Publisher: Atari
Ages: teens & up
Parental
Advisory:
Violence
Back for yet another adventure, Atari's Terminator 3: The Redemption returns players to that famous post-apocalyptic universe to shoot everything that moves. While the last title, Terminator 3: War of the Machines was barely adequate, Redemption is an entertaining and challenging title.
The game continues along the "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" movie storyline, but branches into new directions that include an alternate scenario in the future that is only inhabited by evil SkyNet forces. Once again, John Conner, the future hero of the human race, is endangered by a cyborg terminator who has been sent from the future to kill him. And it's up to players as the Arnold Terminator model to save John and the human race.
Since Terminators movies are about time as well as place, gamers experience three timelines that include present day Los Angeles, the desolate, post-apocalyptic world and that eerie, alternate future with no humans. In all levels, Skynet machines run rampant and it's up to players to destroy them.
Players battle other Terminator models in melee combat, or drive vehicles to race, chase, and blast their way through fun arcade action. The game is a combination third-person shooter and driving game, and features segments where players shoot at objects while standing on moving platforms.
The addition of the vehicles and chases captures an element in the Terminator movies that prior games did not. Among the activities, the chase segments are the most entertaining. There's also an adequate cooperative multi-play to defend against waves of Skynet machines.
The game looks great and manages to sufficiently evoke the famous Terminator world. As you would expect, this is a violent game that is plays like a PG-13 movie. Fans of the Terminator movies will enjoy the game. And even without the Terminator license, Terminator 3: War of the Machines stands on its own as a good game.
9/20/04 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
