Terminator: The Resistance
In 2019, a small Polish video game developer named Teyon created a first person shooter based on the Terminator franchise. The game was released with very little fanfare and mostly negative reviews. The game was developed on a small budget and it showed in outdated graphics and arguably, outdated gameplay. I remember skimming a quick YouTube video of the gameplay before deciding to check the game out if I ever found it around $20.
Then, I forgot about the game. I never saw it on the shelves at the store nor did it show up in very many digital Playstation sales. The next time the game popped up on my radar was a few short weeks ago, when I noticed the game was given a Playstation 5 upgrade with 4K graphics and faster loading times. It also was on sale for $23.99, which was just about what I’d want to pay for any movie tie-in game.
What I didn’t know at the time of buying the game is that Terminator Resistance was actually pretty good. The reviewers crapped on it because it wasn’t a AAA title with innovative first person shooter traits, but when you evaluated the game for Terminator what it was it was damn impressive. It was an original Terminator story that many believe serves the the best and true sequel to the first and second films. The gameplay was solid, albeit a bit repetitive, but the Terminators were made to actually be scary. It’s a lot like Alien Isolation, whereas the T-800s are so powerful you are actually terrified of them when you run across them. You spend a lot of time hiding and trying to avoid their detection. It takes me back to the watching the first two movies where the Terminators were near indestructible and something to absolutely fear if you ever ran across one.
When I first booted up the game I was impressed by the super fast load times and very decent graphics. Again, this is no Red Dead Redemption or God of War, but it gets the job done. I was also impressed with how great the music was. It utilizes the Terminator theme, but also has original music that very much ties into the tone of the series and also creates tension whenever a battle amongst you and Skynet occurs. It’s haunting, energetic, and terrifying all at once.
The gameplay is actually to my liking. I miss middle of the road shooters and if I had to pick a gaming era where I enjoyed the most first person shooters it would be the Xbox 360/PS3 era. The gameplay in Terminator Resistance feels of this era with a nice solid Skyrim/Fallout collection, crafting, and locking pick set of RPG elements to boot. So, you take a decent FPS and combine it with Fallout and well… you get a game that feels like it’s made for me.
Terminator Resistance feels like a Terminator game. Nothing feels tacked on and the script really pays tribute to the mythology of the franchise before it went off the rails. You play as a member of the Resistance who meets up with some survivors to try and stop the incoming Annihilation Line. The story plays out mostly in dialogue segments with the various characters you meet (again, like Fallout or Skyrim) and while the character models aren’t all the greatest and at times the voice acting isn’t the best, it all serves the story and game well enough. I guess, I feel like I need to defend a lower budget title just because of all the bad reviews, but if you go in knowing this isn’t Call of Duty and instead is a short, solid, Terminator experience I think there is a lot of game to love.
I can’t vouch for the PS4/Xbox One versions, but the current gen version of the game (at least on the PS5) is great. I’ve enjoyed my time playing through the levels and blasting Skynet to pieces. I’m not sure if I’d pay $60 for the game, but $40-50 is very, very reasonable. Hell, I’m definitely getting way more out of this than the $24 I spent on it.
If you enjoy the Terminator franchise and like first person shooters with a hint of RPGs to them, I highly recommend checking out Terminator Resistance. For us PS5 owners, there is even some upcoming DLC to look forward to.
