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Interview: Transformers: War for Cybertron - Part 1
We have a chat with War for Cybertron's producer to discuss how Acti plan to revive the robots in disguise in the first part of our exclusive interview.
Written by David Scammell, 20 March 2010
GamerZines: The fact that War for Cybertron isn't tied to a particular Transformers movie must offer you a fair amount more creative freedom than the two Transformers games previous. Does that come as a relief?
Jason Ades, Producers, Transformers: War for Cybertron: Firstly, I'd just like to say that I think there is a place for movie games and a place for non-movie games, and I think that they're both very valid places to be in. Being in the games industry and being hardcore gamers I think we're often far more critical than the mass market with movie games. That said, working on a non-film based game offers you a number of opportunities that you wouldn't normally have. For this particular game, High Moon Studios was very passionate about Generation One Transformers, so they really wanted to do a re-imagination of what they grew up loving. They've grown up, so they've aged it up a little bit for all of us fans, and they also have a story that they really wanted to tell. You can't necessarily do that when you're making a film game because you have to tie-in really closely, or at least tell stories from within the film universe that have all kinds of approvals related to it. So being able to take Transformers away from the film universe meant that High Moon could passionately tell the story that they wanted to tell and collaborate directly with Hasbro. For the first time ever gamers get to actually experience this sacred time in Transformers history, the civil war on Cybertron; the entire reason why the Transformers ended up coming to Earth.
GZ: Re-imagining that original Transformers story is quite a big ask, and something even Michael Bay hasn't yet dared approach. Are you feeling the pressure?
P3Zine Issue 51
For our latest Transformers coverage, click here to download P3Zine Issue 51 for free.JA: It's almost like if you ask anybody who has worked on a Star Wars game... Transformers is very sacred and with a very loyal fan base, and so yeah, you're holding onto people's childhoods, their memories and their dreams, and you have to be very responsible, very respectful and very careful. But at the same time you have to be passionate and be able to take that risk to tell a new story, and to take everybody's childhood to a new place where they haven't been with it before. I think this has the right combination and the right reverence for Generation One, but also the courage to actually take you to this time in history that you haven't been before.
GZ: What elements do High Moon really want to get right to ensure that War for Cybertron is a true Transformers experience? Because you could throw giant robots into any game and call it Transformers, so what makes WfC true to the universe?
JA: That's a really good question. This isn't about putting giant robots on Earth or the enormous scale of those robots related to Earth. We're going to Transformers territory now and so this is really about understanding the smallest details about the planet, where you travel to and how the planet relates to the Transformers themselves. As you saw in the demo, there's a symbiotic relationship between the Transformers and the planet, all the way from bringing up the holomaps to the turrets. The Transformers don't just mount the turret; they transform and become one with the turret. So it's really paying close attention to how everything works together and understanding that, even though it's a giant metallic planet, you still get to experience the breadth of Cybertron from space and the orbiting stations surrounding the planet, down to the surface and all the way down to the planet's core.
Come back tomorrow for the final part of our interview with Jason.
Transformers: War for Cybertron launches on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS and PC this summer.
Transformers coverage available in P3Zine Issue 51 - click here to download it for free!
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