Fall of Cybertron – Closing Thoughts

That’s not to say I’m done playing the game, far from it, but I just finished the campaign on Hard last night (after focusing on Multi-player for a few weeks) and thought I would post my final impressions of the game.
To being with, let me just say, the War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron games have been something I have utterly and thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.  While I don’t like this whole “Aligned continuity” nonsense, I think the developers did a fantastic job of rebooting the main era of the Cybertronian Civil War, catering to G1 die-hards like myself, while still operating within Hasbro’s lame-o “Aligned” BS.

PLOT

I think the plot of Fall of Cybertron was very well executed.  Within the first half hour of game play, you really do feel the desperation of the Autobots, and the underlying tension of getting your task done on time, despite there not being an actual Timer counting down.

The Decepticon side is somewhat more complicated.  At first it seems somewhat similar, as your first forray into the fight is trying desperately to get back energon, but once the Combaticons form Bruticus, things shift into full gear and even on Hard, its quite difficult to be defeated as the big Hulking brute.   I do feel that the power struggle aspect between Megatron and Starscream seems off.  At first it was on par with Starscream’s usual power grab when Megatron was “dispatched”, but the fact that Starscream fought to keep control seemed a bit…pre-mature.

CHARACTERS

The characters included in Fall of Cybertron were, in my opinion, outstanding. I think everyone breathed  sigh of relief when Bumblebee was only the tutorial mission.  Controlling Optimus was a great way to warm up to the game, Jazz and Cliffjumper’s levels both felt distinctly unique due to their different game play styles but also the banter during each part was outstanding.  The Combaticon levels were fun, but I would have liked to have had the opportunity to play as all five, perhaps breaking up Vortex’s part into Vortex, Blast Off and Brawl, and Swindle into Swindle and Onslaught, ending with the combination into Bruticus.  Megatron is fun to play as, but felt a little boring.  Starscream’s section must have made a LOT of Starscream fans upset given how short it is, and frankly, the lack of Thundercracker and Skywarp was beyond painfully obvious.  I know they had to fit in the idea of “Aligned” Starscream from Prime, but still.  Meh.

Then there’s Grimlock.   I enjoyed playing Grimlock more than I enjoyed most of the other parts of the game.  For one, I

can’t begin to  explain how happy I was that they went with the more “Dark, Angry” Marvel-IDW Grimlock personality and not the goofy “Me Tarzan, and a cute pet” Grimlock from the G1 Cartoon.  The voice work was amazing, the Insecticons made a fantastic antagonist coupled with Shockwave, who Grimlock has gone up against in the comics quite a bit.   Just outstanding over all.

Multi-player

My favorite part, as usual, is the ability to customize your own Transformer for Multi-player matches.

I could tinker around with this all day.  I love trying to find the perfect match of parts to make the best looking ‘bot or ‘con I can.  My only gripe, and it’s the same as WFC, is the lack of color choices.  I understand the developers are somewhat limited, but could we at least get some White in there?

The classes are all distinct enough that it’s a nice varied feeling when choosing a different class, but unfortunately, my fighting style is based on speed and quick strikes, usually followed by transforming and bolting to a different area where i can regroup, but I’m stuck trying to level up my Destroyers and Titans to level 25 and I’m just rubbish with them.  I also fear the day they inevitably NERF the Gear Shredder.  I know I’ve cheesed off a lot of “Pros” launching a fully charged shot right at their pie-holes, lol.

DLC

A lot of players are miffed about the DLC.  Like WFC, there has been two DLC releases so far that are mainly just additional character pallets for MP, and the G1-G2 skins for Optimus and Bruticus.  I am MORE than fine with more part options for multi-player, but I do agree 10 bucks is a steep asking price for no new actual content.  There have been no new maps released, and I don’t think it would be so impossible as to design an “Earth” level or two.  They wouldn’t even have to add new G1 skins, just have them be an initial scouting mission or something for both sides, looking for alt-modes or whatever.  Just some ideas.  Charging premium prices for skin swaps is a bit weak, but I’m not going to complain seems we have Hound AND Ultra Magnus now.
OVERALL

Overall, I really love this game.  I can foresee coming back to play it many times, as I have with WFC, but I know it will be a long time before I’m done playing Multi-player.  Its addicting!

Anyone else have thoughts on the game?  Post away!