War for Cybertron: Bumblebee

Welcome Back to Toyconstruct!

We have finally made it to the first week of 2013!

And to start off, I shall be giving a review of the War and Fall of Cybertron version of Bumblebee and also a short review of the Fall of Cybertron Game that I have completed.

"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Famous words by the Great Muhammad Ali. It is also a phrase that can easily describe the small but ever so chirpy Bumblebee. In War and Fall of Cybertron as well as many of the TV Series, Bumblebee represents the "little guy". However, more often than not, he plays a vital role to the Autobots exploits and adventures. He is also known to be a wise-cracker that has to put in more than a few words of his opinion in things.

In spite of what I have mentioned, Bumblebee is the mascot of the Transformers and his small physique and youthfulness allows him to be able to associate well with a young human kid, Sam Witwicky who made friends with the Autobots in the Transformers Series. On many occasions, even in the trashy Michael Bay Transformer films, we see how Bumblebee overcomes adversity with his agility and speed. At times, his "smallness" also helps him perform missions that his bigger compatriots are unable to do.

 Melee Blades on Bumblebee's arms

Bumblebee is aware that he is small. Furthermore, he knows that he is younger than many of his Autobot compatriots. This makes him feel compelled to always try and prove his worth in the eyes of his Autobot superiors.

Bumblebee Draws his weapon

Truth be told, Initially, in the G1 TV Series, I never really liked Bumblebee because I didn't think he was cool and he wasn't really that powerful. he was just a little kid. You would have thought that because i was a kid back then, I could associate with Bumblebee. However, I didn't really like his name, the beatle car he transformed into, his design and abilities weren't that great. Like most kids, we were into the dude with the most power and coolest design.

Bumblebee's Metallic Legs that look like skates.

After awhile though, Bumblebee started to grow on me. The attachment to him deepens as the TV Show develops his relationship with the Humans and Sam Witwicky and you could almost believe like if Transformers did exist, Bumblebee could be your friend. Ahh.. what childish delusions I had when I was a kid.

Vehicle Mode

In any case, his Cybertronian vehicle mode looks sleek, curvy and cool. Cybertronian Design really makes all of the Transformers look way cooler. And speaking of the Cybertronian version, I shall now finally touch upon the Transformer: Fall of Cybertron Game.

Bumblebee Zooming across the Road in Vehicle Mode

Fall of Cybertron had a few additions and changes compared to its prequel, War of Cybertron. For starters, there are achievements to be unlock in Steam now. Improvements have also been made on the Escalation and Multiplayer Gameplay. With the addition of the Teletraan 1 in the game, Ammo shortages and getting of weapons should not be a problem in this game.

On top of that, expect to see more massive robots and awesome cool scenes which work well with the gameplay to give a good sequel to the previous game. In this game, we see how Optimus prepares to depart Cybertron on the Ark and the events that lead to that. For the first half of the Campaign, you will play for the Autobots working towards making the Ark Operational. You will witness the massive power and strength of Metroplex but the game is more rigid in which each mission already has a preassigned Character rather than allowing you to choose various Characters to play for that part of the mission.

The good part would be that the mission focus much more on the character and its abilities. This gives the character more weight in the story that is unfolding.

Optimus commands Metroplex to smash Megatron.

 After the first half of the story, you will play various Decepticons in their attempt to stop the progress of the Autobots. Personally, the best mission would be playing the all mighty Bruticus.

Combaticons Combine!

This badass monster leaves a trail of destruction whereever it goes. With a good storyline, great looking Transformers, it seems like a great sequel to the Transformer Cybertronian Series. However, the game is not absent of flaws.

The New Optimus Design does not really go down well with me.

For starters, there is a lot of buggy issues with the game. Sometimes the gameplay will roll into a cinematic cut scene with the absence of audio dialogue. Furthermore, because of some graphic or bug issue, there are times where the game after going through a certain cut scene or boss fight would just crash back to desktop. I had encounter this problem before I open my NVIDIA graphic card control panel to use my graphic card to directly run the game, giving it a smooth run throughout the game.

It's Hard not to love the Transformers. And if you are a fan of the G1 series, you will like this cool version of Transformers, inclusive of Bumble Bee.

It can be really really frustrating having to deal with those issues. If you manage to rectify it though, you are in for a treat involving Robots, Battles and Awesome fight scenes. There have been criticism that the Multiplayer doesn't enable friends to be able to play together against people online. Multiplayer has been also criticize for no port of communication. Aside from these stuff though, the positives of the gameplay, storyline and multi-play outweigh these issues.

Grimlock STRONG!

For me, the best part of playing the Autobots inthe campaign would be to get control of Mr. Leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock himself. A beast of a warrior, this guy could pack a real meaty punch in the game. When he changes into Dino-mode, epic strength and fury is dealt at great proportions to his enemy.

The Arc leaving Cybertron with Metroplex on the Background.

My final analysis is that if you are a fan of Transformers and Michael Bay has suck out your happy views of what Trasnformers might be (Yes, I truly do not like the Michael Bay Transformers), Fall of Cybertron, just like its predecessor will give back to you that joy and happiness of how G1 was like for you. The game is simple enough to pick up for an FPS. It gives you an experience of seeing and playing many of the iconic Robots that have been so familiar to many adults and kids around the World. So take up the game and live the story of Transformers: Robots in Disguise!

Lastly, this game has resulted in new Cybertronian Transformer to be release under the Hasbro Toy line. I have mentioned in my Optimus Post that I was contemplating to get the New Optimus but I have decided not to. Somehow or another, the new Deluxe version of Fall of Cybertron Transformers looks particularly small. As mentioned above, the new Optimus doesn't go down well with me. As such, I shall not be buying Optimus Prime. Aside from Optimus, Hasbro has announced that there will be a release of Jazz, Shockwave, Sideswipe, Kickback, Starscream, Grimlock and Bruticus for the Fall of Cybertron toy line.

I shall be pouncing on Grimlock as soon as possible. Furthermore, I might consider getting the SDCC 2012 Exclusive Bruticus in original gameplay colours, Shockwave and Starscream. I must reiterate though, that I am still contemplating. Thus, aside from Grimlock, the rest might not be a "for sure" circumstance in which I would buy them. Due to acquiring many collectibles, painting materials and model kits, I am quite broke now. :p So much consideration must be done into making a purchase on anything.

Ahh such is the troubles of being a hobbyist and a collector of many toys and action figures. Sometimes, I am quite convinced that calling me Super Nerd Geek would not be an understatement. (I wonder whether I should be happy about that :P)

Till the next post, 

Thanks for reading!