Given the raised bar of the videogame film license thanks to the recent efforts of Raven Software's interpretation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I had high hopes other massive blockbusters built from solid cult foundations would equally follow suit.

All of the media in the lead up to me reviewing Terminator Salvation actually had me excited for the game, but now I see my folly. The problem now is, middleware and HD are so evenly intertwined, you can literally polish turds (even to the trained eye), if you're showing them in the light you want to. It's like a photoset - proper make-up, only the good angles and features and most definitely selective viewing. The reality is though, most models or photosets are the absolute poorest representation of the real-life product, and in the case of Terminator Salvation, this has utterly rung true.

Most people who grew up with James Cameron's original vision of a future decimated by machines and AI have wanted to see MCG's Terminator Salvation realised. Forget Arnie, forget liquid metal and forget Guns n Roses – it's all about HKs and T-800s tearing through what's left of Downtown Los Angeles to get at the human resistance. To get at John Connor. And in a very, very short time, that is exactly what we're going to get.



In the meantime, however, Warner Bros. Interactive and GRIN (Bionic Commando) have crafted the videogame license to the film with some very stand-out omissions. For one, the game lacks any likeness or relation to Christian Bale as John Connor. There's also a seriously lacking portion of cinematic story-telling and throwback fan service.

Instead what we're left with is a game of tag, where players are literally stopping in one spot, fighting until the next movement is triggered (or you're 'tagged') and then it's on to point B. At no point throughout the experience do you feel any of Cameron or MCG's vision is expanded upon and as a result, you're going to feel pretty cheated.

It's difficult to say if this was a result of short development time, a lack of backing or divulgence on the film's side of things to GRIN, or just plain bad design, but you have to realise at some point someone, somewhere with money signed off on this thing and they really ought to be fired.

The game itself has many enjoyable action moments. The sort of atypical segments of ferocious battle and exploitation, but they're hardly original, cerebral or memorable. It's all fleeting and arbitrary once the game is finished, but through a few key moments of tried and tested gameplay, you're allowed to think (if just for a minute) you're not playing a half-assed blockbuster movie license cash-in.

Technically the game looks very good in many parts. Connor's cover animations are pretty cool, and the action, when it wants to, can be pretty intense. But it's never consistent, and for every one moment of cool, or awesome visuals or sound or whatever, there are several flaws and major problems. Glitches or just pieces of videogame or narrative simply lost in the machine somehow. It's almost as if someone (or something) from the future came back in time and wiped out some key development code, or worse still, a member of the development resistance bent on crafting an intelligent and solid product that would clearly stand alongside the film.

Unfortunately, adding to much of this is some really cheesy dialogue along with some equally cheesy characters. It's bad enough John Connor is no former Batman, but such an iconic character (who existed in the first movie in name, reputation and action alone, and retroactively I might add) should not be as wooden or, well... forgotten as this. Beyond our hero, obligatory action game characters pop-up such as your country hick with his last-century one-liners and so on – at times you almost want to start rooting for the machines because these guys really don't put in a good resume for the continuation of the human race as key species (bring it on SkyNet - we'll even help you by bringing down the resistance from the inside).

Skirmishes do offer something of a unique all-round experience. Instead of advancing forward, you're somewhat encouraged (or forced) to utilise the entire action area to outflank and outmanoeuvre the enemy. The Terminators and other machines aren't necessarily overly smart, but they're tough with tough defences and can take quite a bit to take down.

Still having even said that, the entire game can be finished in around five hours, and if you're really good, much less than that. Dying just adds to frustration as gameplay never shifts dynamically, meaning for the most part you're just playing a series of the same action progression lines, leaving the aforementioned skirmishes as the only place with a little room to move and breath.


To add insult to injury, there are no videogame hallmarks added for extra value. There are no hidden goodies, no awesomely secret Achievements of Trophies and there's absolutely no exploration. The entire experience is a really fast-paced marathon, likely built that way to allow you no time to realise you're playing a lesser videogame.

It's a shame, because as I said, the trailer leading up to the game's release really did paint a much different picture. And if, like me, you're uber-jazzed about the movie, it's an even bigger let-down because of pretty much everything this game gets wrong – and there's a lot of it.

Really, you're better off just accepting that in the videogame universe of the Terminator series, the machines won. Time to move on.