Gaming Target - Xbox: The Terminator: Dawn of Fate

Written by Nick Doukas on August 14, 2002

First Impressions: I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycleЕ

УThree billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmareЕthe war against the machines.Ф

There's a scene at the beginning of Terminator 2: Judgment Day that depicts the future war. Los Angeles lies in ruins and amidst the blackened skeleton of a children's playground, human skulls litter the ground. There's a full-scale battle erupting everywhere. Human resistance fighters take cover behind the walls of bombed out buildings as T-800 Terminators, armed with rapid-fire plasma rifles, target every last organic organism for extinction. Using weapons of equal magnitude, the humans fight with every last ounce of their will. Hunter-Killers soar above the battlefield, raining destruction upon the human forces. In the hallway of what was once a library, but is now a communications center, John Connor strides toward the battlefield. His face is a mass of scars, and his eyes are filled with grim determination. Soldiers salute as he passes, showing their respect to the great man, the leader of the resistance, Sarah Connor's son.

Although the bulk of screen-time in both Terminator films takes place in the present, the future war I've just described is the setting for the new Terminator title from Paradigm Entertainment. Terminator: Dawn Of Fate is actually a prequel to the films, and will place gamers into the role of a human resistance fighter battling Skynet's forces in the year 2027. The plot concerns Skynet's invention of the first humanoid terminator, and the defection of Alexander Stone. Stone is a high-ranking Tech Com leader who somehow manages to form an unholy alliance with the machines after his brother, also a guerrilla in John Connor's legions, is left to die on the battlefield. As one of three playable characters, which include tough as nails commando Kyle Reese, communications expert Katherine Luna, and John Connor himself, you'll race Alexander and Skynet to the time displacement equipment, engaging in hellacious battles with all manner of robots along the way. A variety of sub-plots will keep the storyline flowing, as will the numerous scripted events. Players will find themselves stumbling upon fellow soldiers organizing an assault, or coming around a corner to witness medics performing CPR on a wounded ally.

To create the proper mood for a Terminator game, Paradigm has stayed relatively faithful to the post-apocalyptic look seen in the future war sequence I mentioned earlier. Abandoned cars litter the streets, endless hallways full of shadows and decay beckon you at every turn, and demolished military outposts house battalions of terminators. Of the 18 different types of adversaries you'll face, six larger bots will be featured in boss battles. Since the game is set to feature 11 levels, it looks like you'll be facing a boss droid every other level or so. Each stage will consist of up to seven objectives, which will include escort duty, as well as holding specific checkpoints from the enemy. Mounting an assault on a control area to open up subsequent areas of the level will pit gamers against Skynet's army of metal warriors, and players will be happy to hear that the developers have provided them with a hefty armory. Some of the 20 weapons slated to appear in the game include an auto pistol, a rocket launcher, an assault rifle and liberal amounts of C4. If you can get your hands on them, Skynet's weapons can be your own. Pick up a pulse cannon and blast away, or acquire a plasma baton to melee bots into sputtering piles of junk. You'll be able to fire weapons with each hand, and all of the armaments in the game will automatically lock onto targets. Hand-to-hand combat is featured as well, and gamers will find themselves able to perform devastating combos and sweeping kicks that will stun opponents, giving you a momentary advantage in which to equip a weapon and finish them. Players will also benefit from the game's adrenaline mode, which blurs the screen as it increases your character's attack power and allows for formerly impossible fighting moves. The key to this mode is the adrenaline meter, which must be constantly replenished. Fortunately, keeping the meter topped off is simply a matter of destroying terminators, which is all in a days work for a Tech Com soldier. In addition to the standard 3rd person action, you'll also be able to fire with a first person view, but you won't be able to move while doing so. This unfortunately leaves you exposed to an attack.

Visually the game appears promising. Weapons emit real time lighting in muzzle bursts, as well as in reflections cast by passing tracers. The development team has added self-shadowing to each character for additional depth, and the original design of the games numerous enemy bots is impressive. The game also sports high-resolution textures, environmental mapping and bump mapping. Explosions appear detailed, and character animations on both sides look solid. The weapons models will all feature a beefy polygon count, and particle effects will be used in abundance in order to recreate the truly fantastic plasma and electrical pulse visualizations as seen in the films. The developers have a great prequel story set up for this title, and Infogrames Senior Producer Francois Lourdin is extremely enthusiastic about the games potential to captivate fans of the Terminator movies: УThe game is a true prequel to the movie. The goal of Terminator: Dawn Of Fate is to get Kyle Reese to the time travel facility alive so the T1 story as we know it can unfold. The game does share several elements with the movies. These include the pacing, the tension, the relentlessness of the machines as well as some of the characters. True Terminator fans will be pleased to discover what happened before the saga started. We provide answers to questions such as: УWhat does a Skynet facility look like?Ф and УWhat's a time travel machine?Ф. In terms of gameplay, we are working hard to deliver a memorable game. We do have a few aces up our sleeve.Ф Sounds good to me. Now we'll just have to wait and see if Infogrames and Paradigm deliver on their promises.