Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: The Terminator: Dawn of Fate

Written by John Scalzo on October 15, 2001

First Impressions: He said he'd be back! SMACK
Owww, what do you mean that was old and lame?

Here we go again with more movie to video game madness, this week courtesy of James Cameron's 1984 masterpiece The Terminator. The Terminator franchise has been responsible for a lot of video games over the years, most notably the near perfect lightgun shooter based on Terminator 2 that graced arcades everywhere (and is still standing at my local arcade to this day). But Infogrames and Paradigm's (makers of the very unique Pilotwings 64) upcoming PS2 game simply called The Terminator takes Ah-nuld and company to a video game place they've never been, a third person shooter in full 3D.

"That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with! It can't be reasoned with! It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"

The Terminator isn't really based on the movie, but it plays out more like an extended version of the opening shot seen in The Terminator. You remember the scene. Giant tanks cruise along the streets on a road of human skulls. The people are cold and hungry and huddled in bunkers. Dogs are stationed at the doorways to warn the humans of a new machine, The Terminator, one that looks human, gains entry into the camp and proceeds to kill everyone without remorse. But there are also soldiers, fighting the machines, fighting for their lives. And there is a man, John Connor, who leads the resistance against the machines for humanity's very right to exist.

"You still don't get it, do you? He'll find her. That's what he does. That's all he does!"

This is where you come in. Taking the role of various soldiers, Connor himself, and Kyle Reese you have to stop the machine's latest plan. SkyNet has created a time machine, a way to strike at the human resistance from the past. They want to send a Terminator back to the past and kill John Connor's mother Sarah, this way, John is never born and humanity has lost their leader.

So it will be your job to take out SkyNet's forces and work your way to the time machine to send Kyle to the past to protect Sarah. Along the way, you'll have to face tanks, flying Hunter Killers, and of course, Terminators, among other bad forces. There is no word now though on whether or not the game will be entirely in the future, or if you will have to play out the movie and protect Sarah in the past as well.

Right now, all that Infogrames has released is some conceptual art and a few environment screens (naturally, one is of a liquid metal vat). I realize that it's still very early in the development life of this game, but I'm very excited. The Terminator and T2: Judgment Day are two of my favorite movies. We've only gotten a small taste of the machines, characters, and some very cool looking future weaponry in this game. But seeing these early screens and the sweet conceptual drawings just makes me want more.

The Terminator: Dawn of Fate

First Impressions: He said he'd be back! *SMACK *Owww, what do you mean that was old and lame?

First Impressions: He said he'd be back! SMACK
Owww, what do you mean that was old and lame?