Terminator 2: The Arcade Game

There have been many incarnations of the various Terminator films -- except for 3DO, there isn't a game system around that hasn't seen at least one Terminator game. One of the most popular spinoffs was the action-packed arcade shooter called T2: The Arcade Game. Now it's here for the SNES, and the graphics and sound keep pace with the blockbuster arcade title.

Gunning on Empty

In 1997, three billion people perished in the nuclear devastation known as Judgment Day. Now, three decades later, those who survived the fire are subjected to Skynet ultimate irony. Machines have taken over the planet, and a small human resistance is fighting to keep them at bay.

In T2: The Arcade Game, your mission objective is to shoot first, and forget about the questions later. Using either the Super Scope, the SNES Mouse, or a joypad, you blast through seven cyborg- slamming levels as you try to protect the leader of the resistance John Connor.

In this one- or two-player game, you start off in the ashes of Judgment Day, fighting leagues of Endoskeletons and flying HKs while trying not to shoot human resistance fighters in the back. You move on to Skynet, where you find the time-travel equipment, and then you zoom back to the past, where you must destroy Cyberdyne Labs and retrieve the CPU from the first Terminator. From there it's off to the Steel Mill for the final confrontation with your arch nemesis, the poly-alloy T1000.

Helping you out in the fight to save Connor is your trusty machine gun, which you can power up with enhancements like Rapid Fire Coolant, Plasma Pulse Energizers, and Shields. You also have a missile-launching attachment that fires Rockets, Grenades, Shotgun Shells, and MIRV warheads. Shoot boxes along the way and you'll find screen-clearing Smart Bombs, Extra Lives, and other helpful surprises.

You'll need this firepower overkill as you battle Endo- skeletons, the T800 (Cyberdyne's first foray into the Terminator series), Cyberdyne security personnel, lethal Orbs, and more. Plus, at the end of each level you'll face a boss who would like to separate you from your synthetic hide. The bosses can range from futuristic metallic monsters to scores of LAPD's finest.

Shoot to Thrill

The graphics in this game closely match the arcade version. All the details of the enemies stand out, as do the backgrounds. The crisp, almost digitized action lends a sense of realism to the game that greatly enhances game play. You'll see small touches, like light reflecting off the Endoskeletons' metal frame, and the detailed markings of the Police chopper.

You don't hear digitized voices often enough in this game, but when you do you'll recognize them immediately. Arnold's "You're terminated," and the T1000's "Are you John Connor?" lines seem to jump straight out of the screen. Too bad there aren't more. Other sound effects include screaming resistance fighters and explosions, explosions, EXPLOSIONS! There are more booms here than there are in an L.A. low-rider.

As for control, you may find that the Mouse is more responsive than the Scope, which is, in turn, more responsive than the joypad. No matter which device you choose, you'll need lightning-quick reflexes and precise targeting skills to keep the resistance up and the cyborgs down.

When the Shoot Hits the Fans

If turning machines into cyborg sausage is your bucket of bolts, then you can't go wrong with T2: The Arcade Game. There's plenty of action, more than enough thrills, and a considerable challenge in this game. Be forewarned: The scene where you must protect the pickup truck carrying John Connor is just as abysmally hard in this version as it was on the Genesis (and in the arcade). But if you make it past that scene, it's smooth shooting all the way.

How fun is T2? It's probably the only good excuse you have for getting a Super Scope. If you love shoot-em- ups, put T2: The Arcade Game on the list of games that you gotta have. Lethal Enforcers, move over. The SNES has a date with a cyborg.

He said he'd be back, and he is. That sly cyborg, that mechanical master of mayhem, that silver-plated Conner-stomper- the Terminator of movie fame -- is here. Zip back and forth in time in this Genesis adaptation of the popular arcade game as you try to stop the Terminators from doing what they do best.

Judgment Day

The original bad boy of the 'borgs made a pretty fair dent in the quarter industry with the arcade version of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Well, you can put your change back into your piggy bank, because this version is just as much fun. Like the arcade game, T2 is a one- or two-player, first-person-perspective shoot-em-up that uses either the joypad or the Menacer.

You blast your way through eight stages, (including a nuclear wasteland, an old warehouse, and a metal factory) in order to annihilate a race of mechanical monsters from the future that want to make you takeout for worms. They better take a rain check on that, though, because you're part of a resistance movement that wants to put these platinum pinheads back in the scrapyard. To clear each stage, you have to shoot everything that moves before it shoots you as the game auto-scrolls from left to right. Some stages finish with a big bang in the form of a mechanical end boss.

Terminators are virtually indestructable, but fortunately you've got some heavy-duty weaponry to use against them. You begin the game with a Machine Gun and some Guided Missiles, but you can also find Plasma Pulse Guns, Rapid Fire Coolant, Smart Bombs, Shields, and assorted other goodies. Even this may not be enough to take out silver and gold Endoskeletons, flying HKs (hunter-killers), T-800s (the original Ah-nuld), and the other walking, flying, and killing nightmares that overrun every screen.

You'll Be Back

T2 for the Genesis looks good and sounds good, too. Although the limited color palette makes things look just a tad T2-dimensional, the movement of all of the characters is fast and smooth with no slowdown. Of course, the Genesis version can't match the arcade unit's huge, cabinet-rocking explosions, but who needs more noise, right? This makes the music and sound effects a welcome din, which include real digitized speech and pretty good tunes. When Arn says "Terminated," you don't ask any questions.

The game's controls are so easy for either the Menacer or the controller that even musclebound metal heads will understand them. Be warned, though, only one person in a two-player game can use the Menacer. The other player is stuck with the joypad. That doesn't cut the fun down in the least, though. The Menacer's fun and the controller is too. You'll spend lots of time blasting your way to rescue John Conner.

They're All a Bunch of Girly-'Bots

T2: The Arcade Game is a real callous maker. If you've always wanted to help the Resistance but couldn't make it to the screen, now's your chance to kick sand in the face of those slipshod, sheet- metal, overgrown, tin cans. Pick upT2 and start blasting.

The latest of the Terminator 2 film licence releases is upon us, converted from the arcade game and bound to be a hit with countless arcade fans, for one simple reason. Before creating T2, the authors took a long hard look at an old game called Operation Wolf and decided it was damn groovy, and they're right. It is. So, they must have thought, 'let's plagiarise it to death, tart up the graphics with some sexy robot-types and we're on to a winner'. And that's exactly what they've done.

One of the things that makes T2 so appealing, as was the case in Wolf, is you don't have to bother reading half a novels worth of manual before you can get blasting. If you know how to move a mouse and click a mouse button, you can play T2.

The storyline, as is to be expected, is lifted directly from the movie. The machines of Skynet are after that nice John Connor bloke again, the son of the even nicer Sarah Connor. It's your job, as Chief Dude, to protect John from this Skynet lot and blast them all to kingdom come.

As for the actual gameplay, the rules are as easy as pie. You fight your way through seven levels, homing your mouse cursor in on anything you can find along the way and blast seven kinds of excrement out of it. Brilliant! Mindless violence has never been so much fun. Skynet throw everything they've got at you every step of the way, but there are power-ups of every description lying about all over the place and hidden in cases, so you never run out of ammo or energy.

John Connor himself pops up now and again, usually in a spot of bother and expecting you to get him out of it. One of the levels has John in a truck booting hell for leather across the landscape while you shoot down alien space ships and wobbly skeletons (what a combination) in the hope of seeing him safely to his destination.

T2 is non-stop action from start to finish. If you lose your concentration for a second you can say goodbye to a large portion of energy bar. In particular, the guardian robot at the end of level one is the toughest enemy character I came across in the five levels I played. He is the only guardian up to that point in the game and is an utter pain in the ass. There I was, blasting away at him like a man possessed while at the same time, intercepting his crossfire and frantically scooping up all the ammunition and rapid fire bonuses I could find lying on the ground. It's at times like this you thank the lord for the invention of pause keys

If a game can be judged by how often you keep coming back to it then T2, for me at least, is a surefire winner. Every time I lost all my credits and died, I went straight back again uttering those famous last words: 'just one more try'.

Straight from the arcade coinop and into your living room, Terminator 2: The Arcade Game puts the thrill and suspense of the hit movie into one exciting cart!

You have the option of using the standard Genesis joypad or the Menacer peripheral to relive the exact feel of the arcade version.

The game play is very unique! Backgrounds slowly scroll while you shoot at the advancing Terminators and HK's. Power-ups are located in crates at the bottom of the screen and can be easily activated just like in the arcade! The T-1000 awaits your arrival in the final stages of this near perfect translation.

Out of the apocalyptic fires of a nuclear holocaust, a lone warrior must journey to save mankind from the brink of extinction. From terminator to protector, you must now save young John Connor from the relentless, quasi-liquid killing machine, the T-1000! As in the coin-op, T2 features incredible scaling and great graphics that plunge you head first into the battle of tomorrow. Power up your gun and get ready to save the human race from technology gone mad!

In the near future machines will take over the world and enslave mankind. A resistance was made to save the few remaining humans from extinction. You (and an optional friend) are reprogrammed Terminators who must protect John Connor, the leader of the Resistance. Your mission shall take you through time, where you must face the dreaded T-1000.

This cart is just like the arcade game, and it follows the movie very closely. T-2 Arcade is a rough trip from beginning to end.

Terminator 2: The arcade game is just that; an exact translation of the original quarter muncher!

T2 can be played using the standard Genesis pad and maneuvering the cursor around to blast the Terminators as they plan their attacks!

However, for a real taste of the arcade, T2 can also be played using Sega's new light gun, The Menacer!

Exact aiming is not required to fire. You can manipulate the on-screen cursor by moving the gun. Shoot from your hip!

The smash arcade shooter that put you behind the glowing red eyes of the Terminator has just hit the GameBoy! Like the coin-op, you are a machine with a mission: save John Connor from the relentless T-1000. Fight in a bleak future where Sky-Net reigns and travel back in time to prevent a last-ditch attempt on the life of the youthful rebel leader! This hand-held version cuts the arcade hit down to size!

Since Acclaim and its various subsidiaries have first-video-game-conversion dibs on all Midway arcade games, it was only a matter of time before Ah-nuld did his deed to the Super NES. Like the Genesis Menacer version, SNES T2: The Arcade Game, will enable two players to shoot simultaneously with Super Scopes and/or control pads. Mouse owners can use their rodents, too.

It's not clear whether the SNES version will be able to match its coin-op counterpart stride-for-stride. However, it should come close with sweet scaling effects of the Terminator machines as they cross the devastated landscapes and stare you in the face -- extreme close-up, extreme close-up!

Like the arcade version, the game spans six levels that depict famous scenes from the movie, including a futuristic war zone, a truck chase, a messy office building, and an industrial factory. Essentially, you play Arnold and pump the Terminators 'til they're little metal chunks. Then you do it again. Your final target is the T-1000 morph-o-matic, who's been sent from the future to prevent John Connor from altering the past and saving humanity.

If T2 can even get within arm's length of replicating the arcade experience, all you Scwarzeneggarians will be able to sum it up in one word: "Schwing!"

Everyone's favorite pumped-up metal monster, the Terminator, is back and in action on your Game Boy. Surprise, surprise! The action is just as fun and furious as it is on other systems.

Hasta La Vista, Baby

12: The Arcade Game by Acclaim is the latest conversion of the hit coin-op that burst through the arcades like machine gun fire last year. Once again, you're faced with the possibility of being an extinct species, thanks to a race of robots that's trying its hardest to exterminate you. For survival, you've joined forces with a small but determined resistance movement that is trying to protect its leader, John Conner, both in the present and the past. Need further clarification? See the movie.

From a first-person, gun sight-ready, head-on perspective, you'll scroll through a vast assortment of landscapes, including Skynet fortress and the Cyberdyne labs. The graphics are amazingly detailed, which makes up for the lack of color. Because of the small and very dark Game Boy screen, you may want to crank up that contrast and save a couple of eye nerves along the way.

Heavy Metal

You begin armed with only a machine gun, but you collect a variety of power-ups to increase your fighting power, including shields, gun coolant, bullets, and 1-ups. You also get some guided missiles for your protection.

You'll need plenty of ammo, information, and courage to face what's ahead. Each robot, police officer, and Terminator gets up and in your face during the course of the frenzied action. The mechanical assault also gets nasty when weird, furturistic HK's fly by and metallic Endoskeletons try to push you to the brink of extinction.

The game has little music, but that doesn't stop it from being noisy. Every deafening explosion and machine gun burst is clearly defined and very loud. Your ears will know when you've hit something, even if your eyes don't.

Pumping Irony

For a system that sports no color, it's ironic that this Game Boy version of the T2: Arcade game is a faster and more furious game than others. You may find some frustrating flex time over the game's difficulty. Fear not, friends! Saving John Conner has never been more exciting or rewarding. Don't be a girly-gamer, get out the guns and waste 'em!