Terminator 3: The Redemption

"Be The Governator - Save The Future"

The Future. A place of death and destruction. A time where the servants have turned on their masters and seek to eliminate them. As the humans evolve to rely on our computers and machines we are destined for a fate that that is beyond anyone's imagination. Perhaps in this dark hour we can use our flaw as our only act of Redemption.

Terminator 3: Redemption starts out in the not so distant future. A nuclear holocaust has wiped out a good deal of the human population. The rest of it scurries through rubble like rats. They must do this to avoid death at the hands of machines that seek to kill all human life. These machines are terminators. In the game you'll play as a reprogrammed T-800 Terminator. You'll have to fight your way through legions of robotic warriors to reach a time facility and travel back in time to save John Connor and Katherine Brewster. Unlike past games from this franchise it takes a 3rd person approach and relies heavily on vehicle combat. In future areas you'll use 4x4's that have machine gun mounts, news copters with machine guns, and tanks. Travel back and you'll have police cars, motorcycles, and trucks among others. This leads to a whole new playing experience.

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay in this game is pretty solid. The controls are what you would expect from a 3rd person game. One analog stick to move, another to aim, and L1 & R1 buttons to fire as well as other tasks assigned to the other buttons. Driving is also pretty well done as you'll use the Left Analog stick for all driving controls and the right to use a weapon if you have one.

The different types of vehicles really break up the action and give you a feeling of doing something different instead of the same ole thing. When you aren't in vehicles you'll be on foot and will face tons of terminators and some flying machines. When on foot you'll usually be stuck with one weapon which pretty much ruins some parts of the game.

In addition to all of these things there is an important option that needs to be addressed. In the game you can use the Terminator Vision for only short periods of time. While in this mode you'll do increased damage. To keep you playing and have you do your best this Vision can be upgraded. There are several different upgrade types that have 5 levels of upgradability.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are pretty well done. In the future settings it's very dark and ominous. It really will give you the feeling of our world suddenly being turned upside down. In the present year it will look like California, bright and well detailed. The city really looks like it's a city and doesn't have that feeling of them putting in something just to have a stage work. There is a serious lack of population in the area, especially in Los Angeles.

A great addition to the game are cut scenes taken directly out of the movie. These are extremely well done and look just like the DVD of T3. They are well placed in the game and give some background as well as advancing the plot. Some of the cut scenes run a little long, but can be avoided if need be.

There is one MAJOR problem I had with the graphics in this game. In the future levels the ground and rubble are black and gray and guess what…the terminators are black and gray too. Also, the humans in the game also resemble the terrain and terminators as well. This can cause some problems with friend or foe, but since you won't be counted against if you kill them it's not too bad. However if you can't tell a Terminator from a wall then you may take damage that you wouldn't normally take.

One great positive from the game though is your character. As you take more damage your body and face will show it as your terminator body shows through. It's not much of a saving grace though. One thing though, between your character and the female terminator's you'll see a LOT of people's behinds. So if your kids are playing you might not want them to see that.

SOUND

The sound in the game isn't all that bad. The music is pretty much forgettable as is it in most action games. What you'll really notice is the voice acting. Now I know that Arnold is suppose to be a robot, but his monotone ness and apathy for some reason sound more annoying than what you would think his character would be. Also, in some areas he has a lot of emphasis on words and emotion which goes against what the character is. The other voice actors are pretty solid and work pretty well.

MISC. ISSUES

One glaring issue I have with this game is the load times. They are absolutely HORRIBLE. If you fail a mission, which you'll probably do, then it asks you to restart. It'll start the cut scene and you can skip over it. After that the load screen begins. It will take 20-45 seconds for the game to load. When it does you'll have to go through your upgrade screen, continue on to the game and then you'll get to play.

COMPARISONS

This game is a pretty strange duck. First of all a game from the same company about the same movie has already been released. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines has been out for several months already. The games have a nearly identical story although they play completely different. Rise of the Machines is a first person shooter and Redemption is 3rd person. You'll start from the exact same place pretty much and do similar stuff. Also some of the unlockables are the same. The major one about SGT. Candy which can be found in both games as well as the DVD is present.

Second this game can easily be compared to Grand Theft Auto. If Grand Theft Auto was made completely linear, point A to point B, then this is what it would look like. Steal cars and tanks and complete a mission. It doesn't even come close to touching that franchise but uses some of the same devices.

OVERALL

This game is pretty decent to play. The graphics are top notch and the game play is pretty solid. If you've already bought Dawn of Fate or Rise of the Machines you may not get as much enjoyment out of this game as you would normally. Also this game can be either really short or really long and can be rather frustrating at times as you'll need to do a mission one way and one way only. Also some areas rely more on reaction than skill. The game is good but doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from it's other PS/2 counterparts.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/04