Transformers: War for Cybertron

Transformers: War for Cybertron
North American box art
Developer(s)High Moon Studios
Publisher(s)Activision
Director(s)Matt Tieger
Producer(s)Chuck Yager
Designer(s)Matt Krystek
Programmer(s)Andrew Zaferakis
Artist(s)Ivan Power
Writer(s)Dan Jolley
E. Daniel Arey
Composer(s)Tyler Bates
SeriesTransformers
EngineUnreal Engine 3
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Release
  • NA: June 22, 2010
  • PAL: June 25, 2010
Genre(s)Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third-person shooter video game based on the Transformers franchise, developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision. It was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows in June 2010. Two portable versions were released for the Nintendo DS, one featuring an Autobot campaign, the other a Decepticon campaign. A game for the Wii, Transformers: Cybertron Adventures, was developed by Next Level Games and utilizes the same characters and setting as War for Cybertron.

Set on the Transformers' home planet of Cybertron, prior to their arrival on Earth, the game depicts the deadly civil war between Autobots and Decepticons. Players may pick either faction to play as, as each has its own separate campaign (though the Decepticon campaign chronologically takes place first). The game's plot revolves around Dark Energon, a more dangerous and destructive version of Energon, the substance which powers all Transformers. While the Decepticon leader Megatron seeks this substance for himself, believing it will allow him to return the planet to its "golden age", the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, attempt to stop him, knowing it would instead doom their homeworld.

War for Cybertron received generally favorable reviews, with many viewing it as an improvement over past Transformers games. It was praised for its multiplayer, character designs, and voice acting, with criticism reserved for the visual design of the game's setting. A sequel, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, was released in August 2012, and a third game, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, was released in June 2014.