Reviewed: October 2, 2004
Reviewed by: Roger Cox
Publisher
Atari
Developer
Paradigm Entertainment
Released: September 7, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen
7
8
7
6
6.9
Supported Features
You are the ultimate killing machine. Created by a calculating robotic master, you fight in the desolate future war of 2032. You are the T850 Infiltrator, an assassination machine invented to mimic a human being in every detail. You enter the human ranks, posing as one of their own, and devastate from within. John Connor’s human resistance army captures and reprograms you to become the ultimate protector. You are then sent back to 2003 with orders to protect Connor and Kate Brewster. Back to a time before the war and before the fate of humanity was cast. Connor and Brewster must live through the past to secure a chance at life for the human race. Protect them from danger no matter the treat, including the relentless and technologically superior T-X.
You are the only thing that stands between the survival of the human race and a world dominated by Sky Net machines. To kill one you must become one, this is Terminator 3: the Redemption.
T3 plays out like a high-speed pursuit. Heart pounding action, gripping story (based entirely on the movie) and insane difficulty make Terminator 3: the Redemption what it is today. You always feel like you are chasing or being chased in this game and I thought every action sequence was fun, albeit a bit repetitive when you end up repeating levels on an average of seven times trying to beat them.
You will find yourself having fun at first, but will soon get frustrated by how easily you die after an hour or so. That’s when you throw on the invincibility cheat (go to Credits and hold down R1+R2+Circle). This code makes the game much more enjoyable, trust me. Although being invincible has its perks, you will still be challenged and utterly frustrated at times.
As a T850 you have the ability to upgrade your core system by gathering terabytes. This is a RPG element that was put into the game to add a little more depth and replay ability. Unfortunately it suffers from being pretty worthless. It’s not very effective and it’s hard to tell a difference after upgrading your system. Good idea, but not well executed. I have to hand it to them, the menus are nice and they add to the feel of the game.
One thing you will enjoy in T3 is having the ability to jump from vehicle to vehicle during chase scenes. Enemies will also try to hitch a ride and you’ll have to kick their ass off while fighting the enemies in front of you. T3’s action sequences are totally immersive. So immersive in fact that my hands hurt after the opening level. You don’t walk around shooting on the ground very much. Almost all of the game takes place on a moving vehicle. This isn’t too bad, but I wanted to play more on foot practicing some of the neat combo moves T3 has to offer.
T3 has a co-op mode. Basically, you and a friend get to fight together throughout the same levels you play in single player mode, but things are a little different than single player. For one, they change the way you fight through the levels. Example: Co-op mode for level one has you and a friend in a helicopter, each with a machine gun, mowing down the enemies. That’s different from the single player game in which you walk around on foot.
The control scheme is pretty simple and straightforward. T3 does a nice introduction in the opening movie to get you used to the controls. Overall, the controls for this game feel just right. Pick up the game, start playing, everything feels just as it should be, it always feels natural.
T3 is one of the most difficult and frustrating games that I have played in a long time. Even if you turn on all the cheats, you will still find yourself playing multiple levels over and over again trying to complete them. The difficulty fluctuates throughout the game and at many points is overwhelming. Most of the time you can get through a difficult game with the helping hands of checkpoints, reverting back to them when you die, so you can try over and over again to complete that one difficult part in the level (load times are minimal). Well, T3 has no checkpoints. Each level has to be completed in whole and there is no restart button. Each time you die, you reload the cinematic before it (thankfully you can skip it)
Overall, the gameplay in T3 is fun, addicting, and frustrating. I found myself coming back to certain chase scenes time and again. After playing this game you’ll likely be buying Terminator 3, the DVD, the following day, assuming you don’t already own it. If you do own it, expect to watch it again at least once.
I was shocked how good the graphics were although some slow down occurred during in-game cinematics. The FMV from the movie is nice and the overall 3D engine looks pretty good. The transitions they do from actual video to CG are unbelievable. It’s an amazing effect.
The most exciting thing here is seeing Anrold digitally sculpted. Arnold was body scanned for this game and the 3D model of him looks every bit as identical. As far as the damage modeling is concerned as Arnold gets injured his flesh peals off revealing his true robotic form underneath. It’s really neat looking right before you die!
Being Arnold has its perks, you can say several one liners by pressing the L2 button. I really like it when he says, “Talk to the hand.” The music in T3 is nice and fits the game’s theme perfectly. There is nothing new or outstanding here, just your everyday music, average voice acting, and shooting/crashing/burning/screaming sound effects. T3 supports Dolby Pro Logic II.
This game currently sells for $40 and it’s definitely a $20 game hands down. Sure you get the pretty graphics, the average multiplayer game, and the heart pounding action that lasts for the first hour, but its difficulty will force you to stop playing. I recommend purchasing some cheap off brand controllers if you plan on beating T3. This game is most certainly a weekend rental at its current price.
Terminator 3: The Redemption is the type of game you and a friend will rent, get home with, open up, start playing and both say “This is awesome” simultaneously. Unfortunately a half hour later you will both want to play something else because your fun level has just plummeted nose first into the ground. I’m not saying this game isn’t fun. If you read the full review, you know I liked it plenty. Simply put, this game is so ridiculously difficult that it will make you cry and ask “why?”
If you are an Arnold fan and you like the terminator series like I do, then you’ll love playing as the Governator.