The opening scene of Terminator 2D: No Destiny instantly establishes its intent: the identical, however totally different. A stretch of pixelated rolling tarmac and a text-only narration from Sarah Connor looks like one thing ripped straight out of T2: Judgment Day, and but it’s nonetheless distinct. The sport performs on this concept a number of instances, even providing methods to discover alternate timelines by means of its 90s-inspired gameplay.
It’s very clearly a love letter to each the film and the period it got here from. Selecting it up immediately sparked recollections of RoboCop vs Terminator. That is old-school in nearly each sense, beginning with its 8-directional aiming system that has you gunning down cops, safety guards, and clankers alike. Holding the goal button roots you in place for precision taking pictures, whereas a fast dodge or slide allows you to evade incoming hearth. Relying on the character you’re taking part in as — Sarah Connor, John Connor, and even the T-800 — you may also have entry to a pipe bomb for crowd management.
Out there On: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Change
Reviewed On: PS5
Developed By: Bitmap Bureau
Revealed By: Reef Leisure
The story largely follows the occasions of T2: Judgment Day, however throws in a few additional ranges set sooner or later the place you are taking management of John Connor. As you’d anticipate from an arcade-style sport, storytelling is stored intentionally easy, relegated to chunky pixel-art stills and some strains of textual content. That’s probably not an issue; the plot isn’t sophisticated, and likelihood is you already know T2 off by coronary heart anyway.
Enjoying by means of the marketing campaign means attending to expertise a number of of the movie’s most iconic scenes. Sure, that features the biker bar sequence, full with a unadorned Terminator beating the hell out of individuals. There’s additionally a strong filth bike part the place you outrun a truck, and a barely infuriating hospital escape as Sarah Connor. It’s an excellent mixture of situations, and the degrees are nicely designed, changing into surprisingly difficult when you crank the issue up. There’s’ even an genuine stage of annoying enemies, the sort that really feel nearly unfair with out really being unfair.
Something above the simplest mode introduces each a strict time restrict and a restricted variety of continues. Die sufficient instances and also you’ll be despatched again to the very begin of the story mode. That could possibly be a chore, however it’s softened by the truth that you’ll be able to blitz by means of your complete marketing campaign in round 30 to 45 minutes as soon as you recognize what you’re doing.
Adhering so intently to old-school design does include a couple of frustrations. Controls can really feel stiff by trendy requirements, notably in terms of platforming. When approaching a ledge, you typically want to leap sooner than anticipated, as there’s no trendy grace interval that allows you to leap if you’re already a couple of pixels over the sting. Likewise, climbing solely works for those who’re very particularly urgent up earlier than leaping, which takes a little bit of adjustment. These are minor points within the grand scheme of issues, however they’re value mentioning. It’s the sort of gameplay that takes a second to your mind to recalibrate to — like stepping again in time to cease an annoying punk child who’s going to break your evil robotic plans… I imply, stepping again in time to a really 90s approach of taking part in. Ahem.
You possibly can sometimes decide up powerups, akin to a ramification shot, however I do want extra had been carried out right here. Weapon selection is extraordinarily restricted: Sarah sticks with a pistol (with three assault rifles hidden all through the sport), whereas John makes use of a future-tech firearm. Other than momentary powerups, that’s your lot, and there aren’t lots of these both. Because of this, repeat runs can begin to really feel mechanically similar, despite the fact that the sport actively encourages replaying it.
There’s additionally a canopy system in play, although it feels underutilised. You possibly can conceal in particular doorways or behind sure partitions, that are marked with floating textual content. That’s necessary info, as a result of for the primary couple of minutes I assumed you possibly can take cowl in any open doorway. That assumption led to a reasonably embarrassing demise, let me let you know.
Full the story mode as soon as and also you’ll unlock two new branching paths for subsequent playthroughs, together with situations like “what if Sarah Connor had shot Dyson?”. I like this concept, because it’s a enjoyable approach so as to add content material and provides gamers a purpose to replay the marketing campaign. Sadly, the execution doesn’t fairly reside as much as the idea. These alternate routes don’t considerably alter the story or gameplay, with the most important distinction being the flexibility to play because the T-800 wielding a minigun — which is admittedly badass, however not sufficient by itself. A couple of unique levels might have helped lots, slightly than simply having a personality swap in a stage you’ve already performed.
Outdoors of the principle marketing campaign, there’s an Arcade mode that strips out cutscenes and provides no continues in any respect. A Boss Rush mode allows you to tackle the sport’s mechanised massive bads one after one other, whereas Mom of the Future stitches collectively each Sarah Connor mission — together with these from the alternate branches — right into a single prolonged run.
Enjoyable truth: there’s a Trophy/Achievement for beating Arcade mode in underneath quarter-hour, a job that appears borderline inconceivable with out utilizing the built-in cheats. Even then, I barely scraped in at 14 minutes whereas ignoring most traditional enemies. I’m not even positive Arnold Schwarzenegger himself might pull that off with out bending the foundations.
In Conclusion…
Terminator 2D: No Destiny is uncompromisingly retro, for higher and for worse. It doesn’t simply borrow the aesthetics of 90s motion video games — it absolutely commits to their construction, their problem, and their occasional tough edges. If that fashion clicks with you, there’s lots to like right here: tight stage design, a real affection for T2, and sufficient problem to maintain repeat runs participating. If it doesn’t, the stiffness and repetition will shortly put on skinny. Both approach, it is a sport that is aware of precisely what it desires to be, and it refuses to modernise simply to make itself extra palatable. For followers of the movie and the period, that dedication alone makes it value your time.
