Developer: Gray Matter Inc Publisher: Mindscape Release: 04/93 Genre: Action
There is absolutely no reason why the Terminator should not be an easy slam dunk. The 1984 film was incredible, full of high energy action and influential to this day. The Sega versions, while far from perfect, manage to nail the atmosphere and energy of the movie and are still good for a quick play through to this day. Somewhere along the way the SNES game lost its way and is awful. The Super Nintendo version of the Terminator is the type of game that gives licenses a bad reputation and should be avoided.
Forget about any comparisons to Virgin’s Terminator game for the Sega platforms. The two titles share the name and plot structure and that is all. The Sega CD game is pretty good overall, not quite Contra but a step below. It also has excellent soundtrack by Tommy Tallarico. You will not find any of that here. Instead you will find a game that means well but has shoddy execution. This license deserves better.
The Terminator starts out well enough. As Kyle Reese you must brave all manner of Terminator and advanced aircraft to reach the time machine. While the level itself is pretty straightforward the action is solid. Terminators come in a few varieties and attack from all corners. Weapons and items are not terribly interesting but in terms of atmosphere they get it. The stage even includes a brief car chase as you battle an aircraft carrier from the back of a truck before ending in an epic boss battle.
Had the game kept along the same line it would have been decent if not unspectacular. But the Terminator quickly shits the bed after this point. Each subsequent level is worse than the last and littered with problems. It even looks like an entirely different game! The gloomy atmosphere of the future has given way to poorly drawn present day environments. The level design is outright awful, repetitive and confusing. Navigating the rooftops is frustrating as there is no clear path to follow. Kyle can barely fall a few feet without dying, and with the level layout the way it is, this will happen frequently. Even worse, you are constantly assaulted by helicopters, at which point you can’t move and can only exchange fire and pray they die first.
Subsequent side-scrolling levels are no better. In the prison you no longer have unlimited ammo and must open every door in hopes of finding more. It is not as much of a problem as you would think, just incredibly dull. That applies to the rest of the level as you face the same two enemies as you try and find Sarah Connor among the repetitive halls. The final level is a return to form, such as it is. But it comes as too little too late to redeem the rest of the game.
Sandwiched in between the side-scrolling stages are two chase sequences. Admittedly they look cool, with a beautiful environment and smooth scaling. But they are a nightmare to play. In these levels The Terminator gives chase and you must survive until the timer runs out. Your only course of action is to attack the Terminator while dodging traffic which is all but impossible. If you are not attacking the Terminator it will rip you to shreds. But while you are attacking it oncoming traffic approaches like a bat out of hell. The worst part is if you die, the clock resets and you have to do it all over again. It is a shame to see such a cool concept for a level ruined by bad execution. That kind of describes the entire game. Any time you try to enjoy the game it fights you at every turn.
As is customary with bad licensed titles the Terminator is viciously difficult. Between its bad level design and relentless enemies death comes frequently. Kyle takes heavy damage at every turn and the constant health packs can’t keep up. It is very easy to lose all of your lives in the second level alone, let alone during the chase segments. Sadly there are no continues either. That should come as no surprise seeing as the game is lacking in every other area. Or maybe it should not be so surprising.
In Closing
It takes a special level of ineptitude to make a bad game based on the Terminator. Yet somehow the developers did just that. The Terminator is a bad game that is best left forgotten. There is a reason why no one ever speaks about this version of the Terminator. Let it stay that way.
