Many of us of a certain age remember how Terminator 2: Judgment Day shaped our world, only to flash forward and find ourselves playing one of the many terrible licensed games based on the film for home consoles by LJN or Ocean. Years later, Bitmap Bureau has been programmed to go back in time and provide the world with a retro throwback far more worthy of the films. Don’t leave it to fate; go out and experience Terminator 2D: No Fate.
Your Boots, Your Clothes, Your Retro Throwback
Terminator 2D: No Fate, like most licensed movie games, is a retelling of the film. In this case, Terminator 2: Judgement Day. For the most part, the game follows the storyline faithfully. There are several extra sections involving the future war, which aims to expand on the impact of the events of Terminator 2 going forward, but for the majority of the game, you’ll either be playing or watching cutscenes recreating the most iconic and essential parts of the story in a surprising amount of detail.
What impressed me the most was that moments that wouldn’t have been deemed “cutscene worthy” still get an inclusion in the game in some form. The scene where the cop gets stabbed through the eye is one that has always stuck with me, with the imagery of the coffee cup hitting the floor sticking in my mind. While this wasn’t a hand-drawn cutscene, it was an actual stage-starting animation. This is pure fan service in the best way.
Don’t Leave It To Fate
Before I get into the specifics of the game, I want to make it clear from the get-go: it’s a retro-style game and has an extremely short run time from start to finish. You can finish it in an hour or just over on your first go. I’ve completed it more than a handful of times and have it down to the 15/20 minute mark. The bulk of your time here will be replaying the game, beating your high scores, completing the in-game achievements, and trying to speedrun the title.
The idea behind Terminator 2D: No Fate seems to be imitating the licensed titles of the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive)/SNES era, but giving it the love and dedication it deserved rather than being a pumped-out, cheap cash-in, as so many games based on movies and the like were back then. Much like many of the titles back then, it’s a 2D sprite-based title fusing run-and-gun gameplay with vehicle sections and a dash of beat ’em up, just like the gods of 16-bit intended. It pulls this amalgamation off with enough quality that it manages to stand up toe-to-toe with the great games it is imitating, albeit in disappointingly bite-sized chunks.
Wolfie’s Fine, Wolfie’s Just Fine
The futuristic run-and-gun sections are incredibly exciting to play through. It often feels very Contra-inspired during the futuristic sections where you play as John Connor, to the point of using the same upgrades; you know that the Spread Gun equivalent is king. In these, you have sub weapons you can throw for extra damage, a dodge roll that gives a surprisingly generous amount of invincibility frames, interactive parts of the background to take cover with, and just some of the smoothest and most responsive controls around.
On the other hand, the modern-day run-and-gun sections are a little more reined in, but are still very fun to play. You mostly play as Sarah Connor here. One of her stages is a fantastically tense stealth section, where you’re trying to escape from the medical facility while the T-1000 spawns in to try and take you down with a one-hit kill. I’m not usually a massive fan of stealth sections in action games, but this one stage was absolutely stunning and a mastery of horror in a 2D side-scrolling game, the likes we haven’t seen since Metroid Fusion.
The vehicle sections involve dodging traffic and road works at high speed and fighting off the T-1000 in turret sections. They act as pace breakers, but they don’t last long enough to really have a major impact on the title as a whole. Sadly, the beat ‘em up section where you play as the T-800, stark naked in the biker bar, is over quickly, and there aren’t any other beat ‘em up sections. In fact, you rarely play as the T-800 throughout the game, and I think that is the one major misstep this game has.
While the game is quite a short run, there are two different storylines you can follow by making choices at certain junctions in the story. You can only pick these after your first completion, regardless of which of the three charmingly named difficulties you have picked. There’s also an Arcade Mode, which removes the cutscenes and is just a straight 1-credit run through, along with a Boss Rush mode that sees you taking on every boss in succession.
It’s a fantastic retro throwback that has a campaign of all killer, no filler in my opinion. The few levels that stray from the path don’t stick around long enough for it to sully the overall succulent licensed meal that is Terminator 2D: No Fate.
Looking Radical Dude
Presentation-wise, Terminator 2D: No Fate passes inspection with flying colors. Bitmap Bureau should be commended not only for how accurate the game looks to the source material but also for how gorgeous it looks in motion. It’s exactly how my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses remember games from the 16-bit era, but with just a few extra frames of animation here, extra enemy sprites there, and so many explosions that even Michael Bay wants it to calm down. It’s visual perfection.
Over on the sound stage, you don’t have full voice acting. I don’t find this to be an issue, as not only would it likely increase the price, but this is a 16-bit homage, so it’d stand out. What they did include however, was that absolutely iconic theme song, along with the classic Bad to the Bone famously featured in the film to rock the walls of the biker bar. Radical stuff, as the kids down at the arcade say with their backwards caps and gnarly attitudes.
Verdict
If Terminator 2D: No Fate’s prime objective was to release into the world a game worthy of the legendary Terminator 2: Judgement Day in the style of the games out at the time the film was popular, then the mission was an absolute success.
Terminator 2D: No Fate joins Terminator Resistance as games worthy of the first two films in the franchise. While it’s lacking a little too much Arnie and may not have the runtime some would want, I couldn’t have been happier with the title. Despite having finished it at least half a dozen times now, I still find myself being sent back in time and trying to stop Skynet over and over again.
TERMINATOR 2D: NO FATE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another 2D action game, check out our review of Double Dragon Revive.
Many thanks go to Reef Entertainment for a Nintendo Switch review code (played on Nintendo Switch 2) for Terminator 2D: NO FATE.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
