Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. LJN, movie licenses and video games. Three things that don’t blend together, as we’ve seen in previous editions of PWP. But another thing that doesn’t mix too well is Arnold Schwarzenegger and NES. Arnold’s movies have seen several licensed adaptations, and pretty much all of them are terrible. Usually suffering from either terrible controls, a lack of sticking to the plot of the movie, or just being a poorly executed, and poorly thought out idea. But is that the case for all of them? Can the Arnie game I’m reviewing this week be an exception? Let’s talk about Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1992
PUBLISHER: LJN
GENRE: Action
Terminator 2 was a film released in 1991 by director James Cameron, and was the sequel to the 1984 hit action/sci-fi film The Terminator (duh). Not only was the movie a critical success (often considered not just one of the greatest sequels of all time, but one of the greatest science fiction films as well), but the movie proved a massive box office smash, raking in half a billion dollars worldwide. Clearly it was a massive success. And of course, any success usually sees a video game port. And in the early 90’s you could expect to see that magic rainbow shining over any major movie license. This was no exception.
There were Terminator 2 games for practically every console. And not just one version, there were adaptations of T2: The Arcade Game (which was an arcade style shooter), as well as action platformers that focused more on the movie. The NES would only see one Terminator 2 game, which would be focused more on the action platforming style I mentioned earlier. But would it be a decent game, or just be another bad movie game in the LJN pile?
COVER STORY
A nice cover, showing off Arnold’s T-800 character in both his human, and exoskeletal forms. While not the offical poster (which would usually be the modus operandi of LJN boxes. Even the SNES version uses the poster), I think it definitely catches the eye of the consumer, and any fan of the film would be drawn in. Such is the reason LJN’s movie games sold as well as they did. Such a simple advertising method, yet so successful.
STORY
In the year 2029, the evil Skynet attempts once again to destroy resistance leader John Connor by sending a Terminator to the past to eliminate him. This time, they send the evil T-1000, a cybernetic being of liquid metal, to eliminate John at the age of 10. However, the John Connor of the future sends a reprogrammed T-800 robot to protect him in the past, as well as put a stop to Cyberdyne to prevent the creation of Skynet.
GAMEPLAY
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a one player action game. You control the T-800 in 5 levels of gameplay, each featuring a certain moment from the movie. You control the T-800 with the D-Pad, jump with the A button, and either punch, or fire your weapon with the B button. Despite getting a gun later in the game, you will mainly be getting used to the punching abilities the game bestows upon you. As I said, The game has five levels as mentioned, and each one has a different goal that differs from the other.
The first level sees the T-800 emerging into the past in front of a tavern. The goal is to simply defeat all of the enemies with your fists as you progress into the tavern, and beat the boss there. The punching controls well enough, but has one major issue that will lead to an easy termination. You see, when punching, you’ll only hit one enemy at a time, so if say, three or four gang up in front of you, they’ll lay strikes into you without you being able to hit back.
This means that you’ll have to run around, lay strikes on one at a time, eliminating each thug before you can advance. You’ll also have to dodge the T-1000 on his motorcycle. The hit detection, especially when dealing with the level boss can be annoying, but it’s not impossible to get the hang of dealing with him.
The second level changes the style of the game entirely, and is the only vehicle level of the game. In this level, you have to catch up to John Connor on your motorcycle, while dealing with the T-1000, who’s pursuing by truck. You move left and right to control your motorcycle, and press B to fire your gun. You’ll need to shoot the crates, as well as any chained up doors in your way. One crash, and it’s instant termination.
But not only that, but you have to deal with the truck, that will also be an instant death if it catches you. Holding down and tapping B will shoot at the truck. Hit it enough times, and it will go away briefly. You have to focus on shooting everything you can at a decent pace, and finally catch up with John to complete the level.
The third level is the asylum where you have to free Sarah Connor. You get a gun to use at last… but there’s one snag. John has ordered you not to kill any humans. If you do, you take damage. Instead, you have to duck, and shoot them in the knees instead. The goal here is to search the rooms for an I.D card to use the elevator. You have to do it for each floor.
The card is in a random room each time you play, so don’t expect it in the same spot as it was the last time you ran through this game. As you get higher up, the T-1000 will shoot at you, but he can be easily dodged. Get to the top floor, and approach Sarah to complete the stage.
The fourth level is similar to the third, but has a far different goal. This level will have you destroying the Cyberdyne building with bombs. Bombs are located in rooms (this time they remain in the same areas each game), which you have to pick up, and take to a holding spot on the top floor. You can collect three at a time. Once all 10 are found, you have to place them in the corresponding areas on the top floor, and escape before the building blows.
It seems like a really stupid thing to have you find the bombs, drop them, and then place them again, but it’s not too annoying. It feels necessary to pad the level out a bit. You’ll face more guards, and have to deal with turrets, but you should still have plenty of ammo to deal with them. Once again, you can’t shoot them point blank. You have to go for the legs.
The final level is the steel mill, where you’ll deal with the T-1000. This stage requires mastery of your platforming. There’s no enemies to deal with except for two T-1000 fights before the final showdown. If you have ammo left from the previous levels, you’ll be able to use it, but expect to be out of ammo almost immediately following the first battle.
As said, there’s no enemies to face at all, however there’s plenty of hazards that will sap your health, including molten steel pits that can be one hit deaths. You’ll need to time jumps over hooks, as well as learn the best times to jump before hazards fall on you. But if you can make it through, you’ll face the T-1000 in a final showdown. The best strategy is to jump kick him every time he re-emerges, knocking him closer and closer to one of the pouring vats of molten steel. Once he touches the vats, you’ve beaten the T-1000… but the game’s not over yet. You have to go to John and Sarah, and sacrifice yourself by lowering into the molten steel, destroying your system to protect the future.
Surprisingly not just for a movie based video game, an LJN game at that, the game does a good job focusing on important events and moments in the movie, trying their best to capture the film as best they can. Not to mention the fact that every level tries to be different from the other, as well as cut scenes that follow the movie as accurately as possible, and the fact that other than some hit detection issues, the game controls decent as well, make this a surprisingly decent game.
You’ll have three lives to start, and you can get some more during levels. There’s also continues (albeit you have to find them in-game), should you get game over. A big plus to this game is that if you die, or even get game over, you won’t start at the beginning of the level. Instead, the game will take you right back to the last big obstacle point you left off on.
Unlike a lot of LJN games that suffered from confusing goals, once you get the basic hang of gameplay (which honestly shouldn’t take too long), you shouldn’t have too much trouble beating this game. It’s actually one of the far easier LJN titles to work through, not to mention the game is insanely short, with levels taking about a couple minutes to beat once you get the hang of it. An experienced gamer should be able to beat it in roughly over a half hour.
GRAPHICS
The graphics for the game are okay at best. The backgrounds are well done, especially for the bar and steel mill stages (the worst being the asylum which is too grey and bland), and the caricatures and cut scenes are all really well done, and try their best to capture the feel of the film. My only real gripe is I think the game sprites are a bit too small, and lack detail. Other than that issue, it looks decent enough, especially for one of the later licensed NES titles, which were starting to see a downplay in quality by the end of the console’s lifespan.
MUSIC
The music in the game is amazing. Done by the legendary Geoff Follin, who worked on some of the more amazing NES soundtracks of the console’s tail end, like Silver Surfer, Treasure Master, Solstice, among others. While not the most peppy music, it still fits well with the feel of the game, and does a good job capturing important movie moments as well. One minor gripe I have is the lack of the Terminator theme, as I believe they could have done a really excellent 8-bit rendition. But that aside, the game still has some epic beats.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is an average game at best. It has decent graphics, a solid soundtrack, and controls well enough. Not to mention it actually follows the movie, which most LJN games could barely do. However, it still feels average in the gameplay department. While each level does have a unique mission to it, there feels like a severe lack of major action, as well as it’s way too short a game, which is something that hurts it in the long run. But compared to a lot of games published by the rainbow from hell, as well as a lot of the other Terminator 2 games that were released for the time, this one manages to be far better.
I’d say even if you are very wary of LJN’s outings in the video game industry, especially on the NES, this one is at least worth a try. You may enjoy it like I did, as I found it to be surprisingly decent, despite its massive flaws. It’s a relatively easy game, and shouldn’t be too hard of a game to find. In the end, even with its imperfections, I wouldn’t say “Hasta la Vista, Baby” to this game .
RATING: Thumbs in the Middle.