Terminator Salvation

With every big movie released, there is inevitably a game released alongside it.  With very few exceptions these games are shallow, shameless rip – offs of popular games and used as a way to cash in on the movie when it reaches the peak of its popularity.  The problem with these tie-in games is that they are nearly always substandard and rushed onto store shelves.  Terminator Salvation fits all of these categories and then some.  It is just a shameless marketing ploy in an attempt to both drum up some more attention for the film release and to make a quick buck via the surge of attention pointed its way as a result of the movie.  You play as John Connor, soon to be leader of the Resistance, and the game takes place in between the third and fourth Terminator films.

Terminator Salvation plays mainly like Gears of War with some Wanted: Weapons of Fate elements thrown in.  Simply put, it’s a third person shooter.  Throughout the four / five hours it takes to complete the game the player will hide behind cover and take out one of about four different types of machine, walk forward a bit, watch a cutscenes and then fight some more machines.  With a threadbare plot providing the supplement for the cutscenes, they serve as very little more than an excuse for why there are machines to be blown up.

The method of destroying the machines is slightly different than most shooters.  Each machine has a specific weak point which is the only way to damage them without using rockets or other explosives.  The only way to get behind them without being shredded to pieces with their miniguns is to flank them.  While in cover, you can push the left stick in the direction of the cover you wish to move to, this will quickly transition John Connor in between cover spots and eventually you will be able to manoeuvre yourself behind the machines and fire on their weak points.  It’s not a bad idea in concept but when there are so few enemy variations it becomes tedious quicker than it should.

The encounters with the machines could have been so much more interesting as well.  Nearly all fire fights take place in small, enclosed environments that make sneaking around behind them more of a chore than a challenge.  The cover is laid out in an obvious manner that just makes everything look very ‘gamey’.  Throughout the game you will fight alongside several AI partners.  These partners aren’t really as helpful as you’d want them to be.  If a machine stays targeted onto you while you attempt to flank them, your partners will very rarely try and attack their weak points themselves.  Maybe that is because they do not want to be killed…even through they can never be killed.  When attempting to evade machines they basically just act as a diversion that are semi-successful at best and only ends up making the game even more frustrating.

The weapons used to take on the Skynet horde are abundant but not exactly diverse.  The most conventional of these being the assault rifle, the machine gun and the shotgun.  The shotgun is best for taking out the small, flying machines but the two automatic weapons are quickly made redundant by the explosive weapons.  These boil down to the RPG and the Grenade Launcher.  The RPG can destroy nearly any enemy in one shot no matter where you hit them but ammo is sparse.  The most interesting, and devastating, of the weapons are the grenades and pipe bombs.  They can easily wipe out a group of machines that have bunched together and can obliterate a T-7 (aka Spiderbots) with one well placed throw.  Although the throw does not have to be pinpoint, as both grenades and pipe bombs detonate on proximity which can make hiding behind cover and blind throwing all the easier.

One of the few things that Swedish developers GRIN do well in Terminator Salvation is its interpretation of a post-apocalyptic .  The ground is dotted with patches of plants and grass beginning to seep through the cracks in the tarmac and vines have started to creep up the appropriately decrepit buildings.  There are burnt out cars that litter the streets and usually act as cover.  The rest of the game sadly does not look as impressive as the machine infested city.  The cutscenes that sandwich the skirmishes look even worse than the in game engine.  The lip synching boils down to character mouths opening and closing at random and in some cases their lips stay eerily still.  The character models look blurry and they animate just as badly in and out of the cutscenes.  The enemy models animate slightly better, but the definition of the models looks sub standard at a closer inspection which might be a consequence of them being able to kill you instantly if they get too close.

The health system is far more frustrating than some badly animated characters though.  It has the standard regeneration system that has become a staple of modern day shooters, but unlike most others, Salvation’s system can be downright maddening.  This is because your health cannot regenerate if there is an enemy shooting in your general direction, even when you are hidden in cover.  This leads to many situations where you take a few hits while diving between cover points, and become completely entrenched behind a spot with no viable method of escaping.  Your health will quickly deplete if you stand out in the open for too long and the machines are deadly accurate, even if you just poke your head out of the cover.  Once the enemy AI has you in its’ sights, it rarely lets up and will continue firing unless you get some lucky blind-firing / throwing opportunities.

The Good:

-         Post-apocalyptic LA looks appropriately apocalyptic

-         Throwing pipe bombs at robots is fun

The Bad:

-         Short.  Really short

-         Nothing to do other than the campaign

-         Cutscenes look worse than in game graphics

-         Frustrating AI problems

-         There is a plethora of other third person shooters that are way, way better than this

When it comes right down to it, Terminator Salvation is a bad game.  It’s short, derivative, it looks bad and there are a dearth of technical issues.  And once you have completed the 4-5 hour campaign, there is nothing else to do other than local split screen co-op.  If you are looking for a good third person shooter to play, you can do a lot better than Terminator Salvation, and you will be hard-pressed to do any worse.

By Andy Jackson