Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Score: 60% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atari Developer: Taniko Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: Well they finally did it, they took a Terminator game and gave you control of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time -- and it is about time. But maybe they should have held off some for the GameBoy Advance version of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, because the quality of the game is far below the standard of this handheld. The graphics in Terminator 3 consist of a locked camera isometric perspective similar to other GBA games like The Incredible Hulk. Unfortunately, these seemingly tile based graphics haven't impressed me in quite a few years. With today's technology (even with the limited capabilities of the GBA) there should be some better ways to display a world like the ones seen here. Your character is very generic looking and leaves much to be desired, but with some (read as a lot) of imagination, you can see how it would be Schwarzenegger. An interesting feature is that after a good bit of damage, the model changes to start showing the metal skeleton underneath the flesh. Of course, you have to pay real close attention to even notice these differences. The sounds of T3 are far from memorable and generally come off as being annoying. Most of the time I found myself playing the game with the volume all the way down and not missing the noise one bit.
Gameplay: For the first time, you are given control of the new Governor of California, and as the killing machine from the future; the human resistance fighters program you to (once again) go back in time and save John Connor. Okay, most of us should be familiar enough with the Terminator storyline that I don't have to give a lot of back-story. Basically Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines has you, as the T-850 Terminator, play out a lot of the major events of the movie, as well as the events leading up to the Terminator's mission (getting the necessary supplies to go back in time). You will run around killing most things that move; the only characters that you won't be gunning down are your allies (resistance fighters, Connor, etc), but don't worry, they don't suffer from friendly fire. T3 starts off when the Terminator has been revived and you must collect the necessary parts to build the time machine. This makes up the first four levels of the 10-level game. Along the way you will deactivate Skynet and destroy other Terminators, as well as various other robotic baddies. Once in the past (present), you will hook up with the future rebellion leader and try to keep him alive while the TX goes after him. There is a wide assortment of weapons to gather throughout the game, everything from a shotgun, to a small machine gun to futuristic Plasma Guns and Stingers. There are also a variety of secondary weapons that will help as well. These include grenades, flash bombs and C4. One aspect that I found annoying about Rise of the Machines is its password based save system. This feature tends to come off as a cheap aspect. I mean, if you can get all the needed information out of five characters, then go ahead and make a save feature. There are two multiplayer modes for Rise of the Machines, a four-player Capture the Flag and a two player Co-Op Mode. These features aren't horrible, but seem to be more of an afterthought at times.
Difficulty: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is not a hard game at all. Even the toughest baddies aren't that hard to take out -- you may die a couple of times, but it won't take long to scrap the metal menaces. As far as AI is concerned, it is really, really, really basic and easy to predict, but more on that aspect in the next section. Basically the Single-player mode is so straightforward and easy it won't take you but a few hours to play through all of the levels. After that there isn't much of a reason to play them again.
Game Mechanics: As I said earlier, the enemy AI in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is incredibly basic -- it just barely qualifies as AI. Movements follow a scripted path and only attack when you are in some set range. The only thing that allows this system to be called AI is that fact that the enemies don't shoot constantly and they will occasionally turn towards you. In missions where you are supposed to protect fellow soldiers, it becomes easy to predict which enemies will be coming from which directions because they never vary their course. The controls aren't bad though. You fire your weapon with the A button, use your alternate weapon (grenades, C4, hand-to-hand, etc.) with the B button and you can switch between Walk, Run and Strafe modes. In fact the only real gripe I have concerning the control setup for T3 is that you use the Left Shoulder button to toggle between the three modes (in the order listed above). This means that when you need to go somewhere fast, you just tap the button and start running. Unfortunately, when you run into another melee room and tap the button again to stop running, you are in Strafe mode (which is like walking, but you can't turn). If you don't realize this, your aim will be even worse than it normally is. Rise of the Machines is a game that doesn't really have any replay value and has a quick story mode to begin with (not a good combination). If you are a major Terminator fan, you might want to rent this game, or check it out on the other systems -- it might be a better experience.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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