Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to make his first appearance on the Nintendo GameCube later this year in Atari's action title Terminator 3: Redemption. This title is the latest instalment in the Terminator series and the second game based on the third Terminator movie. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the first title based on the movie, was released only for the PS2 and Xbox. Rise of the Machines was “honoured” to receive even lower scores than Kemco's Universal Studios, often referred to as the worst GameCube title ever. Soon after the release of Rise of the Machines, Atari decided to develop another Terminator game, this time for all three consoles, to try and restore its image among the Terminator fans. Cube-Europe went hands-on with the preview code of Terminator 3: Redemption to bring you our first impressions.

 

Gameplay

Redemption is, unlike its first-person predecessor, a third-person action game developed by Paradigm, in which you are given full control over Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. We have played through the first couple of levels of the game, and so far the gameplay is approximately 50 percent vehicle-based, with the rest being filled with man-to-man and man-to-army combat. This game focuses solely on action and there is no room for romance or silly obstacle levels. Fortunately, Arnold is one tough guy and he can whack opponents by crushing them with his bare hands or by using the usual heavy artillery. The controls are straightforward, and after the first level you will master Arnold without any problems.

The Twist

Paradigm was given license to creatively enhance the movie's story line by creating game action and plot for the “black holes” of the movie. This special feature instantly makes the title an attractive purchase for the Terminator fans. For example, you will finally get to see how the Terminator robots get beamed through time. And yes, the truth behind their nakedness is uncovered also. We will leave the rest for you to find out. We will tell you, though, that the story takes place in three different timelines, which gives it an interesting twist!

 

Presentation

The in-game graphics still require a little tweaking. Overall, the game looks sexy and the frame-rate holds steady. It is the little details like explosions and character movement that could use a little bit of tweaking. But like we said, we got to play the preview code, and before the game gets released in September some changes will still be made. The cut-scenes look superb and offer a true cinematic experience. Arnold has recorded a ton of one-liners for the game, which make it even more fun to play through this game. Every now and then you will be confronted with classic one-liners from the first two movies, but also new ones like “talk to the hand” (Arnold-style) are also included in this game.

Extra's

The game also features the option to upgrade your Terminator by earning tetrabytes. These are awarded at the end of each level based on your performance. The upgrades allow you, among other things, to charge up faster and to extend the use of your red vision scan, which displays short-cuts and pickups. The red vision scan is time-limited because Arnold was damaged at the start of the game. Redemption features not only a single-player mode but also a co-op mode, which allows you to play through the levels that you finished in the single mode with your mates. This makes the game last beyond the number of single-player levels, which is over 10.

 

Conclusion

In all, this game offers a fun experience and it is not as bad as would be expected, it being a movie tie-in and all. In fact, Redemption is shaping up to be one of the better games in the Terminator series. We will, of course, bring you our final judgement nearer to the game's release. Until then we have uploaded some direct-feed movies to keep you occupied (direct-feed article). Prepare yourself for Judgement Day, September 17th.