.

Now SP received more attention to the detriment of multi. The balance has been totally thrown out of whack and as a result aspects of the gameplay have been thrown out completely. Grenades have been removed for example...ONLY FOR THE PLAYER. The AI still gets to use them because balancing takes work I guess and who wants to do that?

[Stark]

You're only halfway, Hawks. You haven't seen the biggest story lols yet.

Did you like the move away from victory and desperation to a sideline about cyber tomb raider? Hope so - it's a third of the game!

[CaptHawkeye]

I did not. I forgot i'm playing a game about a war.

The ancient cybertronian bits are so typical of a storyline that's all fan service and no substance. Their ALWAYS has to be an ancient race of super advanced robots right? Even on a planet of AN ANCIENT RACE OF SUPER ADVANCED ROBOTS.

Super advanced being relative of course the Decepticon PR department has their hands full rationalizing pretty much everything Megatron does.

[Vendetta]

Man, Megatron's whole schtick in this game can only be explained by him actually being a petulant five year old. Everything he wants to achieve in this game (only available in audio logs, not actual, y'know, plot scenes) would be far easier if he just let the Autobots fuck off and stop bothering him. Then he can go and harvest the energon of as many planets as he wants to restore Cybertron. But no, because he's actually five he can't tolerate any dissent or disagreement, everything has to go his way or he'll scream and cry.

And, y'know, Starscream could have had a reason for doing what he does if he'd pointed this out. Except he's an even bigger wanker when he's in charge.

[Stark]

Most of the plot only works if you use the other sources of fannishness in anyway. Why is Jazz talking jive when he apparently does that because he loves Earth culture? Why is nobody really that surprised by Metroplex, saying 'where'd he come from' and not 'HOLY JESUS A 400 FOOT ROBOT WHERE THE FUCK HAS HE BEEN WHILE WE ALL GOT FUCKING KILLED'? Why is Starscream a jibbering crybaby idiot when he was running a super advanced dark energon station that transformed into a huge dinosaur earlier? How did Shockwave have enough time to get to earth and make thoughtful notes of kewl dinosaurz when the tower exploded and he built another one seemingly hours later? Why does Prime let the guys about to literally exterminate his entire faction go free, and then decide to murder Megatron after he's popped the boy wonder? What the fuck happened to Omega Supreme? Why did the Trypticon harvesting computer have a 'turn him into space battleship as large as the Ark on which all our hopes rest' button? How much sense does it make for the ancient space empire of scifi cliches to have existed barely a thousand years earlier? Why is the only environmental badness going on there because of the CITY OF RUST and not because (as we are told) Cybertron is dying and becoming uninhabitable? Why are guys dying left and right, when you just have to plug their bits back together and shoot them with a lightning gun and they're totally fine?

Almost the only character stuff that worked was the Jazz/Cliffjumper stuff and the Combaticons being actual soldiers (and thus a set apart from the moustache-twirling maniacs that make up the rest of his faction).

[CaptHawkeye]

I was absolutely sure Starscream was about to say something along the lines of "Let us live Optimus, and I promise the Decepticons will stop attacking the Ark". That would have actually been good, and would have made Starscream more than "that robot megatron shot all the time".

The entire game is literally built on a bunch of 1 note characters who's personalities weren't just inspired by an 80s cartoon serial, they were ripped straight from it. That's cool if you're like....still 10 years old.

[Stark]

Indeed, why DIDN'T he say that? He didn't seem to care about any of the Autobot's platform. Then again, maybe the deceptions were running out of fuel too. He seemed to want to steal the fuel back simply out of petulance. Then again, build a stargate tower in a side project = probably not running out of fuel like the Autobots.

[Vendetta]

Look buddy, when you're as smart as Shockwave is you only need to play with some incomparably advanced ancient technology the like of which your species has never seen before for days to figure out how to build an exact working duplicate.

In the middle of your capital city.

With no-one noticing.

In six days.

Y'know, they would probably have been better off having Shockwave straight up invent the Space Bridge, because then we wouldn't have to have stupid ancient civilisations that add nothing to the lore except fanservice for both people that care and there would have been a rationale for there to be a spare/prototype/whatever.

[Stark]

The space bridge only seems to exist as a fanservice explanation for why they go straight to Earth anyway. The tranformers obviously have planets in range or FTL, because they are shown fleeing in quite small craft. The Ark is just big and fast.

To avoid actually having science fiction themes like space travel or exploration, just show a Hologram Map Room and say Shockwave already picked a spot.

[Vendetta]

The space bridge only seems to exist as a fanservice explanation for why they go straight to Earth anyway. The tranformers obviously have planets in range or FTL, because they are shown fleeing in quite small craft. The Ark is just big and fast.

To avoid actually having science fiction themes like space travel or exploration, just show a Hologram Map Room and say Shockwave already picked a spot.

Look, you have to get your robits that transform into totally earth vehicles to earth somehow in order to validate the existence of vehicle modes.

And since all the reviews of this game were hyper-uncritical I am sure we will see a sequel, which can be on Earth now. Although since this game appears to have forgotten the whole Dark Energon business (didn't that make robit zombies in Prime, and wasn't Prime supposed to be part of this new continuity with wfc/foc, are we doing that now? has that been forgotten? Does anyone care?) Who knows what they'll do next.

[Stark]

I think we should just be thankful the CITY OF RUST wasn't a zombie level. I mean, Shockwave apparently invented insecticons and let them take over whole areas (to the point where other decepticons are trying to contain them) without anyone noticing or caring, so we're deep in the realm of 'throw plot elements out and see what sticks'. Cybertron is now a series of barely linked theme levels, and not a planet torn by war with shifting frontlines and complex allegiances with a recent history of terrible war crimes.

And I haven't seen a single review that mentions Sleeping Dogs' appalling characterisation of women either.

[Vendetta]

Man, I'm gonna have to drag this off topic now, but I saw a video of the mission in Sleeping Dogs where you stalk that woman you had sex with once ever, and that shit is bizarre. I mean does it add anything to the character? Are we meant to view our protagonist as a weirdo sex-pest? And why do reviews not address this sex pest based gameplay?

[Stark]

I think they must have cut stuff or communicated the relationship to writers really poorly. She's a 'hostess' who blows you once and disappears from the game for hours, then returns in time to give you a clue and have your guy set up the bizarre stalking level, where both characters act like they had an actual relationship and not a karaoke session happy ending. Wei Shen is just a giant fuckwit who treats the 'signs of an abusive boyfriend' as a how-to guide.

But it's ok, audio logs reveal she was a huge slut anyway so she deserved it!

No, I'm serious.

[Executor32]

Is that the one that comes up next to your first apartment after you 'date' both her and Not Ping? I gave that a pass because I didn't know if I'd lose the icons on my minimap after 'breaking up' with her. I already had Face Level 10 by then, anyway.

[Stark]

I'm not sure how that's relevant to the game's wholesale breakdown of women into 'sluts' and 'sex slaves' but ok?

Vendetta, find a video of the mission where, after his sister kills herself because of being forced into prostitution, he gives an illegal immigrant sex slave to a human trafficker to see what happens. It's amazing.

[Executor32]

It's not, I was just wondering if that was the mission in question.

[Stark]

It totally is. The later stuff isn't avoidable either; I missed the human trafficking by but you can't miss the working with triads to keep women trapped in sexual slavery stuff.

Remember, he's driven by revenge for what happen to his sister. Right?

[CaptHawkeye]

Man on Cybertron's writing I thought of this thing at work after remember some dialouge Megatron had in the first game with some minions. Starscream was telling the Autobots to fuck off after they were trying to take the station he was supervising and Megatron was actually impressed by this. It's a big deal for Megatron to feel that away about anyone else.

Work off of that. Set the Decepticon storyline about the initial partnership Starscream and Megatron have leading the Decepticons because they're both so arrogant and ambitious they seem to go well together. As both game's progress their relationship starts to sour because they're naturally competitive types and after some of Meg's plans go awry Starscream starts his whole "usurp Megatron" shtick.

Meanwhile, when Optimus and Bumble Bee meet they basically hate eachother. Bumble Bee's impulsive nature sort of goes against Prime's modesty. As the games go on their friendship gets stronger though because they both innately believe in the "blah blah Freedom for all" thing with Prime sort of grooming BB as his successor should he fall.

Better character arcs thought up in 3 hours than what it took a whole team of guys at High Moon to think up in 2 years.

[LadyTevar]

First, if you were paying attention, the Ancient Race was the one who'd studied Earth, and Shockwave was just going off their data.

[Vendetta]

That much was obvious, however I don't think anyone was confused as to where the data came from. Starks was merely disappointed that the presence of an instant teleporter to Earth means they can gracefully avoid anything that might have been interesting making its way into the Transformers franchise. (I maintain that Animated is the only one that does anything interesting, because of all the things it does different to the other continuities).

And the whole ancient civilisation itself being a problem, since it isn't necessary for the core backstory of the WFC continuity, which is Megatron as the great revolutionary leader against a rigid and arbitrary caste system who eventually becomes a tyrannical madman, and Optimus as one of his most ardent supporters repulsed by his descent into tyranny. (I mean holy shit, it's a good thing you have to read the novels and comics to get that story, wouldn't want to do anything interesting with these characters. I mean this could even help to explain Megatron's actions, the irrationality of which aforementioned, because his emnity with Optimus is based on personal betrayal, and we wouldn't want our Transformers to make sense, would we). It's cruft, plain and simple, just as the space bridge is cruft, the insecticons and dinobots are cruft. They're just great big plot warts that were thrown in for reasons of fanservice because transformers fans expect that shit and damn the narrative consequences.

[Stark]

No I'll admit I didn't listen to the heaps of console audios in shockwave's lab and had assumed he'd already reactivated it and made journeys. That he hasn't just makes there being a brand new tower elsewhere even stranger given the resource problems.

The ancient race empire thing is particularly strange because it's a funny empire that finds a planet with heaps of resources and ignores it, and the fluff round everyone being totally unaware of it and there beig one city left is jus bizarre in context of their huge long term war.