|
|
 
by
Atari
|
 The ingredients to make a
respectable first person shooter should come from the finest sources.
You need a fresh storyline, strong, memorable characters, sweet weapons,
unique environments, and a pinch or two of really cool sound and
graphics. Unfortunately for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, a few of
these ingredients were left out. Not to say it’s inedible, it just has a
rather funny aftertaste. It just goes to show that the number of chefs
you have in the kitchen doesn’t always guarantee a great product.
 The Terminator franchise is
beloved by many, including myself. The first two movies are considered
classics by most sci-fi fans, so it was no wonder there was some
speculation as to whether the third installment would be anything more
than a forgettable summer popcorn flick-- especially without the former
director. Well, if you’ve seen the movie then you no doubt have your own
opinion about it. Apparently, Atari loved the whole idea, so they signed
on to publish the videogame based on the movie to coincide with the
release of Terminator 3 on DVD. Not to place all their eggs in one
basket, they recruited the help of no less than four development houses
to work with them. The resulting product is somewhat of a disappointment
and consists mainly of some mish-mash FPS elements, more CGI than you
can shake a plasma rifle at, and lots of real-time scenes from the
movie, along with a few sparse third-person fighting missions, usually
against the T-X Terminator.
 The story doesn’t follow the
movie all that closely, and in fact, if you’ve not seen the film you may
well be lost, finding yourself playing the game just to play the game,
having no sense of why your doing anything. Admittedly though, you
really don’t need much of a story here, as the game in large part just
has you shooting Terminators and various other robotic enemies, while
running from point A to point B. The story also takes place in the past,
where you’ll find your typical array of shotguns, rifles, and mini-guns.
However, artillery is the most fun in the future, where you’ll find
plasma rifles, hydrogen bombs, and other cool widgets. You play, for the
first time in history, as Arnold Schwarzenegger in arguably his most
popular role as the T-850 Terminator, which is definitely one of the
biggest redeeming qualities in the entire game.
 I’ll admit; this is one
repulsive-looking game. The post-apocalyptic future is especially so,
with drab washed out colors and hardly a sense of where one wall ends
and another begins. Objects blend in with one another, and the only way
to spot some tiny hole in the wall that you have to squeeze through is
via a lot of squinting, which will undoubtedly give you a migraine
before long. The enemy models are pretty poor, and most of the
Terminators just stand there shooting at you until you mow them over
with something. The enemy model animations are stiff and clumsy, and
there is a serious lack of variation to them throughout the game.
 The weapons themselves are
pretty cool, especially ones of the future, and there seems to be quite
an abundance of them scattered throughout the levels. It’s the ammo you
have to worry about. In some places, ammo is in short supply, so you’ll
find yourself running helpless in the Terminator infested streets
looking for some, all the while getting pelted by high-flying robotic
laser blasts, which will have you cussing all the way to your grave.
Don’t think for a second you can rely on your squad of teammates either,
as they’re about as helpful as a dead corpse. Hit detection is a little
off as well, as I can be standing and blasting away at point blank range
of a Terminator and not be able to touch him, having to push back about
a foot or two before it drops.
 The sound effects are decent
for the weaponry, and are convincing and pretty effective. Laser blasts
and explosions sound as realistic as you would imagine. The dialog is
fairly tight, and the voice-over work is solid, thanks in large part to
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who voiced his own character. However, all you
hear from him in the entire game are one-liners such as “fantastic”,
“excellent”, and “affirmative”, so it gets extremely repetitive. How
many times do you really need to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger say “lock
and load”, I mean, really? The music is okay, and you do get to hear the
Terminator theme song, but not in the actual game, which is
disappointing.
There are a handful of missions where you get to fight the T-X
Terminator via fisticuffs, but they are short-lived. It’s a shame too,
because by the time I was doing some hand to hand combat I was so
relieved to be doing something other than shooting robots that it was
actually relaxing. No matter, as you only have a very limited variety of
attacks to use anyhow. One of those fight missions happens atop a moving
crane, which was a rather exceptional mission, despite it being
extremely short. In fact some of the missions in the game are so short
you wonder why it’s even a mission at all. Speaking of being short, the
game won’t take you long to beat, as I soared through the first eighteen
of twenty-two levels in around three hours, and I’m not the greatest
when it comes to first person shooters.
To round it all off, there are some bonus features to unlock, including
a couple of arcade classics in Centipede and Missile Command, and some
boring movie stills and photo’s, which aren’t really worth unlocking,
since you can see all of that stuff on the actual DVD. It does include a
playable demo of Terminator: Redemption, if you want more of the same.
Yet despite its many flaws, I was strangely connected to this game.
Maybe it was the very well done CGI cut scenes, or maybe it was just the
fact that I was finally getting to play as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines leaves a lot to be desired for sure,
but does have some redeeming qualities that will appeal to Terminator
and FPS fans alike. If you can get past the general ugliness of the
graphics and some stiff animations, you’ll find a decent FPS to waste
some time with. However, rent this one before purchasing. You’ve been
warned.
GamesFirst Review Team (01/01/2004) |
|
|
Snapshot
Ups:
Plenty of cool weapons to find and use; Finally play as Arnold
Schwarzenegger; Sound effects are solid
Downs:
Graphics are hideously ugly; Enemy model
animations are stiff; Storyline is slaughtered; Hit detection is an
issue
Platform:
PS2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
