Review by devilsminion

"The time has come for man to unite and fight!!!"

The Game,

First I will say I am an avid fan of the Terminator series. I loved the way they played with time to make such an exciting plot. The movie also featured top notch special effects and good actor choice in Arnold. So when the game was finally released and I read the mixed reviews most not so good I waited to purchase the game. Sure enough I was able to get it for 1/2 price. As I loaded it I was thinking could it be so bad well yes and no.
The game actually start off before the movie T1. Connors and Reese are getting a rag tag army together to try and make a hit towards the HQ of the enemy which is NORAD. You have a selection of characters and a huge selection of weapons this game has all the ingredients for a first class game especially being created by ATARI.

The Graphics,

The graphics in this game are good. They are not eye popping but do suffice. It is a 3d shooter with you running and shooting a whole lot of bad guys. You are with Connors to start and the plot leads from there. The army has been invaded by fakies robots looking like humans. The robots look good as do the other enemies you fight. The humans look good and the cut scenes are actually better than I expected. You might be wondering then why a 7 I will get into that in a bit. The weapons all look real as do the shots and the semi destructible environment. The atmosphere is actually perfect a destroyed world where you are the hunted trying to hunt the enemey. You can switch to a 1st person view if you need detailed aiming however you cannot move in 1st person view.


The controls are solid enough. You have several attacks available including melee combat which you can use a plasma baton. You use your right thumbstick to move around the left does NOTHING I will speak more about why this irritated me. There is no jump a crouch is used to select another weapon is cumbersome a bit but able to get used to it quick. Red Faction II controls would have made this game so much better. In this game you use auto lock on which can be a bad thing if you can't lock on to the robot who is just about on you or the one causing you the most trouble which seems to happen a bit.


This is where most of the trouble starts. This game does not allow you to change your view so if you cannot see an enemy you can't just move your view you have to actually move your character and wait til you find the angle you need. This game would have been an easy 8 or maybe 9 if you only had the ability to move your camera angle it is such a waste of a could have been. The fps is good even when there is a whole lot of action and at times there is nothing slows down. There are several modes one having to be unlocked by completing the game which seems odd as it is hard enough now on normal never mind terminal.


The sound is good except for when you are fighting as it is the same track over and over it is good but since you are fighting so often it would have been a nice treat for the ears to have some variety. This game had so much promise but by laziness or lack of effort they failed to utilize the potential here. It seems everything is ok but it is so obvious how a little extra could have made it great.


I am happy I bought this game but would have been upset if I paid 50$ instead of 20$ The game is still fun but I often sigh when I see the just plain mediocracy here. If I wasn't a Terminator fan I say rent this game. If you like science fiction and like the 3rd person shooter you should rent this first before buying to see if it is up your alley if you can deal with the could have beens it's still an OK game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 01/16/03, Updated 01/16/03


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