At E3 2012 in Los Angeles this past summer, I got to sit in on a special preview of developer High Moon Studio’s follow up to the stellar Transformers: War for Cybertron, titled Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. It was the first time that certain gameplay elements were revealed to the press.
“We worked closely with Hasbro,” an Activision rep explained as Brad Boyles, a 3D artist for High Moon showed us the gameplay. “We’ve created a ‘band of brothers’-type story with Optimus Prime, Jazz, Bumblebee, and Cliff Jumper. You get to see the story through their eyes.”
To kick off the preview, Boyles played a Starscream level that put heavy emphasis on the ability to transform, literally on the fly, depending on the situation. The level had plenty of in your face action as well as stealth elements.
Next up was the Grimlock demo. The Activision rep explained that High Moon and Hasbro together created a way to explain how a fire-breathing T-Rex ended up on Cybertron. The demo showcased Grimlock fighting wave after wave of Insecticons.
“Grimlock is a little bit different from other characters as he has to earn his transformation by killing stuff,” he explained. “He has a meter that fills up, and when full, then he can transform.” The level was intense with action that ended, as expected, with Grimlock changing into the T-Rex and bringing a whole new level of pain down on the lowly Insecticon swarm.
“There are a multitude of different characters to play in Fall of Cybertron,” he added, “and each one offers a different experience, a different power for the player to use. With Grimlock, he’s a fire-breathing T-Rex. With Optimus Prime, you can call down artillery strikes. Cliffjumper can cloak, and Bruticus is an 80 foot tall killing machine made up five different transformers.”
The last demo level we saw showed Metroplex, the city-sized Autobot working in conjunction with Optimus Prime to lay waste to the Decepticon horde. Optimus would call down pinpoint strikes, and Metroplex would launch the attacks. It was awe-inspiring seeing the massive, MASSIVE Transformer in the background as Prime fought through the level.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron continues the now-100% canon story that was established with 2010’s War for Cybertron, and was continued in a series of novels authorized by Hasbro to unify the overall Transformer mythos.
Lastly, it was revealed that Fall of Cybertron would feature the popular Escalation mode from War for Cybertron for four-player online co-op, as well as up to a six-on six (12 player total) multiplayer mode.
The fall of Cybertron has much to live up to in the eyes of Transformer fans. Building on the foundation of War for Cybertron, the game is poised to take the series to a whole new level. Regardless, Transformers fans are in for a great treat this upcoming week when Transformers: Fall of Cybertron hits stores.
Click here to purchase Transformers: Fall of Cybertron for Xbox 360 or PS3 at Amazon and earn an exclusive Bruticus (G2) to use in single-player mode.
