Transformers PC Games Review - War for Cybertron and Revenge of the Fallen

The pc versions of the Transformers popular console games have met with varying levels of success. There was a whole lot of anticipation for Transformers The Game when Activision announced it's release in 2007, with riveting game trailers depicting all-out action between the Autobots and Decepticons. Adhering to a common thread in video games these days, you could actually choose whether you want to campaign as an Autobot, or a Decepticon. Transformers: The Game didn't quite live up to the hype, as the graphics came through in a somewhat glitch-prone, although still quite fun, game. You can download the entire game here in the link further down.

As was expected, 2009s Transformers 2 blockbuster ushered in a sequel to Transformers: The Game: Revenge of the Fallen. It improved vastly on its predecessor, with lightning sharp graphics and gameplay that felt like you were controlling it, and not the other way around. While still hampered by a few technical problems, the riveting and sizable multi-player function more than made up for it; it can get so involved that you hardly even notice the bad. A few minutes learning the controls (these graphic-intensive games aren't for the impatient!) before going on one of the two huge campaigns is more than worth it, to save time later on. Possibly the most difficult thing about playing Revenge of the Fallen is transforming between your Transformer robot mode, and vehicle (car or aircraft) mode. Of course, this was nearly maddening in Transformers The Game, so we expected it to be hard. However, unlike its predecessor, it gets much, much easier as the game wears on, until you're practically as good as Starscream, himself!

The most enjoyable aspect of Revenge of the Fallen is its sheer familiarity. The Transformers are richly detailed (usually) and follow the movie's plot refreshingly accurately. The power wielded by each robot is impressive, to say the least, and you can transform into a robot, vehicle, or an actual weapon. Wait until you get a load of the firepower available in the last incarnation!

Transformers War for Cybertron improved on Revenge of the Fallen, garnering, for the first time in the series of movie-inspired games, mostly positive reviews. Although the robots were rather unfamiliar, due to use of their Cybertronian forms (as opposed to how we Earthlings see them), and the extra bulk they swung around in battle mode, the gameplay put all such complaints firmly to rest. Many reviewers called it "simply amazing", as War for Cybertron took care of all the frame-rate issues and choppiness of Revenge of the Fallen. They improved on the ability to transform; now you can do it instantly and easily at any time you choose, while maintaining full-weapons-functionality. When you include the recurring multiplayer mode, War for Cybertron becomes nearly as good as HALO.

Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon is coming to a theater near you on July 1st. In keeping with the previous movie releases, a new Transformers game will be released shortly before the movie: Dark of the Moon. As for gameplay, it has gotten progressively better with each generation, and while we should expect no less from the coming installment, with High Moon studios at the helm. For Transformers video game lovers, Dark of the Moon is a definite must, although the information is that there wont be a PC version this time around, unfortunately; it's only for consoles.