[Mirai Gen]

Just wrapped up the campaign. I'm seriously in love with this game.

I mean I know everyone's expecting that reaction out of me but it went so far above and beyond what I had expected in so many ways. Partly I think it's the graphics as they have this absolutely stellar way of meshing the darker, more obsidian-like metal rather than the pristine/shiny that you'd be expecting. The look of Cybertron and the Transformers themselves is so Goddamn awesome I don't even know how to put it into words.

I invite you, for a moment, to stop during segments and just hold still. Most TPS games would have a character stand and just breathe, giving them an inactive stance. Since robots don't breathe at all this was tossed out and instead their gears and plates shift around in place, like they were muscles that the Transformers are twitching or adjusting. It's that kind of attention to detail that really makes this game go from great to excellent.

Shooting is pretty tight and intuitive and I like the selection of guns, even if it gets a bit archetypical with the sawed-off shotgun being the EMP Shotgun and the six-round combat shotgun being the Scatter Blaster, etc, but I did dig lots of the unique weapons such as the Plasma Cannon or the Null Ray sniper rifle.

What WFC boils down to is a superior version of Gears of War. Instead of holding a gun and shooting dudes you're a robot shooting dudes and pretty much at any point you can summon a barrier or create an AOE health drain or buff your allies, and if you feel like going to another location turn into a fucking jet or sportscar or truck and relocate yourself. Even inside both jets and sportscars you can shift left to right to avoid getting shot, and it really makes for some intense online deathmatch games. This is one of the few games I've seen such insane attention to the overall control and gunplay that works fluidly both within the campaign and multiplay.

Normally with these kinds of games they get maybe halfway done with the shooting and all the weapons then have to put in the alternate modes, so level design and boss fights and enemy AI gets sloppy and it becomes a mediocre experience, but just about everything is polished to mirror sheen. The game occasionally gets brutal - snipers especially can shred you to pieces - but it only really happens lategame and even then just keep your eyes peeled.

The scale of warfare seems to be happening all around you, and it keeps getting more intense as you go. The whole 'war for cybertron' thing is seriously a focal point of the game, which is appreciated since some games totally miss on that pretty crucial aspect.

The 'Con campaign starts out kind of ho-hum but the boss fights and arenas really ramp up starting with Megatron vs Omega Supreme way at the end, and only accented when the Autobot campaign ramps up and you're soon firing turrets on the back of giant techno-slugs, then fighting Starscream and finally Trypticon. Feels like much of the focus went to the Autobot campaign, and while I admit it feels cool to wreck all the havoc as Megatron, Brawl, Soundwave, and the Seekers then have to clean it up as Optimus, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and the Aerialbots, I do feel a bit let down.

There's a few times when the graphics really take some getting used to, as the only way you can be sure you're shooting at an enemy is either if they have overshields or because their bodies glow orange(Bot) or purple(Con). There's also some environment recycling but it gets better when you get into the jet missions which are just as cool as they sound.

Fanservice is seriously all over the place. Every Goddamn detail they could have put in was put in, from big-name stuff like Soundwave sitting on a throne petting Laserbeak (Soundwave's boss fight rules BTW), to Autobot home base Iacon One, to Jetfire temporarily working for the Decepticons, to the Decepticon prison /processing camp Kaon, it's sprinkled all over with the kind of geeky shit I get hard over.

Story's not exactly terrific; some good moments here and there with a nice bit of characterization for most of the smaller characters who come along with you, but really if you want to know the full story just go pick up the comic book Transformers: War Within because that's basically all it is. When you finish the game you even get an achievement called War Within, so it's not like they didn't know.

There's tons of other shit too but it's going to be in a review in time, I just am really impressed by how much love and attention went into this. Half Moon Studios, pants off. I owe you this one.