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The enduring war between Autobots and Decepticons spills onto Edge’s cover this month, as the opposing sides occupy two different designs – Guardian and Oppressor, both of which you can see below – for issue 248 of Edge, out November 22. The reason, of course, is Jagex’s upcoming MMOG Transformers Universe, which we look at in detail in our lead feature.

Rather than use a traditional MMOG-style tabbed-targeting control system, which involves the player manually selecting targets, Universe adopts a more action game approach, locking onto the nearest enemy in the middle third of the screen. The aim is to keep the game fluid, while affording control over what you’re hitting, with aiming reticles and subtle zoom-ins creating what Horton calls a “Top Gun-ny vibe”. Feedback on firing itself is satisfyingly meaty and powerful, while a weapon-specific power bar lends an active element to combat. Some ranged weapons require time to acquire a lock; some have cooldowns; others, like Vanquish’s hammer, charge up and only deal top damage when the bar’s maxed out.

We move on to a contested area, Cooper switching to a smaller bot, which transforms into a red sports car. Situated under a huge dam is an Energon field, ripe for the mining. The aim for both the Decepticons and Autobots is to drop Energon probes into the ground and then remain within 10 metres of them to absorb the Energon they extract. The closer you are to them, the faster they deal it out, so the game’s about keeping position as both teams race to collect 1,000 units first. Complicating matters is the fact that the process can wake Terrorcons, which attack both sides, and that greedy players can simply keep the Energon they earn for themselves.

It’s a fast-paced brawl with a clear objective, one that earns the winning team the opening of a new portal for a short period that leads to the next battleground, a broken, burning city. As such, as each faction wins battlegrounds, they get to move on to the next in a progression that’s managed by two storylines, one for the Decepticons and one for the Autobots. It’s another product of Horton’s background with GTA: “We can’t do this game without telling a story,” he says. But it’s not simply the result of a mandate from Hasbro’s legacy with expressing Transformers through narrative-driven cartoons and film, and nor is it Horton falling back to home comforts. “Obviously, all the stuff I did with Sam and Dan Houser was about that, but what we’re aspiring to make is a suite of different battlefields that we need to give context to. I’m not knocking a Quake level, but we don’t know why they’re there. I think story’s very important for that.”

The time has come, friends and family. You have been selected from hundreds and thousands of applicants based on a combination upon your computer specifications and feedback, for access to the first wave of closed BETA sessions - prepare for war!

This first session will focus on an initial slice of combat features only. A core selection of 4 Transformer warriors per faction will be available to compete with on a team death-match map. More features and content will be added over successive BETAs.


The beta will open on:
12th December 2012 @ 18.00 - 20.00 EST


Log in to TransformersUniverse.com ahead of the session and accept the non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a required part of BETA entry. This is a simple legal document designed to ensure the game remains top-secret in this testing and research phase.


The second session is on:
16th December 2012 @ 14.00 - 16.00 EST




HOW TO ACCESS THE GAME?

To battle in the closed BETA log in to TransformersUniverse.com from 18:00 onwards on the 12th December. The first time you load the game it may take a little while. Ahead of the closed BETA launch you can check out the Game Guide to familiarize yourself with the controls and mechanics, and please make sure you have the latest copies of Java, DirectX and VSRuntime installed.

Thanks for your commitment commander - we await your report from the front lines.

JOIN THE WAR