The old model gets upgraded but little else
Despite games such as Spider-Man 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, licensed games tend to fall into 2 categories: they're god awful and easily phoned in and cashing in on the latest movie or TV craze. And then there's the others where they're just decent and nothing too offensive but just enough to at least be playable and people can get some enjoyment out of it. High Moon made a surprising entry into the rare 3rd category where it's not only a good licensed game period but a good game just by itself. War for Cybertron turned out to be a really fun game that, despite its faults and dwindling multiplayer community, managed to nail the Transformers feel and be enjoyable to play. Naturally, a sequel will come into the picture and the adage of "bigger and more badass" can hold true here but it does have a tendency to shoot itself in the foot which is really unfortunate. There's a huge spectacle campaign, the addictive horde mode variant and the surprisingly enjoyable multiplayer, it's just that there's so much it does right that the wrongs stand out more than you want them to.
The battle of the Autobots versus the Decepticons have left their planet Cybertron ravaged and unable to sustain the factions and so Autobot leader Optimus Prime has decided to try to find a new planet that would be able to sustain them. The Decepticons, led by Megatron, either want submission or the defeat of the Autobots. The game will then shift perspectives as each faction attempts to obtain the power and means to get off the planet and stop the Decepticons from attempting to destroy any more worlds.
What makes the gameplay of this game more compelling is that it's got really big moments from commanding a massive robot to tear down energy turrets to piloting a helicopter character in a massive room to its, for lack of a more original word, epic, ending. This game has so much set-pieces that it never seems to get tiresome and lots of the action is quite exhilarating to play. While the omission of campaign co-op is an unfortunate one, playing through the gameplay part of the campaign is a joy. Being able to call down massive airstrikes in one level, do a bombing raid with Vortex, switch to melee, shockwave a group of dudes and fly back into the air...you can't not feel a sense of excitement about it all. And although the level design isn't a whole lot different from each other with a lot of metallic hallways and futuristic building designs, the variety helps the game distinguish itself from the repetitive feel of War for Cybertron's campaign.
But then again, Fall of Cybertron does have its faults in that in games of this ilk you have cases where you play by reacting: something new is happening on-screen and you react accordingly and whether you die or make it through, you felt like your decisions kept you alive. And then there's this game and like so many others, you learn how to beat a room by learning through a death as in "oh NOW I know not to go here because these 2 shotgun guys completely tear me apart" or "don't go here or it spawns a whole host of dudes and makes staying alive really hard". It's happened more than once in the campaign where you sort of learn-by-death and while the campaign is not difficult, it's an annoying kind of challenging.
One change added to the campaign was the addition of the Teletraan store where you can equip different weapons, add useful equipment such as shield barriers or a deployable floating turret and upgrading the weapons to have faster reload, more ammo etc. It's kind of a curious addition but it adds a bit of customization since there was some weapons I didn't care for using and unlike prior games where I had to find it then stick with it, here I can just equip anything I want. The community can also vote on which one's are the most useful and they actually saved me quite a few times and they can even provide free health and ammo refills if you buy the appropriate perk.
Another change is that there's no separate campaign for each faction and you can't choose your own character either so the Jazz level is specifically only him, ditto for the Starscream or Optimus levels. This helps make the story feel like a more complete whole and shifting perspectives keeps things interesting but it can also lead to a weird sensation to the player (least it did for me) where I'd accomplish something really useful for the Autobot team in one level, and then the next level I'm taking control of a Decepticon attempting to stop that very same victory. It can lead to cool moments such as the finale where you're shifting smoothly from different characters in opposite factions but it was odd trying to sabotage the very same goals I was just playing.
Escalation returns where you and up to 3 other players take on waves of robots with increasing difficulty. Each robot you control can come with its own special ability such as an ammo-refilling beacon, a heal ray or a deployable automatic drone and of all the Horde type variants that's not Horde mode, Escalation is certainly up there (along with Firefight and Zombies). The action can get really frantic and being able to open up new areas and getting access to better equipment is balanced out with giving new areas for enemies to spawn and come at you. An unfortunate thing (at least on PC) is that the community is rather small and more than once I've had a host migration only to be completely alone in the lobby ready to take on the wave, which naturally I'm ill-equipped for.
Multiplayer runs into a similar story where finding a game can be problematic but once you actually get into a game and get full teams going does the Transformers online really make its mark. While other games attempt an online suite and usually does it poorly, High Moon takes the Call of Duty progression, adds some robo-customization and gives it a class-based structure which can make for some incredibly dynamic matches. From flying scientists to big burly tanks and sneaky stealth infiltrators, it's enjoyable enough to be played for awhile but probably be abandoned after a few months.
One thing I should mention is that I managed to get this game gifted to me but even then, I'd still recommend a purchase but maybe not full price. The campaign is exciting yet annoying, escalation is addicting-as-hell yet barren and multiplayer is a nice addition but again, was hard to get full matches going. It's one of those sequels that doesn't eclipse its predecessor but rather runs parallel with enough strengths and flaws to keep them about even.
