With the movie already in theaters, it looks like we have yet another movie tie-in game to deal with. The movie was met with mixed reviews, so can this title step up where the movie faltered? Or are both destined for mediocrity?
First off, the story in Terminator Salvation does not follow the movie at all. In fact, other than John Connor none of the characters from the movie are present in this game. This time John and the resistance are fighting the machines, and when the resistance is about to evacuate John gets a call for help from three men stuck behind enemy lines. John makes the decision to stay, and fight deeper into Skynet’s territory.
Despite the fact that your character can’t run, the controls work great. The left analog stick controls movement, while the right analog stick controls the camera. The X button will let you take cover, and you can move between pieces of cover by aiming the left analog stick towards the cover you want to move to, then pressing the X button again. This mechanic works very well, and becomes a lifesaver during some of the more intense firefights.
The rest of the button layout is pretty standard. Circle cycles through your weapons, L2 aims, R2 fires, R1 tosses grenades, and Square reloads. Again it would of been nice to have a run button since some of the shooting areas can get quite rough, and the amount of time it takes to get out of firing range is painful to say the least.
The gameplay is pretty similar to Uncharted, as it requires you to move from area to area, fighting off enemies. But it does get repetitive since there are only four kinds of enemies. They do a decent job of mixing up some of the gameplay with driving missions, where you will have to defend your vehicle. Again it is still you shooting, but it is a nice change of pace. It would of been cool to maybe see some sort of puzzle aspect. But in general, the gameplay isn’t bad, it’s just repetitive.
It’s disappointing enough that there are only a couple of enemies throughout the game, but on top of that they’re very difficult to destroy. Unless you have a rocket launcher or grenades, it’s almost impossible to take them down. There are strategies to killing some of the enemies without a heavy weapon, like the spiders who have vulnerable spots on their backs. Other than that though, the rest are pretty much straight forward. Just shoot, shoot, shoot, and hope you don’t die.
