Pre-E3 2010 Activision Showcase: Blur and Transformers: War For Cybertron

Written by Alex Roth  on May 21, 2010

Special: Sadly, Blur the transformer will not be in Transformers: War For Cybertron.

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Gaming Target recently took a trip down to Activision's headquarters in Santa Monica to attend a pre-E3 showcase for two of the company's upcoming releases. This invite included a look at Bizarre Creation's high-speed battle racer Blur and the publisher's first crack at an original Transformers game, Transformers: War For Cybertron.

Blur
Burnout junkies and Mario Kart fanatics take note, Blur could be your new favorite game

After a mere minute of test driving Blur, I realized developer Bizarre Creations had managed to crossbreed Mario Kart and Need for Speed. Race real cars in real locales using oh so very unreal power-ups that let you blow past opponents - or blow them to smithereens. It's frantic, kinetic, and much, much fun. The only question that remains is: why didn't anyone do this sooner?



When Activision describes their new action racer, their go to buzzword is Уpowered-up racing.Ф In Blur, power-ups have been made essential to staying on the road. The range is from offensive blasts, to shields, and even goes to mines and boosts. Get good at using that rear view mirror; you can also fire backwards to ward off advancers and maintain your lead. Power-ups can also be used defensively; if a shunt blast is flying toward you, hitting it with your own shunt will negate it. Long story short, you'll need to grab power-ups consistently to remain competitive. While Bizarre Creations haven't exactly broken the mold with their power-up types, they look and sound fantastic. The bright neon colors are right out of the developer's old arcade hit Geometry Wars, and the sounds are straight from a blockbuster movie.

While Blur may emphasize being Уpowered-up,Ф the racing is no drag. Gameplay is as motion-blur fast as any racer you've ever played, and with twenty cars on the track, it gets pretty insane. Bizarre Creations made great use of its budget in securing a few dozen licensed cars, all detailed to look their best. The tracks are all based on real cities ranging from London to San Francisco to Barcelona. The mixture of these real-world elements with the sci-fi aesthetic of the power-ups makes Blur an outlandishly entertaining experience.

The multiplayer component of the game looks especially strong. Blur boasts twenty-car online races, a brawl mode for those who really dig the power ups, and a УpureФ racing mode for those who don't. Also, Blur has splitscreen multiplayer for up to four players (an unfortunate rarity these days) as well as system link support, so it should be a dorm room favorite. You can also challenge your friends to beat your lap times - using as many or fewer power-ups - through Xbox Live or PSN, and publish your best stats to Twitter and other social networks.

Blur is the best of so many worlds: the hyper kinetic action of Wipeout and Burnout, the real world detail of Need for Speed and Project Gotham Racing, and the forgiving, pick up and play fun of Mario Kart. Lots of tracks, lots of cars, and a big multiplayer mode make Blur a worthy investment for anyone who has savored the James Bond thrill of glancing in the rear view for a precision oil slick deployment.

Transformers: War For Cybertron
Didn't like Michael Bay's take on Transformers? Then check out what High Moon and Activision are building

When I played High Moon studio's Transformers: War for Cybertron, I could feel their love for the old school Transformers. They have essentially been tasked with creating the backstory to the whole franchise, and look to be succeeding. They've brought to life the often referenced but never portrayed civil war between Autobot and Decepticon. High Moon has obviously stepped into dangerous territory, but they seem to be navigating it rather nimbly.

The demo I played was part of the Autobot campaign, which had Optimus, Bumblebee, and Ratchet fighting their way through a Cybertron city under siege by Megatron's forces. That's right, this is an Optimus who has not yet earned the moniker УPrime;Ф he's not the leader of the Autobots, yet, and actually seems quite reluctant to take on that responsibility. While Optimus may have some maturing to do before he becomes the Rock Сem Sock Сem robot we know and love, fans will immediately recognize the voice of Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime in the cartoons and the blockbuster films.

The design of Cybertron is thoughtfully executed; on their home planet the Transformers do not tower over buildings as on Earth - everything is scaled to their size. Buildings are full of long hallways that encourage you to transform for faster movement. Players can transform whenever they want and I'm happy to report the game does the task of balancing the vehicle modes very well. Players must assess situations and decide what form is best for tackling them, which gives the combat some depth. Interestingly, leaders have two vehicle modes: a nimble hover truck, and a speedier, wheels-on-the-ground truck. Scout Transformers (like Bumblebee) hit harder as robots but move quicker as vehicles; soldier Transformers (who become tanks) are the opposite. The real joy, however, is the agile but fragile jets. In most of the scenarios I encountered the player did best to choose either vehicle or robot and stick to it, but in the boss fight, switching frequently between the two had the best results.

At this hands-on preview I did get to see an updated roster of War For Cybertron's character cast. Eight Autobots will be playable: Optimus, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Warpath, Ratchet, Air Raid, Sideswipe and Jetfire. Thundercracker has been added to the Decepticon team in addition to the previously announced Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Barricade, Skywarp and Breakdown.

I've talked a lot about what a love letter this game is to Transformers fans, but I'm eager to see if this is a strong shooter that can stand on its own feet. I know it's more than a cash-in licensed game. If it was I think it would have attached itself to the films and not gone in this more original, canon-expanding direction. My only disappointment about the demonstration was not getting to see multiplayer. It's Cybertron's online gameplay that will give the game legs and I wish I had seen it so I could form a more concrete opinion. But I will say I am truly looking forward to playing the full game, and am very optimistic. The prospect of playing this game online and creating my own Transformer really intrigued me. There is a lot of strategic potential for a game that lets you access a vehicle with the push of a button; I imagine advancing on the enemy's position in vehicle mode, and transforming to storm the base. Vehicles will make for some fantastic speedy get-aways and frantic chases, especially in Power Struggle mode. Also, I remain curious about the design of the game's multiplayer maps. Here's to hoping for some large exteriors to zoom across a la Unreal Tournament 3, and a big success for High Moon studios.