Transformers: Cybertron Adventures Review for Nintendo Wii

Transformers: Cybertron Adventures box art

System: Wii	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Next Level Games	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Activision	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: June 22, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

While the majority of the game consists of these on-rails shooter sections, long stretches are frequently broken up by small driving or flying segments. After your robot transforms, you are given limited direct control over their vehicle form’s movement, speed, and weapons. These portions are rather weak, having you either flying down tunnels or driving on roads with borders to keep you contained while blasting enemies or random debris. These segments are just so limited that you’ll never feel like you’re actually doing anything but being funneled to the next on-rails segment.

Transformers: Cybertron Adventures screenshot

Given the fact that all you’ll have to do to survive in Cybertron Adventures is to make sure to duck to recover your health every so often, it is mostly a breeze to make your way through the game, even on normal difficulty. The only exception to this rule comes from the random difficulty spikes artificially manufactured by the use of timers. For example, you’ll only be given a certain amount of time to take out a wave of enemies or a boss, with failure resulting in having to start again from the beginning. This doesn’t so much make the game more difficult as it does make it infuriating, especially when poor aiming and hit detection is often the cause for most delays.

You’re still given two campaigns, one as the Autobots and one as the Decepticons, but both are incredibly short and rather unremarkable. You can probably finish both in less than four or five hours total, with only a challenge mode to help add longevity to the title. However, this challenge mode is simply just the campaign with a series of secondary objectives to attempt to complete. The truth is you’ll likely not want to waste your time playing back through the game just to try to beat levels in a certain amount of time or destroy a certain number of debris while driving.

Cybertron Adventures is a truly a sad case. I’m all for putting out a different version of a game on the Wii, as long as it displays the same quality as those found on the HD consoles. Instead, this title just looks like a poorly thrown together afterthought that takes everything good about the HD versions and boils it into an uninteresting mess of tedium and dated graphics. We’re all aware that the Wii doesn’t have the horsepower of the Xbox 360 or PS3, but that’s still no excuse for a game that looks bad for a Dreamcast title.

By Adam Brown
CCC News Director

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

1.9

Graphics
This game would have looked dated ten years ago.

2.2

Control
While most of the controls are taken out of your hand, aiming and hit detection are a constant problem.

3.4

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
This is perhaps the lone bright spot of the game since the voice work sounds authentic.

1.7

Play Value
Repetitive, short, and uninteresting are good ways to describe the play experience found in Cybertron Adventures.

1.9

Overall Rating - Avoid
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Battle as the Autobots and Decepticons through two unique campaigns.

Original Missions designed exclusively for the Wii tell the untold story of Cybertron.

Team up with a friend in two player co-op to dominate the battlefield.