E3 2011: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

With licensed titles, we're all understandably skeptical of the idea of a cool multiplayer component. With the upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon game, players should be paying attention. Last year, Transformers: War for Cybertron offered one of the most interesting multiplayer experiences around. It was fast, violent, dynamic... and no one played it.

Of course, the same could be said for War for Cybertron -- while it was received reasonably well critically, it didn't sell so great. This kind of thing is the kiss of death for a multiplayer community, and the player base for War for Cybertron dried up rather quickly. Developer High Moon's hope with Transformers: Dark of the Moon is that its immediate tie-in to the fast-approaching third Transformers film will get it more attention than its spiritual predecessor. After spending about half an hour with Transformers: Dark of the Moon's multiplayer, which borrows heavily from War for Cybertron's, I'm hoping for the same thing
Put simply, Transformers: Dark of the Moon's multiplayer is everything that War for Cybertron's was. On the surface, it's a familiar combination of the class-based play of a game like Battlefield Bad Company 2 or Team Fortress 2 with the killstreak and perk emphasis of Call of Duty. One immediately apparent change from War for Cybertron to Dark of the Moon is a sort of de-prioritization of the support classes. The specialized role of Scientist from War for Cybertron is gone. In its place High Moon have reclassified flying characters as Hunters.

Otherwise, the classes from War for Cybertron are mostly untouched. There are the speedy Recon characters, now Scouts, that can skirmish quickly but can't take much punishment; the Leader class is now the Commander, who have friendly buff special abilities and a good mix between mobility, armor, and power; and finally, the Warrior class (formerly Soldiers), who bring the heaviest firepower to bear but suffer from the worst comparative mobility.

That's the other major thing about Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the thing that sets its multiplayer apart from virtually everything else out there. Every player can freely shift between robot and vehicle forms, lending a mobility and combat versatility to every combatant that steps over and above every other shooter out there. There's a constant calculation required, forcing you to decide what form and what strategy is best suited to the situation at hand.

In practice, Transformers: Dark of the Moon's multiplayer plays out like a combination of Unreal and Tribes. Levels are asymmetric and have major altitude differences that force you to keep your eyes moving up and down as well as left to right, and the perks, which include abilities that might keep opposing players from using their abilities or transforming, add unpredictability to the mix. Like War for Cybertron, it's fast, fun, and violent.

Unfortunately, some of the balancing issues of War for Cybertron have carried over, as well. It seems clear playing Dark of the Moon that the class-based dynamics at play lend themselves particularly well to Conquest mode, multiplayer's point-capture mode. In Conquest, the different roles unique to each Transformer type complement one another. Scout players are the first on-site point men, Hunters are the rapid response firefighters, Commanders provide fire support and buff their teammates to take or hold points, and Warriors go in to clean up messy situations - or to cause them. In these matches, it's easy to feel useful and have fun playing the way you want to play.

However, in Team Deathmatch, the importance of the Scout and Hunter classes is minimized by their poor damage dealing capabilities. In a way, it's easy to understand why High Moon would pull back and make sure that these classes have severe limitations. The Hunter in particular has such an enormous mobility advantage taking to the skies that for them to wield a more destructive payload could make other classes pointless. But as it stands now, it's just not as fun to play as those classes outside of Conquest. It's not a new issue -- in this respect, Transformers: Dark of the Moon picks up right where War for Cybertron left off. Still, it rankles.

Perhaps players will be assuaged by the major addition to Transformers: Dark of the Moon's multiplayer. Rather than picking an odd palate-swapped Transformer that kind of, sort of looks like your favorite, players can now choose named, major characters in multiplayer. Sure, this can look kind of weird when there are something like three Starscreams rolling by a pair of Megatrons, but the ability to smash Starscream out of the sky online as Optimus Prime? That's priceless.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be released on June 14th.