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That inconvenient truth about games based on films being rubbish is something High Moon Studios is trying to avoid. After developing last year’s Transformers: War for Cybertron, which has the impressive if nebulous acclaim of being the most “highly-rated game that’s had the Hasbro brand”, the studio continues to toil away with a new Transformers video game influenced by the upcoming third film in the Michael Bay franchise, developed a prequel rather than a clone of the flick itself.
The game sets up the events of Bay’s upcoming movie with a premise that has the foolish denizens of Earth sceptically doubting the return of the Decepticons. It’s been three years since their last sighting and all is well, but things quickly degrade into a cross-continental battle that has the Autobots and Decepticons shuttling between Detroit, South America, and Siberia.
Currently being featured is the Stealth Force mechanic, the headliner in the game’s combat system that allows for slightly more multifaceted transformation than in previous games. This gives you the ability to partially transform, adding an additional robotic form to your repertoire which incorporates protruding weapons onto your typical vehicle mode, along with the ability to strafe mid-combat.
The result is that hideous journalist buzzword: fluid. But it’s also an attempt to iron out the creases seen in the previous game’s vehicular combat; a system where aiming was often imprecise. Strafing is now accompanied by lock-on targeting built to satiate frustrated fans.
But it’s the actual level design that in reality seems to carry the most interest, with missions crafted around the abilities of individual playable Transformers.
Soundwave becomes part of a tag-team with vulture recon robot Laserbeak in a platform-centric zone that has you regularly switching between characters. Starscream, who transforms into an aircraft, becomes the leading character within a dogfight mission. Autobot ninja-alike Mirage is given the stealth missions where he occasionally melees foes using his arm blades.
It’s surprisingly varied, although clearly in danger of stretching itself thin by catering to so many different styles of gameplay. With no particular focus in terms of the type of game it’s attempting to be, Dark of the Moon is already broadcasting a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None quality”.
Two of the main environments shown, Detroit and South America, however, seem to veer to the other end of the spectrum by focusing on staple game environments. The jungle setting, says the developer, is an attempt to contrast the visually mechanical nature of the robots with the earthiness of the jungle. It’s an impressively academic approach to environment design, but seems to only offer some additional rugged terrain to the game.
Detroit itself is a car-park metropolis, with the streets burning and writhing with robots hiding in vehicle form. As the car manufacturing capital of the country this becomes the perfect arena for cat and mouse combat, and is designed to literalise the idea of robots in disguise, and it has the potential to offer something interesting.
High Moon Studios is remaining tight lipped about multiplayer, but considering the positive feedback the mode received in War for Cybertron, some form of competitive play is likely to rear its head. With any luck the main campaign will sidestep the standard issues of film tie-ins, but as of yet it’s too early to tell.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is due for release on Xbox 360 and PS3 in June. Behaviour Interactive is developing unique versions for Wii, 3DS and DS.
