Essential
Summary
Terminator 2D: No Fate is everything I wanted from a Terminator videogame; growing up in the era of 2D games this is the kind of game I’ve been waiting for. An enjoyable run and gun with easy controls, awesome music and the chance to play both Sarah Connor, John Connor and the T-800. It’s too bad you can’t save the game, but this is what it was like back in the day before the internet. We just had to play the game until it was complete… or we passed out. Good times.
Plot: Play as Sarah Connor and the T-800 through a variety of thrilling missions as they take on the T-1000 and try to put a stop to Skynet’s plans before the human race is annihilated. Lead the Resistance as John Connor in the future, fighting on the front lines as mankind’s only hope in the War Against the Machines. In this unique story blending iconic scenes from ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ with original scenarios and multiple endings, humanity’s fate is yours to decide.
Review: I decided to add a new section to the website where I would occasionally review videogames based on action movies. This was motivated by the release of Terminator 2D: No Fate which came out last week. As soon as I heard about this game I knew I’d have to play it as I grew up when the film was actually out and most of the T2 inspired games at the time were less than stellar.
No Fate is the Terminator game I’ve been waiting for as I was always a 2D guy growing up and to this day I’m still very much a retro gamer.
This game mostly follows the story of Terminator 2 while also filling in a few blanks; early on we get to play as Sarah Connor as she trains John for his future role and we also get to see what it was she did to end up in a mental institution. This is cool as it’s not something that’s really been explored before and gives a nice bit of backstory to Sarah and John’s relationship. We get a few cutscenes too but you can skip them if you want to just get straight to the action.
In this game we mostly play as Sarah and John Connor which is fine although more levels where you get to play the T-800 would have been obviously better. Still, we all love Sarah Connor and it’s awesome just getting to feel like you are in the movie.
This is a 2D run and gun game feeling like old-school classics such as Contra; on easy mode you can pretty much complete it in one or two sittings if you’re good (and patient). It sucks that it doesn’t save the game though, so if you exit the game you have to start right back at the beginning again just like in the old days.
The controls are easy to master and as I have a PC I was able to plug in my X-Box 360 controller and play using that. I found it responsive and for someone with rage issues when it comes to technology I didn’t lose my temper once while playing… which is a miracle in itself.
The music maintains the iconic themes from the movie and is one of the many highlights; I will likely download the score at some point as any new Terminator music is always a bonus.
Overall, Terminator 2D: No Fate is the adaptation we’ve been waiting for with responsive controls, awesome music and some fun additions which give some nice backstory to Sarah and John. There are a couple of niggles like not being able to save the game, but I still found it hard to put the controller down as this is just great fun. If you’re a fan of Terminator then this is well worth picking up; I got it on Steam where I see a few other movie related games I’ll cover in the future.