Transformers: War For Cybertron

We Review: Transformers: War For Cybertron

You know, sometimes I amaze even myself. I don’t know I did it, but I missed any advertising for Transformers: War for Cybertron. I missed the trailer at E3, didn’t notice the full page spread taken out in a local gaming magazine, nor did I catch any ads of TV. It’s not that I don’t like the Transformers but when I was a kid, the GoBots were my bots of choice but sadly they faded into mediocrity with the rise of the Transformers.

Transformers: War for Cybertron (hereby shortened to WFC) wasn’t even on my radar until the good folks at Megarom sent it over to me. I could have easily dismissed it as another money-making movie tie-in, but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen served that purpose and didn’t do such a great job.

WFC is different. For one thing, it’s not set on Earth so there’s no need for pithy humans who can’t act their way out of a paper bag, also (and more importantly) it’s a really good game. In WFC, developer High Noon Studios has taken the Transformers story back to their home world of Cybertron and explores the origins of an epic war that leads into the events of the 2007 movie. Malevolent Decepticon leader Megatron wants to return Cyberton to his version of a “golden age” and has discovered a new power source that will help him achieve his goals. It is up to the Autobots to prevent this at all costs. The battle lines are drawn and it’s time for you play your part. My review of WFC rolls out after the jump.

The “video games as art” debate has been going on for a while. Popular film critic Roger Ebert has long stated that video games could never be art but after a several thousand comments, he had to rethink this stance on the matter. He mentions this in his journal.

I was a fool for mentioning video games in the first place. I would never express an opinion on a movie I hadn’t seen. Yet I declared as an axiom that video games can never be Art. I still believe this, but I should never have said so. Some opinions are best kept to yourself.

I may not know much about art but I do know what I like. I think the creatives at video game companies, like artists, are from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. They too put so much time and love into making something that tries to leave an impression on you. And I appreciate their efforts as much as I would appreciate a Jackson Pollock, or Georges Seurat’s fine examples of pointillism, or Peter Paul Rubens’ baroque paintings.

Now a website dedicated to video game photography wonders whether screenshots from games could also be considered as an expression of art. Dead End Thrills say this is their type of photography.

An attempt to portray the drama, spectacle and beauty of games using angles and subjects beyond the player experience. The site’s mission is simple: to celebrate the medium, explore the unseen and fire the imagination.

Their most recent set of screenshots is taken from the surprisingly entertaining Transformers: War For Cybertron (our review is coming). Could these screenshots be art? Maybe, maybe not. But I like them and maybe you might like them too. Have a look at them after the jump.