Transformers: War for Cybertron

(Activision for Xbox 360)
By Mike Delano

Ah, the joys of the non-movie tie-in game. With consumers finally wising up to the fact that nearly all movie tie-in games are as disposable as a contest piece peeled from an Iron Man 2-branded Burger King soda cup, developers have started taking famous licenses and getting creative rather than scrambling to meet box office deadlines. Last year’s excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum didn’t need a new movie to launch alongside, and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands shunned the narrative and star power of the recent Disney movie in favor of its own look and storytelling. Transformers: War for Cybertron likewise carves its own path, free from association with last year’s (or next year’s) feature film, and it’s much better for it. It tells a Transformers origin story by way of a third-person action game, with your player-controlled Autobot or Decepticon fighting through waves of enemies, shoulder-to-shoulder with two A.I. or human cohorts. The writing for the single-player campaign does what the movies couldn’t and actually makes the characters and plot charming, while some inventive levels designs and plenty of stuff to do once the credits roll (a take on Gears of War 2‘s Horde mode and solid competitive multiplayer) add up to a satisfyingly well-rounded package.
(www.activision.com)