"...good rental and possible purchase when the price eventually
drops."
No,
you’re not going insane. There are two Terminator 3 games out on the
market today and the reason to have two might sound superfluous, but
after the release of the first game it became the only logical thing to
do. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines came out some time back and was
supposed to represent the Terminator 3 movie, although it failed
miserably in achieving anything. So, in an attempt to “redeem”
themselves Atari got together with Paradigm and Intermedia and created
Terminator 3: The Redemption to give the series and film a better name.
Arnold may have not lent his voice to the new game, but after spending
some time going through the missions it’s best to keep Arnold
positioned in Sacramento and have him solve his problems over there.
T3:
Redemption is a lot better than the last T3 game and does some things
right that some games can’t do today.
The
game starts off the same as the movie does. Obviously the character you
control is the Terminator continuing his quest to save John Connor and
Kate Brewster and stop a possible apocalypse. The beginning mission gets
you into the action quickly, setting the pace for the rest of the game.
The main emphasis on the game comes in two parts: Combos in hand-to-hand
combat and vehicle usage.
Both
of these features make the game a lot more fun than the last game.
Performing the combos is done simply by pressing the face buttons in an
array of combinations, thus performing “combos.” The animation
behind these combos is very well done.
Vehicle
usage is the best part about T3: Redemption simply for the fact they hit
the head on the nail (not literally). Using each vehicle is tons of fun,
easy, and fast-pace making T3: Redemption an ideal action game. Certain
sequences allow you to perform some pretty cool moves such as jumping
from one vehicle to another and taking control of their vehicle (from
modern day cars and trucks to futuristic tanks and speedy vehicles) each
one is tons of fun and exciting.
If
it wasn’t for the impressive graphics T3: Redemption would fall short
on delivering an atmospheric world of robots and panic. As each level
progresses the Terminator takes damage and it shows on the character
model itself. Holes on his clothes, tearing fake skin across his face,
and other minute details make each level feel realistic.
T3:
Redemption also features a small upgrade screen for the Terminator in
which he can upgrade four levels for better performance. Recharge,
Vision Time, Vision Damage, and Vision Charge are the four upgradeable
features. Each is self-explanatory.
Now
comes some of the bad of T3: Redemption. Even though the action is
fast-paced and addictive, the excitement of the game loses its fuel far
before reaching the end of the game.Most of the missions take on the same style and don’t expand
too much. Most of the time you’ll find yourself doing virtually the
same tasks; only in a different environment with a different arsenal of
tools. This is a major hit to the game as most gamers want variety in
their games.
Another
disappointed is the swaying level of difficulty from the enemy.
Sometimes the game feels far too easy while other times it feels far too
hard. Never is there an established difficulty throughout the entirety
of the game. The ranging level of difficulty makes it seem as if little
progression is being made throughout the game.
All
in all T3: Redemption is a great improvement over Rise of the Machines,
and actually better than some games in a few ways, but still not in the
higher ranking levels of current games. The game does represent the
movie the right way and is a lot of fun, but the repetitiveness eats
away the fun after a few missions. If you’re a big fan of the
terminator series, this is a must buy. For all others, this should be
considered good rental and possible purchase when the price eventually
drops.
POINTLESS
FACT: The
name of the voice-actor who does the voice of Arnold’s character (The
Terminator) is Mark Mosley. That doesn’t sound Austrian to me.