This is how Transformers was meant to be. You pick it up and keep playing it.
Reviewers are humans (well sort off). And humans have different tastes and we have to respect that. Some like collorful cartoony games, others like grim looking horror games. The same goes for reviewers. Sadly the reviewer who rated Transformers War for Cybertron didn't really liked the game. And gave some unfair penalties.
TF WFC tells you the story of what happend before the cartoon serie TF generation 1. Those who where like me little kids back than and watched the cartoon every saterday morning (im dutch it came on saterday mornings here) knew that there had been a war on Cybertron. But the Transformers decided to fight their silly war here on earth and we never really got to know what happend before it. Well people, now we do!
Im no Transformers fan, i liked the cartoon as a kid but never followed the other TF series. I tried to watch TF beastwars but robots transforming into animals was even for me a dutch guy way to bizar (and i didn't even smoked a joint). Anyway when i started to play the solo player campaing i got totally sucked into the story again. Even if you only know Transformers from the Micheal Bay movies you will reconise the cast in the game and get the story as its told. Sure as fan you might understand more of it and see more details than people like you and me who don't really know everything but still the game is accesable for everyone. The story is told by small cut scene at the begining of each chapter and during the play more gets revealed aswell.
One of the problems our beloved reviewer from gamespot had was that he found the suroundings to repetitieve. I don't really understand what he exspected than. The game plays on Cybertron, its a robot planet, its metal, its not earth or a nintendo world where everything has brightfull collors and forest and fantasy villages and towns. Cybertron is metal, nothing more, nothing less. And with the given materials for the planet i think they really pulled it off nicely. Sure its metal everywhere but it looks good and for some repetitieve setting they sure brought enough variation in it. This is what you exspect from Cybertron, if you don't like metal than you shouldn't play this game.
The transformers themselfs look great and the transforming is not out of place as our reviewer makes you believe. It works just fine and its fun to watch yourself transforming into a tank, plane or back into robot form. This is what you exspect from Transformers. Sure Soundwave does not turn into a radio when you play him...but lets be honest here for a moment....would you play someone who turns into a radio and can't move at all in that form and only play music? You wouldn't get verry far into the game that way would you?
There are some minor parts about the graphics though. Sometimes the textures don't load to well on your Transformer, a friend of mine had it during playing Brawl in the first decepticon chapter. I myself haven't encounterd that yet but i did notice it in cutscenes that the textures sometimes hadn't loaded on the robots yet and even in the levels you see it on the walls sometimes. But does it really hinder the game? No, not at all. Cause the game otherwise looks great.
I been hearing on different websites that reviewers had problems with transforming. They had it during a hectic moment that they by accident pressed the left tumbstick and transformed. I wonder if they didn't just mixed up the melee and the transform button. Melee is pressing right stick, transform left stick. I haven't by accident pressed left tumbstick and i have to press it firmly before the action even starts so either they got a broken controller or mixed it up or maybe i have my tumb to lightly on the stick.
AI i can understand that they find it sucky. I play on medium and my team mates do like to walk in my line of sight and take the bullet that was meant for the enemy. It happens now and than but i don't really think it should be punished to hard, there are plenty of games where your team doesn't operate to well and stands in your way now and than. You can avoid it by taking a step to the left or right.
What i really wonderd was that the reviewer had troubles with ammonution. Cause when ever i run low on it i find a ammo box or a whole new weapon. Maybe the reviewer didn't know you had to smash the crates to get ammo?
Multiplayer is big fun, it has enough options to keep you going for a while and you get to level up your TF. Unlocking new skills, weapons, hulls (your looks). You can create your own TF though it stays to choose different hulls and collors. Not to much but enough to make you feel like you created your own. They could have sticked to providing you with standart TF's but you get too choose now so thats a plus.
The gamespot reviewer didn't really get the game i think. I don't know why he would give it such a low score, many of the faults he encounterd are either minor or not even present. Also he has to keep in mind that you need to like Transformers to like the game. If you don't like TF than you shouldn't play. Same goes for everygame. If you don't like zombies you aren't gonna play Left 4 dead or resident evil either.
TF is a solid third person shooter that would easally stand on its own without the TF licence. And as said many times before, finally there is a good TF game, the last one was one of the PS2.
Forget the silly romea and julia movies with explotions. This is TF as TF was meant to be!