Is The Terminator Still Good?
The Terminator for the Sega CD is a run-n-gun action game developed by Virgin Interactive
and released in 1993.
Rather than being a port of the Genesis title with a CD soundtrack slapped on, The Terminator
for the Sega CD is a unique adventure not available on any other system.
And this is a good thing, as the Sega Genesis game wasn’t exactly met with critical acclaim.
The Sega CD version however is widely regarded as one of the better games on the platform,
and this was true back in 1993 as well, with the game receiving mostly positive reviews.
Video Games & Computer Entertainment Magazine scored the game an 8 out of 10 stating, “Intense
graphics, mind-blowing sound, great gameplay and the techno-rock music was winner of Video
Game's award for the best CD soundtrack of 1993.
What more can you ask?
Full-motion sequences from The Terminator [film] add to the mood of this must-play Sega
CD game.”
Game Players disagreed scoring the game a 6.2 out of 10 noting, “This is a pretty
average platform game, but the CD-quality soundtrack and digitized cut scenes bring
it to life.”
Finally, Consoles Plus Magazine gave the game an 87% proclaiming, “Lovers of run-n-guns,
will be well-served.
The Terminator is THE game on Mega CD for this year’s start.”
So, is The Terminator Still Good?
Let’s dive in.
Being a Sega CD game The Terminator opens with an FMV cut-scene from the motion picture.
The year is 2029 and machines have taken over the world.
The game advises the final battle however, will not be fought in the future, but in the
present.
Well, 1984 anyway.
From here, the gameplay begins.
The player takes control of Kyle Reese fighting the war against the machines in Dead City.
From a gameplay standpoint, The Terminator is like a mix between a run-n-gun action game
and a platformer.
Kyle Reese is fairly agile, changing directions quickly, the jumping is precise and responsive,
and generally speaking controls exactly like Aladdin, Mowgli, and Simba.
I can’t be certain this is the same game engine used in other Virgin titles, but it
feels extremely similar.
The shooting on the other hand is greatly expanded.
The player is able to shoot left and right as expected, but can also crouch and shoot,
shoot straight up in the air, and shoot diagonally.
Additionally, the player can shoot while on ladders, which is extremely helpful.
It’s quite flexible if I’m honest, however the rules as to when Reese will stand in place,
or run, are a bit unclear.
Changing directions will sometimes cause him to begin moving again, sometimes he will stay
in place.
I should also note the gun can initially only fire a single shot at a time, though an upgrade
is presented early on allowing fully automatic fire, which is a welcome addition.
Lastly, there are grenades, which are limited but there are ammo drops everywhere.
Grenades can be dropped straight down while on a ladder, which is nice as the player cannot
shoot straight down, as well as lobbed while standing or crouching, giving two different
launch arcs.
Despite the shooting mechanics however, The Terminator feels more like a platformer in
the level design.
Players will travel up stairs and ladders, jump along platforms, and then travel back
downwards making their way to a level’s exit.
After reaching the exit, points will be tallied for the amount of life remaining, enemies
killed, as well as a completion bonus.
Then of course, another FMV sequence is shown.
Unlike the opening sequence, the remaining FMV clip play a stock piece of audio, the
iconic heartbeat theme prominent in the feature.
I find it odd the actual sound from the film selections isn’t used, but as the video
quality is already rather poor it probably doesn’t matter.
With Dead City behind him Kyle Reese makes his way through Wasteland.
Unlike the urban level featuring stairways and flat platforms, level 2 features a lot
of hills which offer different tactical approaches when taking down the machines.
Sometimes this means you can fire away without the machine being able to respond.
Other times the player will find themselves at a disadvantage in relation to an enemy,
and finally sometimes the machines and Reese are on equal footing.
In reviewing the footage, I suppose I could have been more aggressive with utilizing the
grenades, but as I tend to be a conservative player, I found myself trying to hoard this
secondary item for future use.
Greeting the player at the end of this level is a boss of sorts, a giant machine.
This guy is actually pretty easy, firing rockets at a downward angle towards the player.
As long as one stays far enough back, it’s never a threat and this boss goes down without
much drama.
Level 3 has the player arriving at the SkyNet Base.
A few new mechanics are added including elevators allowing the player to travel both up and
down the stages, along with new enemy types.
First are flying machines that must be jumped over or ducked under, next are turrets on
the ceiling, and finally, there are dogs.
Each adds a new dynamic to the combat and I appreciate the new patterns.
There is also a second weapon upgrade, increasing the damage output of the gun.
Finally, there is a boss machine of sorts concluding the level.
This thing is devastating, quickly draining the player’s life with it’s flame shot.
Still, spam grenades and it goes down quickly.
Following a cut-scene featuring Reese back outside, level 4 is the Time Chamber, which
is clearly still in the SkyNet Base making the previous cut-scene feel a bit out of place.
Still the action continues in a familiar area.
A small turret is introduced which foreshadows obstacles to come, and there is a warp pipe,
allowing the player to skip small sections of the level if they so choose.
At the end of level 4 is the cybernetic organism itself: The Terminator.
Curiously, it sort of warps around the screen shooting at the player.
Hit him enough times and he’ll finally disappear into 1984.
Kyle Reese then follows him through the time machine.
With the 4 future levels behind us, Kyle arrives to the present day 1984.
Gone is the futuristic military outfit and post-apocalyptic world, and in it’s place
a trench coat and a normal looking city.
The difficulty is also lowered.
The weapon resets to a single shot rifle and the enemies found on the city streets are
easy compared to the machines found in the future.
But like level 1, City Streets presents a weapon upgrade very early on bringing back
the much needed automatic fire.
Other than the difficulty reset, not much really changes from a gameplay perspective.
There is a greater emphasis on platforming, having the player jump across various ledges
and climb ladders.
Missing a jump or falling off a ladder will result in the player dropping to the street
and then restarting their trek up the building.
About halfway through the city some construction elements are added changing up the scenery,
but at it’s core the everything is similar.
Complete level 5 and a cutscene is shown where Kyle Reese finds the three Sarah Connor’s
in the phone book, and his journey to the Technoir Bar continues in level 6, City Roofs.
About the only thing I really noticed in this stage is how the grenades can be extremely
beneficial in certain situations.
At times enemies are presented in areas safe from the player’s fire.
A quick jump and a lob makes quick work of these enemies, helping me feel justified in
my grenade hoarding.
The end of the level features a police helicopter.
This was actually hinted at in level 5, with a spotlight briefly chasing Reese, but here
in level 6, it finally starts attacking.
Sadly, the boss patterns is again rudimentary.
Once a safe spot is located, there is literally no challenge here whatsoever.
With the helicopter defeated the player arrives at the Technoir bar.
Environmental hazards are presented where lights will drop down and crash on an unsuspecting
player.
However, these can actually be shot at and dropped down onto enemies.
This creates an interesting flow to the level, where often times the player is not simply
ducking and shooting at enemies, but rather paying attention to the environment and using
this mechanic to their advantage.
Another interesting scenario are the bar fights.
Here, the bar acts as cover for the enemies, meaning the player will need to stand up and
get in some shots, and then crouch to avoid the return fire.
It adds a touch of depth to the gameplay and I rather enjoyed the change of pace.
Near the end of level 7 Kyle Reese finally catches up with Sarah Connor, and of course,
The Terminator.
But you can’t really tell because I am hitting him while he is off screen.
After escaping the bar, Sarah and Reese arrive at the police station.
Level 8 is basically a romp through the police station.
The player makes there way left across one story, and then right across the next, alternating
until they reach the top.
Then, they alternate in reverse across the other half of the level.
Along the way are a few encounters with The Terminator.
I found the best strategy here was to spam grenades until the Terminator falls over,
then run past it.
If the player touches the Terminator, they die, so this should be avoided.
After fleeing the police station some awesome clips from the film are shown before our hero
arrives at the Factory.
These final two levels really amp up the difficulty.
For one, there are plenty of robots which do massive damage to the player while also
taking quite a bit of ammunition to take down.
This means all of the ladder shooting learned previously becomes a necessity in these parts.
Next, the SkyNet turrets return with a vengeance.
I often found these would surprise me, and knowledge of their locations beforehand is
required to clear them without taking damage.
There are also lots of conveyor belts.
This becomes a problem when scrap metal starts dropping onto the conveyors.
Not only does the scrap metal cause damage to the player, it also creates some awkward
moments where the jump button won’t cause the player to jump because some other animation
is playing.
This can be avoided with skillful play, but something about the scrap metal and conveyor
belts feels a touch sloppy.
I should also note the final weapon upgrade is offered here, a flamethrower, making the
pesky robots slightly easier to take down.
Anyway, clear the factory and some more excellent moments from the film are presented in the
glorious Sega CD FMV format.
Level 10 is appropriately titled, Final Battle.
This plays much like level 9 but there are two brutal areas sure to drains the lives
of newer players.
The first part is a section with 4 separate turrets.
These can actually all hit the player at the same time, but previous knowledge of their
locals can mitigate the damage.
The second trouble spot is a gauntlet through turrets and robots.
Again, first time players will probably get mowed down in these sections as there isn’t
really enough room to dodge fire from multiple directions and these robots still take quite
a bit of firepower to take down, even with the flamethrower.
Other than these two trouble spots however, everything else is fairly standard, including
this cool crane section, plenty of dropping boxes, buttons opening up new areas, and conveyor
belts leading scrap metal to molten lava.
If the player manages to maneuver through all of these obstacles, they will arrive at
the final boss.
As the T-800 is pretty well knackered at this point in the story, it’s mostly harmless,
unless it touches the player.
The goal is to push three buttons which open up areas on the floor.
Push them at the wrong time and the Terminator will trap the player.
Press them at the right time and the player will snatch a grenade launcher.
Use this to fire at the machine’s legs, and the rest of the game will play out just
about matching the final scenes from the film.
Oddly, the final sequence then plays out in FMV, which seems redundant.
Then of course, the credits roll.
Graphically, The Terminator is a pleasant looking game, as you would expect from Virgin
Games.
Per usual, there is minimal parallaxe, though Dead City has a couple of layers.
And while this is somewhat disappointing, the artists did a nice job making the background
feel somewhat blurred, offering a distinct contrast to the razor sharp foregrounds.
While this effect is somewhat lost when viewing upscaled RGB video, on an old CRT, the effect
is quite convincing, like the background is out of focus.
I also enjoyed many of the environmental effects.
Palette swapping is used to good effect giving the illusion of explosions in the background
of Dead City, lightning in Wasteland, TVs flickering in the background of City Roofs,
as well as lightning up Kyle Reese every time he fires his rifle.
Speaking of Reese, he has one of the smoothest running animations I’ve seen on 4th generation
hardware.
I also dig the variety of the set pieces found in each level.
The reds of Dead City really pop, while the greys in SkyNet Base do a terrific job feeling
like a robotic base.
The rusty beams of City Roofs contrast beautifully against the deep blues of the moonlit sky.
Even the Police Station has a unique flavor unlike the rest of the game.
However the The Terminator does start feeling blue during the final few stages.
However I can’t help but feel the game feels very basic at times, hardly pushing the technical
limits of the Genesis or Sega CD.
Still, while not a technical marvel by any stretch, like most of the Virgin titles, The
Terminator is definitely one of the better looking Western developed games available
at the time.
And then of course there is the audio.
Tommy Tallarico certainly made a name for himself in the 90’s creating some memorable
Genesis soundtracks.
However with the limitless possibilities of Red Book audio, he was really able to flex
his composing muscle here on The Terminator.
What the soundtrack manages to do is capture the feel of both the 1980’s as well a futuristic
post-apocalyptic world.
At times the music is filled with energy, other times more somber, and there are plenty
of great industrial vibes as well.
I’m not sure I would call the soundtrack amazing and I think the depth is lacking compared
to other Sega CD games, it is definitely worth a listen and does a great job setting a specific
tone for the adventure.
The sound effects are nice as well.
Gunshots and explosion sounds are on point, background objects make noise, and Reese grunts
when he gets hit.
While clearly overshadowed by the soundtrack, nothing here is grainy or crunchy and the
sound effects do a serviceable job.
So, with all of that out of the way, we arrive back to the question asked at the beginning
of the video.
Is The Terminator still good?
First, as you’ve probably noticed, The Terminator doesn’t really have any glaring issues.
The controls are good, with responsive movement and solid jumping.
The collision detection is also excellent, and landing on platforms is never an issue.
In fact, I’d even say the game assists the player at times, allowing for a little slop
while playing.
While I occasionally felt like the jumping wouldn’t be responsive near the edge of
a platform, the issue is infrequent, and could very well be player error.
While the level design itself is fairly straightforward lacking in any truly clever or amazing moments,
one thing I did find myself enjoying were all of the secrets areas.
Even on my last playthrough I continued to discover little nooks and crannies overlooked
after many years of playing.
Sometimes these bonus areas are very obvious, other-times exceptionally cryptic requiring
the player to climb on objects that don’t appear to be climbable.
And despite my best attempts, there remains one platform with bonus goodies I simply couldn’t
figure out how to reach.
In addition to the weapon upgrades there are also helpful items like health, bonus lives,
and grenades aiding in the adventure.
The bonus lives are exceptionally welcomed as The Terminator has no continues, at all.
Once you lose your lives, it’s game over.
This was a strange gameplay decision in many games from the time.
For a majority of The Terminator, this doesn’t really matter, but the final three levels
feature a ton of trial-and-error.
The lights in Technoir Bar for example, blend in with the background.
And if playing on a CRT or some other display with overscan, they can be almost impossible
to see.
These explode too, and a few unforeseen errors will kill the player.
This gets even worse in the factory levels.
The turrets are brutal and surprise the player out of nowhere, often putting the player in
a position where they can’t take out the threat without taking on even more damage
than they already sustained.
It’s a real bummer, and having to restart the game due to surprise elements, rather
than lack of skill, is always a disappointment.
However, the game is relatively short, clocking in at about 75 minutes, so the offense certainly
isn’t criminal.
However, my real complaint with The Terminator is the overall lack of depth with the gameplay.
With little exception, the experience through the 10 levels rarely changes are rarely evolves.
There are way too many moments of just sitting a ladder laying waste to a defenseless enemy.
The basic, crouch then shoot maneuver, can be used throughout most of the game, and it
really doesn’t make for a compelling experience.
Moments like ducking for cover in the technoir bar are way too infrequent.
Even the extreme flexibility with the aiming is mostly wasted.
In the best run-n-guns, the player is on the bottom of the screen, allowing the designers
to implement enemies that can attack from above.
This doesn’t really exist in The Terminator.
Instead Kyle Reese is often in the middle of the screen.
When the player does find himself using the flexible aiming to shoot at enemies on higher
ground, one often just sees their legs, or nothing at all.
It just doesn’t feel well thought out.
This lack of depth is carried into the bosses.
None of them are memorable in the slightest, and all can be defeated with the most basic
strategies.
Not even the fights against the T-800 itself are very engaging.
Just crouch and lob grenades.
Basic stuff.
The weapon upgrades are also a little thoughtless.
While I appreciate the increased damage output, the enemies don’t change, making for a strange
difficulty curve.
In short, The Terminator is definitely lacking in the combat department.
Shortcomings aside however, I would say, yeah The Terminator is still a good game.
The silky smooth controls and interesting “nook and cranny” level design filled
with to the brim with secret areas makes The Terminator a pretty good platformer with some
replayability.
And again I must note their are few faults.
The checkpoint system is great, with checkpoints appearing frequent enough to avoid replaying
large swaths of the stages but not too frequent encouraging sloppy play.
There are no blind jumps, bottomless pits are rare, and the level flow is excellent.
I never found myself stuck wondering where to go next.
As a platformer, The Terminator is exceptionally, competent.
I just wish the combat system was of the same quality.
Compared to other games like Contra, Metal Slug, or Gunstar Heroes, it lacks depth and
feels primitive.
I still wouldn’t call this a fantastic game by any stretch.
Sure the graphics are at times very striking, especially the animations, and the soundtrack
rocks, pun intended.
But these aren’t enough to push The Terminator into the upper echelon of action games.
It’s good, not great, but definitely worth a look.