Interview: War For Cybertron

A short while ago I had the pleasure of talking to Activision’s James Bonti and grilled him about the forthcoming Transformers: War For Cybertron. James is the Associate Producer for the title and has previously worked on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as Brutal Legend, Scarface and Time Shift for other publishers.

TC: You used the Generation One (G1) characters within the game with the odd crib from newer TF universes such as Demolisher from Armada, but you seem to be avoiding any reference to the Michael Bay movies?

JB: The game is rooted in G1 then modernised up to what we think would be cool for today’s audience, the movies are separate.

TC: Some people may only know about the Transformers Movieverse or indeed not know much about Transformers at all. What would you say to them to get them interested in the game?

JB: Since the beginning High Moon wanted to make sure they had the core experience right so when you pick up the game the controls are going to feel familiar. You’re going to have challenging and different AI types, you’re going to have these epic ‘wow’ moments of ships falling or ramps and bridges collapsing as you jump across. High Moon really focussed on the right things so whether you are a Transformers fan or not, you’re going to enjoy this experience.

TC: Tell us more about the multiplayer..

JB: You can customise you character from one of four classes, Scout, Warrior, Scientist or Leader and they all have their own weapons and abilities. For example the Leader can ‘buff’ the offensive and defensive abilities of your team. You can level up to level 25 and unlock new weapons and abilities and you’re going to get a whole bunch of new stuff such as turrets and shield barriers.

TC: Does the game have a perks system?

JB: Yeah we do have a kill streak system so if you kill three, five or seven people without dying you get a kill streak. These layer on top of each other so they don’t just disappear if you don’t use one and each class has their own unique kill streak. For instance one is the ‘Omega Missile’ where you can shoot a missile and track that missile to the enemy, so you viewpoint changes to that of the missile. There is another kill streak that will highlight all the enemies by putting a triangle over them.

TC: What game modes are there in the multiplayer?

JB: We have the usual classic favourites, death match and team death match and a mode that is similar to capture the flag, but we also have the new modes that we are excited about. One of these is ‘Countdown to Extinction’ where there is a neutron bomb somewhere on the map, you have to get that, break through the enemy defences and then plant the bomb and once it blows up you get points.

TC: As you have both robots and vehicles are there any racing sections where you have to get from point A to point B within a specific time limit?

JB: There are specific driving sections but it’s more about avoiding obstacles or having cool elements that are ambience, as well as the ramps you have to jump. There are specific game play points for driving but as far as ‘Hey you have 30 seconds to reach here’, no, none of that.

TC: There are hundreds of characters within the Transformers universe, how did you choose which ones to feature?

JB: We discussed it with Hasbro and made user we got the most popular characters in, the ones it made sense to tell an origins story about, so we have Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave and Bumblebee. They are the core guys we wanted to tell an epic story about and then beyond that we went back to the philosophy of “OK, what are the characters that we need that are going to make the best game play experience?” Beyond the ‘Hey that’s a fan favourite lets just stick him in there’ we wanted to say ‘OK, even if he is a fan favourite, is he adding something to the game?”.

TC: Does the single player just concentrate on Optimus and Megatron?

JB: No, you learn how Optimus becomes a Prime which is obviously a big thing and also follow Megatron’s quest for power. You also get to see Prime’s first meeting with Bumblebee and you are going to learn how Starscream was a renegade rebel before he was an Autobot or Decepticon and how he ended up choosing the Decepticon side.

I think these story elements are cool whether you are Transformers far or not but they are especially cool if you are a Transformers fan!

TC: What engine is the game running on?

JB: It’s using the Unreal engine which is great, the guys were able to work on art and game design from the get go.

TC: Which platform was lead platform and are there any differences between the PS3 and Xbox versions, I’m sure you’re going to say no …

JB: The lead was on 360 but they pretty much got parity on both consoles by the end of development.

TC: There are a load of DLC characters that are available as pre-order bonuses. Will they be available to everyone in the end as paid for DLC?

JB: Right now we are not discussing DLC plans, sorry.

TC: Now the big question – Are the Dinobots in the game?

JB: *laughs* No, the Dinobots are not in the game.

TC: Awww!

JB: Hey, if we sell millions of copies anything is a possibility!

TC: Finally, who is you favourite character within the game?

JB: Soundwave because he is cool and efficient. Actually he is more focused in the game; there are some cool things about him that have never been revealed …

7 Comments

  1. Jazz?

  2. dinobots :D

  3. Awesome work TC, providing some more info on Transformers.
    I had never heard anything of the Warrior, but that sounds interesting.
    I do hope the perks aren’t overpowered (like MW2)

  4. Cant wait for this game, the demo is great :)

  5. I really hope that this turns out to be like an Arkham Asylum, in that a liscensed game done right :D

  6. I hope the combat will be a lot better than the last couple of transformers games, picking players off from across the maps with hip fire headshots gets VERY boring quickly

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