Terminator: Salvation

Over the years we’ve seen various developers tap into the Terminator license to varying degrees of success – the best being T2: The Arcade Game on the Sega Megadrive. Now the fourth Terminator is headed to cinemas and sure enough, a tie-in game is on its way to cash in on the cybernetic action romp.

In development at Grin Studios, Terminator: Salvation takes place two years prior to the upcoming movie’s story between Terminators 3 and 4. Unlike previous titles, where you typically played the Terminator, Salvation will have you in the role of resistance leader John Connor in the epic battle against Skynet and its merry horde of Terminators.

The game will be played in third person – Gears of War style, over the shoulder – and feature vehicles to drive over expansive environments, while gunning down enemies. There are a few new Terminators on hand – based on the new models in the movie, along with the classic ‘skeletal’ Terminators. Fortunately John won’t be fighting the war empty-handed - Terminator: Salvation will feature a nice selection of weapons including shotguns, machine guns, mounted weaponry, grenades, rocket-launchers, and he’ll even be able to take control of a plasma-firing Skynet tank.

From what the trailers have shown, the high point thus far is the scenery - it looks amazing. With detailed landscapes, post-apocalyptic worlds have never looked so good. As expected they are also said to be destructible - you can blow bits off to make a perfect chest-high wall to take cover behind, ala Gears of War. So, we’re essentially looking at ‘Gears of Skynet’ - with tanks thrown in. Unlike the enemies in Gears of War however, Terminators are a little harder to kill. Even if you take out the legs they will continue to claw their way forward and attack.

If there was ever a movie franchise perfectly suited to action game adaptations, Terminator is it. That said, it’s strange that so many titles based on this franchise are less than great – perhaps Salvation will turn the trend. Will this title be the salvation or the final nail in the coffin for Terminator titles? Keep it locked on NZGamer for a review.