By Kieron Gillen on April 21st, 2009 at 1:13 pm.
Considering RPS’ communal adoration of James Cameron eighties action films, it’s perhaps surprising that we’ve done so little on third-person shooter Terminator: Salvation. Shooting robots… in the future. That’s our thing, surely? You give us a time machine and send us forward and we’d set upon the first robotic thing we’d see, just through our training-via-media. Anyway, maybe it’ll be good. Maybe it won’t. But one thing’s for sure – you’ll find footage of shootage beneath the cut.
Any thoughts? Fans of adding-trees-to-Fallout-3 will be pleased to see there is sufficient greenery for their purposes, at least.
21/04/2009 at 13:18 Bananaphone says:
The future is sunnier than I had been led to believe.
21/04/2009 at 13:21 Lorc says:
Anyone else remember Skynet? Terminators were terrifying in that game.
21/04/2009 at 13:26 The Sombrero Kid says:
it’s hard to fuck up a gears of war clone, i remember future shock but i don’t remember skynet.
21/04/2009 at 13:37 PC Monster says:
Skynet and Future Shock are unsung classics of the doom/duke nukem era. Soaked in atmosphere, they were, like…like…some incredibly apt metaphor that escapes me for the moment.
Actually looks quite good, for a film tie-in. I’d like to hope that the buildings shown in the street scenes could be explored, a la Stalker’s Pripyat (and the games mentioned above), but I feel this might be too much for a film-to-game cash generator to worry about. above the usual ASPLODE! RATTTATATAT!!! Still, what’s there is…promising.
21/04/2009 at 13:38 AndrewC says:
I love that the Teen Rating is for VIOLENCE. And nothing else.
I also like that the trailer ends with the music cresendo-ing on some random street battle (instead of, say, the shot of the big robot) suggesting that the shots were put together entire randomly.
Also I like the big Terminators falling over in a stiff, stock animation like it’s 1995.
Also I hate that cod orchestral version of the Terminator theme. I could try and argue that’s it’s due to the original theme being designed around minimalist electronic instrumentation and a drone backing to emphasise the melancholy of the tune, so adding all the brassy farting just loses the theme’s impact. But mostly my reaction was that it sounded really naff.
21/04/2009 at 13:41 Dominic White says:
This is the ‘sister’ game to Grin’s previous movie tie-in, Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Wanted was damn short (around the six hour mark), but perfect as a rental, as it was short, sweet and dumb. I expect this to be much the same. An appetizer before the main course, the excellent-looking Bionic Commando.
(Tangentially, check it out here – http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-bionic-commando/17-408/ – it’s coming to PC as well, and looks great)
From the looks of it, they’re using Wanted’s best feature again – the clever cover-switching system, where by holding different movement directions at the edge of cover, it’ll show you where your next dodge will move you. Made for some nice cinematic gunfights, rolling and twisting between pieces of hard scenery.
21/04/2009 at 13:47 Rei Onryou says:
Console-shootiness, movie tie-in. I’m scared. So many things can go wrong.
21/04/2009 at 13:51 Dominic White says:
Wanted wasn’t great, but it was good fun while it lasted. Not bad for a tie-in developed in a relatively short amount of time. I expect the same will apply to Terminator.
Sadly, you can’t rent PC games, so I’ll be taking it for a spin on my 360 instead. Such games are ideally played that way.
I’ll likely be buying Bionic Commando, as it looks a lot longer, and has proper online multiplayer too.
21/04/2009 at 13:57 Aldo says:
Also I hate that cod orchestral version of the Terminator theme. I could try and argue that’s it’s due to the original theme being designed around minimalist electronic instrumentation and a drone backing to emphasise the melancholy of the tune, so adding all the brassy farting just loses the theme’s impact. But mostly my reaction was that it sounded really naff.
That theme really is rather awful, indeed. I’d not heard it before….
Sounds like it’s from a Jerry ‘Explosion’ Bruckheimer movie, in fact.
21/04/2009 at 14:00 Xercies says:
Wasn’t the Skynet machines in the original Terminator really really hard to kill with the resistence weaponry. So why do they feel like paper mache in this one and get blown up by a machine gun when in the original it took lots of damage or a big rocket launcher to kill one of them.
21/04/2009 at 14:15 The Sombrero Kid says:
@Xercies
this is set before they developed arnie obv. to develop arnie they had to develop a bare bones terminator nearly as hard as him, which is where the kick ass terminators came from only after arnie where terminators hard to kill.
21/04/2009 at 14:23 AndrewC says:
I recommend not thinking about continuity in the Terminator universe.
21/04/2009 at 14:47 jackflash says:
Trailers of FPS that were clearly shot on a console are so funny. Head move up. Head move left. Shoot gun. Head move down. It looks so unnatural.
21/04/2009 at 14:54 Ginger Yellow says:
“I recommend not thinking about continuity in the Terminator universe.”
Especially when you add in the new (and sadly apparently cancelled) TV series, which seems to delight in screwing about with the timelines.
21/04/2009 at 14:58 DBeaver says:
It looks like they recycled animations from Wanted Weapons of Fate… the whole slide between cover thing
21/04/2009 at 15:04 diebroken says:
Well, it looks alright I guess – I’d prefer a FPP though (like Future Shock and SkyNet).
Oh, and did you just mention Arnee and The Terminators in the title?
http://www.gladding.com/arnee/
UZI 9MM! :P
21/04/2009 at 15:05 Dood says:
Man, those robots really suck at aiming.
21/04/2009 at 15:05 Toby says:
Beat me to it Beaver. Yep, thar be recycling… and serpents, no doubt. Bit cheap of Grin, even if those are some lovely animations that were probably the best part of Wanted for me (the knee-slide over cover was a personal favourite… mm, splinters..)
21/04/2009 at 15:07 Markoff Chaney says:
Wanted was a lot better than it should have been, even if it was very short.
I’ll just end with my favorite future quote – “Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted.” The Future is NOW! ;)
21/04/2009 at 15:08 Flappybat says:
Wanted was nearly a Good Game, perhaps if this is refined from that then this will be a Good Game. It’s not just developed by Grin so that might be a good sign.
If that short splitscreen section was co-op then it better be online!
21/04/2009 at 15:12 Mister_X says:
ahhhh Skynet and Future Shock . Now they were fantastic, though dated graphically very quickly. Fond memories playing them both, captured the atmosphere of the original film pretty well.
21/04/2009 at 15:28 Ian says:
Man I love the Terminator theme.
Doo doo dooooo doooooooo doo DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO doooooooo!
21/04/2009 at 15:38 mcw says:
More like : Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range?
21/04/2009 at 15:43 danielcardigan says:
I lost any enthusiasm at “third person shooter”.
21/04/2009 at 15:44 Lu-Tze says:
Wanted balanced excellent ideas against terrible ones, and committed some awful sins of design. But, it was entertaining.
Their way of doing quick time events (the slow motion shooting sections) was better than i’ve seen anywhere else, but it’s married against knife wielding enemies who you have to do a bit of quick time button mashing to defeat. A well introduced Sniper section (where you have to dodge his bullets for about 10 minutes before you wrench it off him and deal some vengeance on all his friends) against random placed turrets in French streets.
I wouldn’t level the length against it as a criticism, because I felt the length was perfectly pitched to the depth of gameplay. And it would make a great rental title.
Back on topic… Salvation looks like it introduces that Gears of War favourite, vehicle sections. Vehicle sections in PC games are marginally better than console because your aim is increased tenfold with a mouse, but goddamn they just plain suck. If the game features as much vehicular action as the trailer, it’s really gonna get on my nerves.
21/04/2009 at 16:01 SirKicksalot says:
I demand bullet curving.
21/04/2009 at 16:02 MetalCircus says:
Looks like a fun game, but I remember the robots were way more terrifying in the terminator 1/2 “future war” segments. May be a fault with the new film rather than this game, but still. I want to be steeped in a gritty guerilla war against superior machines, using underhand, backdoor tactics like setting up ambushes, planting traps to take down robots, before slipping away into the darkness, and into underground bunkers.
*dreams*
ps, what did they DO to the terminator theme?!?! Possibly also a problem with the movie. Wow, I guess the movie is going to be a massive let down.
21/04/2009 at 16:11 AbyssUK says:
SkyNET 4 player LAN is yet to be surpassed in its glory. This looks alright.. but can you fly a hunterkiller and ram it into the skull of your enemies ?
21/04/2009 at 16:12 crumbsucker says:
+1 to the Future Shock/Skynet praises. On of my fondest gaming memories…it’s good to see that they get some love in this thread :) Future Shock was under-appreciated, really groundbreaking game, Bethesda’s finest moment. True 3D environment, huge outdoor areas to explore. Driveable vehicles. (remember, this is pre-Quake / pre-Duke3d) Real missions, not just find keys/find exit gameplay. I believe it was the first fps with real mouselook, I remember wrestling with the controls for hours at first, until I got the hang of it (“How am i supposed to look up/down and turn with the mouse in a fps? And strafe/move with my left hand on the keyboard? These people are crazy!”).
The atmosphere was great, always at night, with the collapsed buildings, car wrecks etc. everywhere. Great terminator-styled music, the sounds of the burning debris, your footsteps in the dirt, and the whine of the robots’ servo motors, from the distance, as they were moving towards you. The sound of the wind, when you climbed on top of one of the ruined buildings, and looked over the lifeless, destroyed city…
Also the relatively slow pacing really added to the tension, and realism of the game. You were not a badass Doom-like superhero, running around, shooting everything with a rocket launcher.
God, I loved that game. I could talk about it for hours.
Sorry for my bad english.
21/04/2009 at 16:15 jonfitt says:
I loved Future Shock and Skynet. Multiplayer was great. You could choose dawn or dusk for all the maps. It had the drivable vehicles from the SP sections, and you could choose to play as the Terminator who was slower but tougher, and had a red tinted hud.
21/04/2009 at 16:19 ThatFatChap says:
MetalCircus what you want is the game tie-in for Red Dawn!
21/04/2009 at 16:20 Vinraith says:
While it’s conceivable that the game might be entertaining, if you’re a real fan of Cameron’s you’re probably instinctively ignoring the zombie-like raising (again) of a franchise that ended beautifully with its second movie.
21/04/2009 at 16:23 MetalCircus says:
@ThatFatChap that would be AWESOME.
Also been meaning to play future shock/skynet for a while now, does anyone know how they handle XP?
:edit:
@Vinraith aye, i’m very much sceptical of the new movie, didn’t enjoy 3 very much (although it was “okay”) Terminator one and two are some great movies.
21/04/2009 at 16:28 DK says:
Does anyone else notice that all the new Skynet designs they came up with look like Armageddon Empires Machine Empire stuff?
21/04/2009 at 16:30 Nick says:
WOLVERINES!
Er, anyway, Future Shock was brilliant.. if a bit crashy/buggy, I loved the rifle with the sight that worked and the “oh my god what’s that noise arrrrgh an actual terminator” moments.
21/04/2009 at 16:30 Asystole says:
Oh dammit, I am so in like Flynn. That trailer had it all: epic looking 3rd person pew pew action, gorgeous outside environment, terminators, and that music…
21/04/2009 at 16:31 AbyssUK says:
I’ve ran Skynet on XP before.
Anybody want to try a game over Hamachi ? That would rock!
21/04/2009 at 16:36 Ian says:
@ DK: Stop making me wish even more that there were more kinds of games in an AE setting. :(
21/04/2009 at 16:56 Nero says:
Hmm, can I game look more generic than this? I think not.
21/04/2009 at 17:10 Supraliminal says:
There is something about those stiff and clumsy robots. Yeah they are totally old fashion terminator stuff, but still they could be a bit more practical.
That ending shot where the hero just carelessly tosses grenades over his head is great. I don’t know why.
21/04/2009 at 18:01 Radiant says:
That looked awesome.
It looked better then the film!
When is it out?
Also generic??
Generic as what?
Other 3rd person shooters?
Which ones exactly?
21/04/2009 at 18:11 Black Mamba says:
No phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range for this game
McG’s T4 is an alternate universe compared to T1/T2 so no kick ass laser/plasma weapons. It’s basically all current gen weapons.
21/04/2009 at 19:14 Dracko says:
Looks like Grin are taking from what they learned with Wanted and applying it to bigger and better things. This looks pretty fab.
21/04/2009 at 20:38 Pantsman says:
Looks like the high-octane adventures of a very slippery man.
21/04/2009 at 21:51 Scandalon says:
1 – Everyone that has any ounce of Terminator appreciation, go get your hands on the Sarah Conner Chronicles, preferrably via methods that FOX can track, say iTunes/Netflix/whatnot, or HULU.com for the 2nd half of season 2. Perhaps that will convince them to not cancel it.
2 – Anyone remember the arcade T2 shooting game, where the controllers looked like UZI’s? That was ace.
3 – The Terminator mythos is great, but I’m still waiting for the popular entertainment version of the robot rebellion that’s more realistic, i.e. If there’s a robot designed to kill people, then you’re dead as soon as it’s physically possible to kill you 99.999% of the time. They won’t miss, they won’t have to get close, they won’t glare/growl menacingly and/or say something first, they probably won’t be humanoid, you won’t be able to stall by saying something clever. Most of the time you won’t even know they’re there, maybe have time for a “oh crap” before you’re dead.
21/04/2009 at 22:58 Günter says:
The robots in that screenshot look kind of like they have machine gun penises.
Just sayin’.
21/04/2009 at 23:26 Radiant says:
and now that’s all I see…
21/04/2009 at 23:26 Radiant says:
Well played good sir
22/04/2009 at 00:46 DrGonzo says:
Looks a bit dull to me. I’ve already played Gears of War to death.
22/04/2009 at 10:02 Paul Moloney says:
Surely the best future quote is from “Plan 9 from Outer Space”:
“Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. “
22/04/2009 at 14:15 Ginger Yellow says:
Not quite the same thing, but I loved this dialogue from Firefly:
Wash: “That sounds like something out of science fiction.”
Zoe: “We live in a space ship, dear.”
22/04/2009 at 14:25 Solario says:
Looks like fun. But I second the guy who wanted more guerilla warfare and traps. I want Terminators that are formidable, and less of them.