Terminator 2: Dawn of Fate
Score: 25% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atari Developer: Atari Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Shooter
Graphics & Sound: Sitting in its nice, shiny, unopened case, the box art of Terminator 2: Dawn of Fate looks incredible! So my question is simple. What happened to the actual in-game graphics? Sure, there are some nice looking backgrounds and other visuals, as well as some pretty sweet lighting effects present in the game. But the fact is that player (and cyborg) models are simply sub-par on the Xbox's hardware. I was extremely disappointed when I first popped in T2. The sound, on the other hand, is overall very pleasing. The voice acting during cut-scenes and in-game interaction of characters is done pretty well based on video game standards. And when it comes to the sound fx in the game, you'll be drawn into battles pretty intensely if you have the right stereo setup. There's nothing overly special, but ultimately the sound in Dawn of Fate is done fairly well.
Gameplay: The basics behind the T2: Dawn of Fate are simple. You need to defend the human race against the cybernetic organisms (ahem... the Terminators) of the future. The machines of Skynet have taken over Los Angeles in the near future (2027, to be precise), and it's up to you to disarm the machines and take back your world. You've all seen the movies, so you pretty much know the basic premise of the Humans vs. the Terminators. In order to accomplish your missions, you'll have to face wave after wave of metallic baddies. As you make your way through each level, you will generally be in a third-person perspective (with insanely shifting camera angles... see Difficulty and Game Mechanics below), with the option to, at any time, shift to a first-person perspective to gun down robots with much more precision. Your arsenal along the way includes guns, bombs, explosives, and more, so you're assured to have a blast of a time mowing down enemies. You also have the option of taking on the evil 'bots with hand-to-hand melee combat techniques. Although using your Plasma Baton may not be the most effective tool to take down enemies, it can be used very effectively whether you've got a single robot in front of your or you happen to be completely surrounded by cybernetic assassins. And with a quick tap into your Adrenaline Meter, your weapons and hand-to-hand techniques become all that more deadly. I can assure you that you'll need to master your Adrenaline, and conserve it when possible, or you won't be able to make it through each level without falling in a pool of your own blood.
Difficulty: As frantic and fun as Terminator 2: Dawn of Fate sounds on paper, as soon as you pop it into your console, you will quickly be snapped back into a harsh reality. Dawn of Fate may have three difficulty levels to choose from, but you'll only need to try one of them to figure out exactly how hard the game is. The sad thing is that it actually has a good balance of difficulty as far as enemies and combat are concerned. Where the game faults is in the control and the camera angles you're presented with. And these faults are (a lot of the time) the cause of your demise when surrounded by enemies.
Game Mechanics: In a style similar to that of Resident Evil, T2: Dawn of Fate has got camera angles that flip, flop, and swap throughout the entire game. This actually makes fighting the robots of Skynet all that more difficult, but it's actually not the worst part of the game. The game's controls are absolutely, inexcusably, horrendous!!!. Every time the camera shifts to another angle, you have no choice but to center your analog stick (read: "stop moving and leave yourself vulnerable to an attack"), or you will continue running in a direction not associated with your new on-screen position. It just boggles my mind to think that this game must not have been tested, or was rushed out the door, with a controller scheme like it is. The disorientation of the camera shifts and faulty controls makes T2 nearly unplayable. At the very least, it makes playing the game almost completely unenjoyable, all because of the frustration that will set in every time you move your character into the next camera sector during (and not during) intense battles. Had it not been for this terrible control over your character, Dawn of Fate may have been a decent game. But as it is, you'd have to be pretty hard up for entertainment to put yourself through the pain of trying to control your character through each level, time and time again. In fact, it's this lack of control responsiveness that helps to boost the game's difficulty. Otherwise, the game would end up being way too short to keep gamers happy. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, and just have to play every game ever made, don't even bother renting Terminator 2: Dawn of Fate.
-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele
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