Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Written by Andrew Fitch on November 06, 2003

First Impressions: Sick of California recall jokes? Too bad, ya gotta endure a few more!

As a California native and resident, I was appalled at the mocking coverage our state's recent recall election received nationwide. California faces tremendous challenges and crises these days: The devastating fires in Southern California, a humongous budget problem, massive unemployment, and the longtime battle over illegal immigration. Yet people like Jay Leno reduced the race to adult film stars, paralyzed porn peddlers, washed-up child actors and old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie quotes. One of our state's toughest times in recent memory was transformed into one giant joke.

But really, the fact that УAhnoldФ is now our УGovernatorФ is pretty damn hilarious to us Californians as well!

With that in mind, gamers will soon get the opportunity to play as a standing United States governor for the first time in recorded history, in the video game adaptation of the latest УAhnold Smash-Hit Summah BlockbustahЩ,Ф Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. While such an experience surely can't measure up to the action-packed thrill ride of witnessing Ahnold Totally Recall Gray Davis and terminate the machine-like forces of Cruz Bustamante, Arianna Huffington, Tom McClintock and Peter Camejo, developer Black Ops Entertainment is going to give this herculean task a shot.

While Ahnold plus video games would seem to equal a winning formula, the video game world has certainly not been kind to his movies up till now. Total Recall is thought by some to be the worst NES game ever (and I certainly won't put up an argument there...), and the various Terminator adaptations over the years have generally been lackluster gaming experiences. However, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines has a trump card those other games didn't -- the ability to actually play as Ahnold himself! (Well, Ahnold's character, anyway...) And thankfully, Terminator 3 doesn't look like it'll be close to being the worst PS2 game out there. In fact, all the pieces look like they may finally come together in an Ahnold-themed video game.

The plot will closely follow that of the movie -- two Terminators, one good, one evil, are sent to the present day in order to influence the future of John Connor, humankind's last hope. One (the T-100, henceforth known as Terminator Ahnold) wants to protect him at all costs, while the other (the sexy but deadly T-X УTerminatrixФ) wants to kill him. This would seem to be an unfair fight, as the T-X is from farther in the future than Terminator Ahnold, and thus far more advanced. But as the California recall showed, with the power of Ahnold, anything is possible! But even if you haven't seen the film, you should easily be able to get into the game, as the plot will unfold with actual clips from the movie. In fact, there will even be extra bonuses you couldn't get in the theater, with additional scenes and storylines filmed specifically for the game.

Gameplay-wise, Terminator 3 is a mix of first-person shooter and fighter. Most of the time, Terminator Ahnold will take on various evil robots in gameplay similar to stuff like Halo and Quake (similar-looking, at least). But when it comes time to take on the T-X herself, the action switches to one-on-one fisticuffs in a third-person fighting mode -- there will be several such encounters throughout the game. Why a high-tech killing machine like Terminator Ahnold needs to lower himself to hand-to-hand combat is beyond me... Nonetheless, it does give the game the potential to be more than just another FPS clone. There will be more than 20 levels in all, and over 20 available weapons as well. At certain flashbacks, you'll even get to play during Terminator Ahnold's Уformer lifeФ as an anti-human warrior, as you mercilessly terminate those puny Уgirly-menФ! But in the end, it's all about that age-old question: УWheah is John Connah?Ф

Arnold Schwarzenegger himself will be lending his voice to Terminator 3, though it surely won't match his work in his gubernatorial campaign ads, such as: УThe car tax -- ootreegioos!Ф and УI don't play dat game!Ф (His best work since УIt's not a tuumah!Ф in my opinon...) While Ahnold is certainly the game's biggest star, Terminator 3 will also feature the likenesses of Claire Danes as Kate Brewster, Nick Stahl as John Connor, and Kristanna Loken as the deadly T-X. But although Arianna Huffington was promised a role by Ahnold himself in his next Terminator venture, she is nowhere to be found.

The visuals look to be one of Terminator 3's strong points. The CG cutscenes look especially impressive -- the Terminator definitely looks like Ahnold, and the lip-sync seems to be perfect, which means the storytelling scenes should be incredibly immersive. The in-game graphics look very nice as well, but they're not quite as impressive overall. Still, they're some of the better FPS graphics I've seen in a PS2 title. Now, as to whether the actual gameplay will be of the same high quality -- well, УI'll be backФ (or someone at Gaming Target will be, anyway) to inform you upon the game's release later this month.