To say that my kids and I are Transformers fans is putting it mildly. Through the years, we have enjoyed countless hours of Transformers on TV, at the movies, and in comic books. As far as video games go, the Transformers brand has been a real mixed bag, ranging from the decent PS2 game to the awful 2007 movie tie ins all the way up to the sublime War for Cybertron. When we finished up the campaign in the latter, our thirst for the Transformers’ heavy metal war was unquenched, and so we decided to rent Cybertron Adventures for the Wii.
Anyone who has played War for Cybertron can feel the Gears of War influence throughout. Cybertron Adventures changes these gears totally, and is instead influenced by lightgun shooters like Time Crisis. It’s a common formula for the Wii, which is only natural since the Wii-mote is the perfect input device for such games. About 75% of the game is an on the rails shooter, heavy on the blasting; for the remainder, Cybertron Adventures is a vehicle-mode racer with a bit of light shooting mixed in. The combination works fairly well, tying in nicely with the conversion capabilities of the alien robots.
Graphically, the game uses the same general art style as that of War for Cybertron, with otherworldly alt modes and intricate transformations. Obviously, as a Wii title, Cybertron Adventures is not the same visual feast as its HD cousins, but the character models, at least, are moderately detailed and adequatelyl animated. Backgrounds fare far worse, and iin some places look quite plain, almost bare bones. There are a few bits of cel shading here and there, which doesn’t really match the rest of the style but was likely an attempt to cover up the Wii’s horsepower deficiencies.
As with most Transformers games, you can choose the Autobot or Decepticon campaigns. The storyline of each loosely matches that of War for Cybertron, but only very loosely. Autobot guardian Omega Supreme is absent from both the opening cinematic (otherwise the same as that of War for Cybertron) and in the game itself. There is no choice of which robot to use for each mission, which cuts down on the replay factor. After a level is completed in story mode, it’s unlocked for a challenge mode, where you can attempt to beat it again to earn what amounts to achievements. Playing through both campaigns took us five or six hours at most. The game is quite short, though this is not unusual for the genre.
As far as the co-op is concerned, Cybertron Adventures is best summed up as “meh”. Player 2 can drop in and out at any time, and controls a set of crosshairs, that’s it. Normally, this is quite frustrating, but since Player 1 doesn’t really have any control over the action either (except for ducking in and out of cover), the co-op doesn’t feel quite as lame as that of, say, the Wii Call of Duty series. During the driving and flying sections, Player 1 controls the movement of the Transformer, and Player 2 fires the weapons. This felt odd, and took some getting used to, but I suppose it does add a level of teamwork that otherwise is lacking.
I can’t really say that my time spent playing Transformers Cybertron Adventures was pointless, or a waste of time. However, this is primarily due to two factors: I am a big fan of the giant robots, and I didn’t buy the game at full retail price. Those with more sophisticated tastes should look to War for Cybertron instead, as there’s not much more here than meets the eye. I could see the very young, or more casual gamers enjoying the game, too, since it is fairly forgiving and very simple to control. For these folks, Transformers Cybertron Adventures is definitely worth a rental.