The Terminator | |
---|---|
![]() U.K. cover art | |
Developer(s) | Virgin Games |
Publisher(s) | Virgin Games |
Producer(s) | Erik Yeo Neil Young Stephen Clarke-Willson Tom Gibson Barry Pringle Sr. |
Designer(s) | Erik Yeo Tom Tanaka Douglas Cope Silas Warner |
Programmer(s) | Silas Warner |
Artist(s) | Nick Bruty |
Writer(s) | Erik Yeo Justin Norr |
Composer(s) | Tommy Tallarico Brad Fiedel Bijan Shaheer Joey Kuras TeknoMan of Teknologic |
Series | Terminator |
Platform(s) | Sega CD |
Release | December 1993 |
Genre(s) | Platform, shoot 'em up |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Terminator is a 1993 platform shoot 'em up game developed and published by Virgin Games for the Sega CD. It is based on the 1984 film of the same name, and includes full motion video from the film. The game was praised for its graphics and its soundtrack performed by Tommy Tallarico, although the film footage was considered low quality. The gameplay also received some criticism.
The Terminator is a platform shoot 'em up game. It includes 10 levels. Playing as soldier Kyle Reese, the player travels through a Skynet facility during the first four levels, set in 2029. After battling Skynet's Terminator machines, Kyle finds a time machine and travels to Los Angeles 1984, where the remainder of the game takes place. Kyle locates Sarah Connor and protects her from the Terminator, a machine sent from the future by Skynet. The Terminator is tasked with killing Sarah, preventing her future son John Connor from leading the human resistance against Skynet. [1] [2] [3] [4] The player can use various weapons and has unlimited ammunition. The player can crouch, jump, and shoot in multiple directions. [1] [2] [4]
Although the game is based on the film, creative license was taken to give more variation in the gameplay. [5] The graphics and music took advantage of the Sega CD's capabilities, and the game includes the use of digitized full motion video (FMV) from the film. The FMV scenes appear in between levels to advance the story. [5]
The game utilized QSound. [6] The soundtrack was composed and recorded by Tommy Tallarico, with additional songs contributed by Brad Fiedel ("The Terminator Theme"), Bijan Shaheer ("Future Shock"), Joey Kuras ("Visions") and TeknoMan of Teknologic ("CyberTek"). [7] It includes hard rock, pop and techno music. [1] [8] Tallarico said the game's graphics "were still very much 16-bit-looking and the music you'd hear would be like music on the radio or on an album – and it was a bit jarring. So I would get into screaming matches with the producers because they told me they didn't want that proper music in the game. They said it doesn't sound like a videogame and I said exactly – it doesn't have to any more!" [9]
The Terminator was originally scheduled for release in June 1993, [10] [11] but was delayed because of changes at Virgin. [12] It was released six months later than initially scheduled. [12] [13]
Publication | Score |
---|---|
AllGame | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Consoles + | 87% [15] |
Game Players | 62% [16] |
Jeuxvideo.com | 18/20 [4] |
Joypad | 86% [17] |
Player One | 80% [18] |
Video Games (DE) | 54% [19] |
Game Power | 78/100 [20] |
Mega | 67% [1] |
MegaForce | 85% [21] |
MegaTech | 69% [2] |
Sega Power | 58% [22] |
Sega Zone | 65% [23] |
Supersonic | 92% [24] |
The Terminator was praised for its graphics and its inclusion of FMV, [3] [2] [16] [12] although the latter was also criticized for its poor quality. [22] [23] [19] [20] Paul Pettengale of Sega Power wrote, "The images are so grainy, and the colours so fuzzy, looking too hard at these bits could be bad for your eyes". [22] The soundtrack was praised. [3] [2] [22] [23] [12] [16] GamePro stated that the "catchy music fits the action well". [3]
Some reviewers were critical of the gameplay. Julian Connolly of MegaTech felt that the game had no longterm value, concluding that it "looks great, sounds great, plays great for a while but all this shooting wears you down". [2] Pettengale found the gameplay unoriginal and wrote "not even a superb soundtrack can save a game when it's had so little thought put into it". [22] Paul Mellerick of Mega was disappointed by the linear level design and concluded, "A well-presented blast, but ultimately boring, very samey and a bit of a waste". [1] David Roberts of Sega Zone found the game to be lacking variety. [23] Game Players considered it an average platform game. [16]
In a later review for AllGame, Shawn Sackenheim praised the "bleak" and "dreary" graphics, stating that they "lend themselves nicely to the mood of the game". He also praised Tallarico's score, writing that it added "a ton to the impact of the graphics and the mood of each level". Sackenheim concluded, "While it may not have been the best looking action/platformer around, it could definitely give any other game a run for its money". [14] Jeuxvideo reviewed the game in 2010, praising the soundtrack and controls. [4]
The Sega CD, known as Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, October 15, 1992, in North America, and April 2, 1993, in Europe. The Sega CD plays CD games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and graphic enhancements such as sprite scaling and rotation. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs.
Corpse Killer is a horror-themed rail shooter developed and published by Digital Pictures for the Sega CD, Sega CD 32X, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Windows 95 and Macintosh computers. An interactive variation on the zombie film genre, it utilizes live-action full motion video in a format similar to other games developed by Digital Pictures. Reviews for the game were mixed, generally criticizing the repetitive gameplay and low video quality, though many reviewers enjoyed the campy nature of the cutscenes. Corpse Killer was the first CD game released for the Sega 32X. It was later remastered for Steam, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Silpheed is a video game developed by Game Arts and designed by Takeshi Miyaji. It made its debut on the Japanese PC-8801 in 1986, and was ported to the Fujitsu FM-7 and DOS formats soon after. It was later remade for the Sega CD and has a sequel called Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation 2.
Robo Aleste, released in Japan as Dennin Aleste (電忍アレスタ), is a 1992 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Compile for the Sega CD. Tengen and Sega released the English version of the game overseas in 1993. It is a follow-up to MUSHA for the Sega Genesis. A sequel titled Dennin Aleste 2 was planned for the Sega CD on 1993, but was cancelled.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day or T2 is a light gun shooter based on the film of the same name, produced by Midway Manufacturing Company as an arcade video game in 1991. Developed in tandem with the movie, several actors from the film reprise their roles for the game and are featured as part of the game's photorealistic digitized graphics. The game's plot largely follows that of the film, casting up to two players as the T-800 "terminator" cyborg from the film, sent back in time to protect John Connor from assassination by the T-1000 terminator. A success in arcades, home conversions of the game were released by Acclaim Entertainment for various platforms under the title of T2: The Arcade Game to avoid confusion with the numerous tie-in games also based on the movie.
Time Gal is an interactive movie video game developed and published by Taito and Toei Company, and originally released as a laserdisc game in Japan for the arcades in 1985. It is an action game which uses full motion video (FMV) to display the on-screen action. The player must correctly choose the on-screen character's actions to progress the story. The pre-recorded animation for the game was produced by Toei Company.
Alien 3 is a run and gun game based on the 1992 film of the same name. It was released for the Genesis and Amiga in 1992, then for the Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Master System.
The Adventures of Batman & Robin is a series of video game adaptations released between 1994 and 1995 featuring the DC Comics characters Batman and Robin based on Batman: The Animated Series. The games were released for numerous platforms, with the Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega CD versions published by Sega while the Super NES version was published by Konami.
Sol-Feace is a 1990 horizontal-scrolling shooter video game developed by Wolf Team and published by Telenet Japan for the Sharp X68000 computer. Versions for the Sega CD and Sega Genesis were released later on, the latter renaming the game Sol-Deace. The player takes control of the titular starship as it must prevent a malfunctioning supercomputer from enslaving all of mankind. Gameplay involves shooting down enemies and avoiding projectiles, while collecting power capsules to increase the Sol-Feace's abilities. The Sol-Feace also has dual cannons that can fire shots diagonally.
Novastorm, also known as Scavenger 4 in Japan, is a rail shooter video game developed by Psygnosis. It was first published for the FM Towns and FM Towns Marty by Fujitsu in Japan, under the name Scavenger 4, in 1993. It was then published internationally by Psygnosis, under the name Novastorm, for the 3DO and Sega CD in 1994. It was later ported for PlayStation and DOS in 1995.
Lords of Thunder is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Red Company and published in 1993 by Turbo Technologies and Hudson Soft for the TurboDuo. It is the unofficial follow-up to Gate of Thunder. The player controls the knight Landis, donning the armor of his ancestor Drak on a confrontation against Zaggart of Garuda Empire, who resurrected the evil god Deoric, and his six dark generals across the land of Mistral.
Supreme Warrior is a full-motion video (FMV) beat 'em up game developed by Digital Pictures. It was released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Sega CD in November 1994 in North America and in early 1995 in Europe, with subsequent releases in 1995 for the 32X, Macintosh, and Windows. The game is themed as a kung fu film where the player has to fight off opponents to protect half of a magical mask.
Microcosm is a 3D rail shooter video game developed and published by Psygnosis in 1993. It was originally developed for the FM Towns, and ported for the Sega CD, Amiga CD32, 3DO, and MS-DOS. Microcosm featured realistic FMV animation, with the graphics being rendered on Silicon Graphics workstations. The game is either in first-person or third-person view depending on the gaming system.
Jurassic Park is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sega for the Sega CD. The video game is based on the 1993 film of the same name, and includes elements from Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, which the film is based upon.
Jurassic Park is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Game Gear. Another version, with identical gameplay, was also released for the Master System. The game is based on the 1993 film of the same name. It was praised for its graphics, but criticized for its short length and easy gameplay.
The Terminator is a 1992 video game published for several Sega consoles, including the Sega Genesis, the Master System, and the portable Game Gear. It is based on the 1984 film of the same name. The game was developed by Probe Software and published by Virgin Games. The Terminator was praised for its graphics and sound, but criticized for its gameplay.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is an action game released for several 8-bit consoles, including the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and Sega's Game Gear and Master System. It is based on the 1991 film of the same name. The NES version was developed by Software Creations and published by LJN in February 1992. The Sega versions were published in late 1993, by Flying Edge.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1993 action game developed by Bits Studios for two 16-bit game consoles: the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was published by Acclaim Entertainment through subsidiary companies: Flying Edge for the Genesis, and LJN for the SNES. It is based on the 1991 film of the same name, and features side-scrolling and driving levels. It received generally negative reviews.
Dinosaurs for Hire is a 1993 platform shoot 'em up video game. It was developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis, and is based on the Malibu Dinosaurs for Hire comic series.