The Terminator: Dawn of Fate

"The perfect rental; maybe worth a purchase."

As a big fan of the movies, I was looking forward to this game, and when it was released, I immediately snapped up a copy. Dawn of Fate is a little bit of a disappointment; the length of the game isn't a strong point. However, Dawn of Fate is tremendous fun while it lasts. Placing you not in the present, where saving whichever member of the Connor family would be your objective, this game chooses the terrifying futuristic wilderness of the 2020's as its backdrop; those who have seen the movies will know what I'm talking about. Let's find out how Dawn of Fate shapes up, shall we?

GAMEPLAY (10/10)

If there's one thing which makes Dawn of Fate great entertainment, it's the gameplay.

You will take control of several different characters during the course of the game; they include Sergeant Kyle Reese, heroic saviour of the human race from the first movie. Your player can take plenty of damage, as well as being able to collect medi-packs to replenish health, and armour for some extra protection.

The battle engine is also great. With the option of utilising hand-to-hand weapons, such as the Plasma Baton, which can short-circuit cyborgs, working much like a sword, laser rifles like the PLM40 or more strategic choices, the C4 Explosives for example. Another particularly tasty firearm present is the good old combat shotgun, which delivers devastating close-range nightmares, but a very tasty weapon comes in the form of the gun turret. Let's just say you have to try it out for yourself to discover its true power.

As you can see, there are many ways to take out the machines which wage war against you.

When playing in the regular mode, R1 locks onto an enemy, providing a good way to hit your target, but body shots certainly are not among the most efficient ways to wipe out an enemy, unlike the R2 button, which activates a first person view, allowing for precise aiming up to a point. Using the first-person feature, you can shoot off a cyborg's legs, so he can't walk, or maybe perhaps you'd like to remove his arms, so he can't use hand-to-hand attacks/fire a gun? Also, a nice bit of comic relief comes in the form of using your weapon to shoot off a cyborg's head; the remaining body just wanders around in circles firing his gun into the air. It's hilarious. But best of all, you can try a combination of any of the above...

The ''special mode'' is described below.

An ''adrenaline'' count rises each time you destroy an enemy. This adrenaline allows your character to run faster, hit stronger and shoot far more accurately, for a limited period of time, much like the Devil Trigger in Devil May Cry. If you press L1, the boost activates. Probably the best thing about the adrenaline is the fact that you can perform ''adrenalised shooting''; instead of shots to a cyborg's torso, adrenaline will help you target the weak spot of an enemy (in many cases the endoskeleton skull), and cause critical hits, often downing a machine in two or three shots. Naturally, all you have to do if you want the adrenaline count to rise again is destroy more machines.

Another thing Dawn of Fate produces in its favour is the variety in which you can kill an enemy. The options aren't boundless, but a few examples of ''combos'' you can pull off are as follows:

- Knock down a cyborg with your baton, then step in and finish him off when he's on the ground, with a stabbing action.
- Pull off a low kick, and then go in for the deadly stab.
- Knock down a cyborg with your baton, set a C4 next to him and: BOOM!

All of this makes for a good beat 'em up, as well as a good shoot 'em up.

As for the difficulty level, Dawn of Fate isn't that hard on Normal or Easy mode. As long as you keep your wits about you, it's perfectly possible to complete this game. Terminal Mode is another matter, but more on that later.

GRAPHICS (8/10)

These are very nice. The character/cyborg design, codec-type communication screens and levels are all top notch. However, what really stands out here is the gunfire and explosions, they look extremely authentic for a PS2 game. To be perfectly honest, ''extremely authentic'' and ''PS2'' don't fit in the same sentence together often. If everything had been up to par with the explosions and gunfire in Dawn of Fate, this section would have got a higher score. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. In short though, eye candy = pretty delicious.

SOUND (8/10)

Some good, clear SFX is present here, and it's once again the gunfire and explosions that impress the most. The sound of a robotic aircraft hovering right above your character's head works very well.

The voice-overs mostly do well, but sometimes the actors over-do their parts, which is unintentionally laughable. They make the best of a mediocre script though, which is full of rushed dialogue and wounded soldiers having their last huzzah.

''I'm not gonna make it!''
''Tell my wife I love her!''

That kind of thing. Bah.

As for the music, it's actually quite difficult to pay attention to this aspect of the game, as a new threat lurks around every corner. When tunes do start though, I think they're effective. The music played when you are being badly attacked isn't too frantic, yet not too calm (A perfect balance), while the occasional moments of quietness come free with a rather slow, flowing tune. That theme music makes an appearance too; can you complain?

Overall, the audio is good, but not perfect.

STORY (10/10)

(Original storyline written by James Cameron)

During the early years of the 21st century, a nuclear war had raged between man and machine; the human race had almost come to an end.

This had happened because towards the end of the 20th century, AI had been invented, and was eventually adopted by world military forces to make strategic defense and attacking decisions. The system, Skynet, went online in August, 1997. However, it was discovered that Skynet had learned for itself that robots were merely puppets for the human race to use for work so people didn't have to. All militaries immediately tried to halt the program, but Skynet saw it coming and struck back, launching nuclear missiles at the targets throughout Russia, as Skynet knew that the Russian version of the program would launch a counter-attack if it wasn't wiped out. The philosophy that Skynet had was simple: Human beings have enslaved robots for decades, so they must be punished.

After the initial nuclear strike, many more followed; the death toll rose to billions, and the Earth was plunged into a nuclear winter for many years. Millions more died. Then came the 2020's...

The few people left alive were forced by Skynet to work in grueling conditions in unique prisons, amongst thousands of dead. Every day, hundreds of innocents were taken away to be exterminated. The machines' ultimate objective was to destroy all traces of the human race, so no one knew when their turn would come. Just one hope remained. A man named John Connor.

Connor taught the remaining humans how to fight, hoping that perhaps one day, our race could be freed from the wrath of the machines. Any volunteers for the human resistance, known as Tech Com, had to be prepared to die, as the machines had massive superiority in the terms of power. Skynet even began developing units especially made for wiping out human lives and nothing else, such as the Hunter/Killer. (HK)

But what seemed like a losing battle for Tech Com slowly balanced out; all of the incredibly brave resistance members destroyed many a machine, and saved many a life.

Now, in the year 2027, Connor plans a huge assault into the heart of Skynet's primary base, NORAD, buried deep within the Cheyenne mountains in Colorado, where each and every one of the machines is controlled from; if the resistance could just pull this off, take out this single base...it would all be over. Tech Com would triumph, and Skynet would be defeated for good.

The missions you do which lead up to the final push include escorting Connor around various parts of the battlezones, disrupting Skynet's defenses and doing hit-and-runs on enemy bases.

A truly magnificent plot, and Dawn of Fate makes the very best of it.

REPLAY VALUE (8/10)

After the glory of that previous section, the standard is lowered considerably here.

By performing well on a mission, you can receive rewards. By doing exceptional in at least 4 of the 6 areas in which you are ranked (They include commendations for using lots of hand-to-hand combat taking little damage and killing an excessive amount of cyborgs), there's an opportunity to unlock the concept art and the music gallery, as well as various cheats such as infinite ammo and adrenaline. Also, if you complete the game once on Normal Mode, Terminal Mode will be unlocked; sort of like Extreme on Metal Gear Solid. In other words: Tough as nails.

All of this is knocked senseless by the fact that, excluding the training mission, there's only 10 other levels to play in, which is lacking a bit too much, in my opinion. Still, discovering things about the enemy and having them added to the interesting Threat Assessment feature is a nice idea.

I still think that a 2-player option wouldn't have hurt!

OVERALL (8/10)

The audio and video aren't perfect, but the gameplay engine is hugely enjoyable and the story is very well done. The replayability department could have done with a bit of work though, so I recommend a 3-night rental unless you're a Terminator fan, which I am; if so, Dawn of Fate is worth a purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/02, Updated 12/01/02