Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

I picked up Fall of Cybertron earlier, and it's more than worth every cent. In a lot of interviews, Matt Tieger of High Moon Studios said that he was excited for gamers, Transformers fans or not, to get to play this game. Now I know why that is: IT'S A FREAKIN' AWESOME GAME! He also reiterated that in the end, it's all about how the game feels under your thumb, and playing this game feels terrific. I only played a little of the campaign, but I felt like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, who on an unrelated note, I've decided is one of the best characters from anything. He's just awesome, and you can feel that awesomeness when you play as him, more so than in War For Cybertron. Fall plays similarly to War, so if you have War, you'll already know the basics, but it's different enough to be well worth your money. Especially the multiplayer. There are a few things that take some getting used to, but once you do, most of them are improvements. One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the ability to sprint in robot mode with any character. Same with the fact that instead of being an available ability to fill one of the two slots, dash is always LB, or whatever the equivalent is on PS3 and PC. I thought that might bother me, but it really doesn't, since they've improved the dash, and in War, I kept trying to dash even if I didn't have the ability. And double jump has been replaced with one bigger jump, which surprisingly doesn't bother me either. There are some things I'm neutral on, like some abilities being turned into guns and vice versa. Like the Drain ability has been replaced by a gun called the energon harvester, which is harder to use, but more effective. There are also some things that I wouldn't describe as awesome, but they really add to the game, like parts of some levels that don't involve any shooting or fighting, such as Optimus Prime walking through a section of Iacon that turns out to be Metroplex. Things like that. And then there are the things that I would describe as awesome. Some of the playable characters in the campaign are just epic. Like Grimlock and Bruticus. And as Optimus Prime, you can call in Metroplex to destroy a group of enemies, and there's one part where you're controlling a HUGE artillery gun and taking out whole squads of enemies with one shot. More than just the campaign though, the multiplayer customization is awesome. You pick the chest, which also decides the vehicle form, and pick any shoulders, arms, head, legs and wheels/wings/tank barrels. Each part costs some XP, but I think that's a good thing. It keeps things interesting, plus now XP is actually useful for something. In War, once I maxed out my classes' levels, I just said "Ok, I just got a ton of XP, but what am I gonna do with it?" And the answer was nothing, since there was nothing you could do with it, but now they changed that, and for that I'm happy. As for what I was hoping for, some of it happened and some didn't. I was hoping to play as Wheeljack, but I'm pretty sure he's not in the campaign, but I think you can play as him in escalation. You can get his parts for multiplayer customization, but it costs real money, so I seriously doubt I'll ever do that. I'm pretty sure Shockwave is in escalation too, but you can use his parts for custom characters, and I do a lot more team deathmatch than escalation, so even if there are no Shockwave levels, I guess that's enough for me. It doesn't look like we'll see any cassetticon gameplay, but that's ok; I never really expected that to happen, I just thought it would be cool. Hound and Ultra Magnus made an appearance in the G1 Retro Pack trailer, and Ultra Magnus is the same as Wheeljack in terms of playability, but I have no clue about Hound. But even if none of the things I said I wanted to see were in this game, I would still be more than happy with it, and highly recommend it, even if you're not a Transformers fan. And if you are, I very highly recommend it. 'Till all are one!

I Don't Trust Robots.

First of all, I need to make a couple things clear. One, when I say I don't trust robots, I'm saying I wouldn't if I knew or met them in person. Two, I like robots; most of them are awesome. I just don't trust them. There are too many robots that were either created for evil, or made for good but turned evil. Think about it. Cylons, Terminators, the Droid Army from Star Wars, every Decepticon, Ultron, the Manhunters, and so many more. Mind you, there are robots I do trust, but they have done much to earn it. For example, I trust Optimus Prime because he has proven himself to be a very honorable person. Yes, some robots (not all, but some) are people too. I trust R2 - D2 because in six movies and a TV series, he has yet to fail the Republic or the Rebel Alliance. Under the right circumstances, I might even trust Soundwave. He's extremely loyal to Megatron and never fails him. For that to happen though, I might need to be Megatron. The same goes for Tekik if I had founded Sinestro Corps ..... which I suppose is technically impossible because only Sinestro himself would name it Sinestro Corps. It would have to be called something different, but you know what I'm saying. Also, I trust some Cylons, but only some of the human models. Well, actually, I suppose if I was their leader, I would reluctantly trust the Centurions. By this time you've probably noticed that the list of robots who have earned my trust contains both good and evil ones. It's a lot harder for me to trust an evil one, but not impossible. The circumstances just have to be right. There are also a lot of good robots I don't trust. For example, C3PO. He's friendly and not one for betrayal, but he's not very capable. He can do his job well as an interpreter or something like that, but he's been blasted apart, had his head put on a Battle Droid body, etc. too many times. Or let's jump to the Transformers universe for a minute. Rodimus Prime lead the forces of good for a time, but I wouldn't trust him. He's infamous for being one of the worst leaders ever. While that may be a little harsh, he did do a bad job. He once trusted Grimlock to operate a complex machine. Grimlock. Seriously. Grimlock is my second favorite Autobot; I even have a G1 Grimlock figure on my desk right now, but even I know that he's not qualified for complicated tasks. He's extremely powerful, but not very smart. He was created for war, so fighting should be, and usually is, his only job. His lack of versatility is why I only partially trust him. You're allowed to love a TV character without fully trusting him, right? But back to Rodimus, overestimating your friends is as bad as underestimating your enemies. Now let's go to Terminator. I would eventually be able to trust Marcus from Salvation and Arnold from T2 or T3, but it would take a while. I think I would be very skeptical of their good intentions, but I would give them a chance to prove themselves. once they did, I doubt I would have any problems trusting them. At least until the future in the Arnolds' case. Both of them were evil until they were captured by the Resistance. But both of them die in our time, so I guess I wouldn't need to worry about them. But that's one of the many movies, shows and comic books that have taught me not to trust robots.