Taking after the first movie,
Terminator: Dawn of Fate is strictly an action game, with a couple of light puzzles thrown in here and there. But for the majority of the time, you're going to be wielding a plasma rifle in the 40-watt range, manning turret guns, and wreaking general chaos wherever you go.
The story in Dawn of Fate precedes the first movie, ending where The Terminator began. Most of the time you'll be controlling Kyle Reese, the man that John Connor sent back in time to save his mother so he could be born (we won't get into the paradox here). You'll get to take control of some other characters as well, but only for a couple of missions.
Each level has you completing a series of tasks, which usually consist of you going somewhere and destroying something. There is the occasional rescue mission, and a couple of situations where you have to man a stationary gattling gun, but besides that, mission variety is surprisingly limited. Destroying wave after wave of machines has its moments, but for the non-hardcore fans, it will get a little tedious after a while. Bosses, at least, add a little variety, and boss fights are different enough to matter. Unfortunately, you only get to fight one Arnold style terminator. For a game that is made after The Terminator, you'd think they would include more of what the fans would want.
At the end of each mission, you are awarded a number of SkyNet Tech Points. These points can be spent on upgrades, like better armor or increased health benefits. This, along with the adrenaline system, is the game's saving grace. The adrenaline system is based around how many adrenaline points you have. Every time you kill an enemy, you get more points. By switching your adrenaline on, you can turn your character into a machine-killing........machine. Not only will you aim better, but if you are fighting hand to hand with your cattle-prod-stick-of-death, you can finish your moves in Hollywood-style slow motion. If James Cameron isn't proud of that, he should be.
