THE TERMINATOR (1990): LETS DESTROY HUMANITY

Let's play THE TERMINATOR (1990)

by Bethesda softworks


CONTENTS:
Chapter 0: Intro to the LP
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Destruction
Chapter 2: “Great, I'll go grab my stuff!”
Chapter 3: “There Is no time, your M16 Is enough”
Chapter 4: Falling Down
Chapter 5: RAGE FOR THE MACHINE
Chapter 6: Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Chapter 0: Intro to the LP

After seeing Peter doing LP's of Castle Wolfenstien & System Shock, I thought I'd try my hand at LP'ing another old unique and Incline action/shooter. This Isn't a massively long game, so It's Ideal for cutting my LP'ing teeth Into.

THE TERMINATOR was made a decade before Bethesda began to decline (not even any sign of the Toddler in the credits). I'll do some chin-wagging on this games more Incline points as we go along.

Unfortunately, no-one's made a game FAQ for this game, all I was able to get was the manual from HOTU. I've figured out most of what happens and can beat the game but I can't help but feel I'm still missing out on a couple of concepts.

To get the game running right, I'd recommend running It as “TERM adlib” (It crashes with sblaster) and to run It at 2500 cycles (fast enough to get past loading segments In a couple of seconds) otherwise the game will start going all Yakety-Sax on us.

Enough of my crazy-foo' jibber-jabber, lets get this sucka' flyin'.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Destruction

First of, we start with the credits, done in the same style as the movie.





















Shame that Bethesda no longer has this Julian LeFay guy. Not only did he direct, co-write for & co-code this game, he also help make Arena & Daggerfall. A true brother of the Incline.













Also a shame there wasn't someone like these guys to stop Bethesda screwing up Fallout 3.







For some mysterious reason, they squashed the title to the side.







Some city gets nuke, lights turn off before the buildings get destroyed (power saving?)



The grim-dark future





A hunter-killer mopes through the streets, randomly blasting at the ground.



The Intro text as we know and love it.



The Intro ends and we reach the title screen.

Next update will have some game-play. Should have It up by tomorrow.

Can we just leave it destroyed? Thanks.

I remember reading about this game back when it was released. I found it to be an interesting take on the subject. Instead of going for an easy top-down shooter or side-screen platformer, they opt for an ultra-realistic first-person simulator, where you can be either Kyle Reese or the Terminator.

Sadly I never got a chance to play the game. Even when I could get my hands on it (not legally, mind you) I couldn't get it to run, the processors ran too damn fast and DOSBox was a faint dream.

But no, I had to make do with the official Terminator 2 video game (the PAIN, OH GOD THE PAIN) and the half-decent-when-it-was-released Terminator 2029.

I'll be keeping an eye on this LP, and wish you well.

it was a good games, same engine as Daggerfall but heavily modified. (if i recall correctly.)

The game you are talking about is Terminator: Future Shock, released in 1995, a year prior to Daggerfall but correct, it used Xngine which was also used for Daggerfall, Terminator: SkyNET, Battlespire, Redguard and a couple racing games. I think Daggerfall was longer in development, preceeding Future Shock, but I might be wrong. Xngine debutted with Future Shock but it's hard to ascertain which game acted as the primary drive for developing an in-house 3D engine.

Future Shock is somewhat like the Stalker or maybe Half-Life of its time. Graphics were cutting edge at the time and I think they still hold up. Weapons really vary with different effects on different enemies so no "uber weapon" (not until you get the Machine Gun anyway), and doesn't follow the classic Doom model of weapons that persisted for more than a decade in every FPS. Levels are usually large, open and somewhat sandboxy.

Many levels had a good amount of buildings you could enter (interiors and exteriors separated -this is where the current model in Bethesda games come from. 20 years and still the same bullshit) and some of them fairly large and relatively complex, and had very good enemy placement and since most interiors were cramped up with debris, you had to be careful with movement or you could expect to die frequently, caught by a bot in an unexpected place. Especially at high difficulty. But controls conformed to such gameplay excellently. The game is often credited as the game that "invented mouse-look". I don't know if it were truly the first ever FPS to use mouse-look by default and whether it was a direct influence on later games, I can not tell but I also don't remember any another previous game with mouse-look. Exploration was optional, since it added nothing to the story but the loot (med kits, grenades, molotovs, extra ammo etc.) were always worth it.

If you played Future Shock and Fallout 3, you could easily call Fallout 3 "Terminator Revisited". They borrowed so many elements on environment from Future Shock (and the sequel, SkyNET). Funnily enough, FS and SN are the better games and they also have more variance. I guess FS might also be the first FPS game that you get to man a land and air vehicles and pursue combat in them. And with excellent controls and generally good physics, might I add. Driving the jeep around could sometimes be tricky due to collision detection with debris but flying a HK Scout was kickass experience.

This was also the first Bethesda games where Todd, presumed to be the janitor prior, worked as a level designer. And the little rat was fast: he was already a lead designer in the sequel, SkyNET, just the following year. SkyNET was also a good game, though, everything Future Shock did right and more. If you have both games, you can even play FS with the updated SkyNET engine and benefit from a few extras and higher resolution. If Future Shock wasn't the Half-Life of its time, then this one certainly was.

Bethesda developed several Terminator games. One of these was the interesting and good looking but mediocre Terminator: Rampage (1993). Check out the screenshots. It was a graphics whore's shit game that didn't work on most on the systems and even if it worked, it was boring. The others were shoot-em up games. They were ok games.

This one, however, marks the pinnacle of design at old Bethesda, along with Daggerfall. This is Terminator, the game that has got the balls to try something mostly new and different, in an open sandbox world with adventure elements where you can either be Kyle Reese or T800.

I've got chapter 2 screen shotted, just started writing It.

SCO said:

Can we just leave it destroyed? Thanks.

Click to expand...

Hmm, didn't think of that. I have been doing LP on the Terminator first then Kyle Reese second. Fortunately, I had only done the screen shot stage, so I'll swap them around (so we'll save humanity, then destroy It at our leisure).

Unkillable Cat said:

I'll be keeping an eye on this LP, and wish you well.

Click to expand...

Hope I won't make you disappoint.

villain of the story said:

*Snippy, Snippy*

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Yeah, pretty much. Grew up playing T:FS and though the game-play leaves me disappoint these days, Its other assets (Art, sound, writing, music, tech) were good and It had a stellar atmosphere.

Gotta disagree about the weapons, though It had some unique stuff (thrown explosives, 'nade launchers and that scoped laser rifle), the others were kind of samey (Just different damage values).

Hmm, maybe you might be right. I recall some weapons damaging enemies faster than others and vice versa but maybe it was only between energy weapons vs. others.

I miss the shotgun from T:FS. It packed a punch and was satisfying to see and hear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p62hA4GUw8

villain of the story said:

I guess FS might also be the first FPS game that you get to man a land and air vehicles and pursue combat in them.

Click to expand...

No.

Edit: actually it might be. I can't recall if vehicles were only on the sequel. Hunter had them, but that is later.

I've heard about this game many times, it came up in discussion here but I haven't played it. Looks like a classic, though.

Nice, looking forward to this LP.

It is, Finnish gaming magazines raved about it but I never got to try it out.

Chapter 2: “Great, I'll go grab my stuff!”

Chapter 2: “Great, I'll go grab my stuff!”



Continuing from last time from the title screen.

I'll be starting off as playing Kyle Reese ( I'd decide It'd be better to leave humanities destruction as a climax)

Difference between a full & short game Is that we start off with nothing In the former but start with a lot of weapons & equipment In the latter. I'm Sticking with full.

With Real mode Is a normal game while practice doesn't have our enemy. I'm sticking with Real mode.

The difficulty settings control the likely hood of stores being close, how well armed & responsive the cops/army are and maybe some other stuff (I'll be sticking with medium).



The games copy right protection. Fortunately, my copy Is pre-cracked.



Here we go.

The green marker on the compass Indicates where Sarah Conner Is. Speed Indicates how fast we are walking.



Speaking of Sarah, here she Is. We start off with her following us.



Here's some of the commands we can give her. Seems we can use her as a Fallout style pack mule.



So how about a kiss, for luck?



“You've GOT to be kidding.”



First things first, we're gonna' need a car so I check the map for near by ones.



Lets take a wee gander at this one.



Manuel transmission!? Hell If I'm riding that.

It might be because I have the CPU cycles set too high, but I tend to find manuals are finicky & prone to stalling In this game. Fortunately, they're much rarer than auto transmissions (IDK why).



I'll go take a look at the next one up.



Auto-transmission, good.



Car was Incredibly easy to nick, woulda' thought 1990's L.A. would be more vigilant on car security.

Hmm, lets check the ads to see what businesses are near by. We should prioritize robbing a bank first as once a business
has been raided, It closes for good. Also, If we rob a store directly, there Is a chance we get caught before we grabbed all we need.

So WE'VE GOT TO HAVE... MONEY!



Lets check out First Star Savings & Loan



Quick explanation of the dash board statistics:
The counter left of the steering wheel Is the cars HP. Cars can take a good beating & we can't be hurt 'til It's destroyed.
The counter In the middle of the wheel Is percentage of fuel left In the car.
The counter right of the wheel Is our current speed.

The cars In this game do have a gearing system. The transmission gets ragged by going too high a speed on lower gears.
But AFAIK, there's no disadvantage Immediately going to Top Gear, which Is a bit silly.



Just quickly showing off the games entire map. Yup, we've got the entire city of L.A. To explore.



Banks just up ahead.



Forgot to screen cap, but I withdrew some cash before I went on to raid the bank. Who said we couldn't have our cake and eat It?



Robbing banks always alerts cops. Not a big Issue though as this time I only needed to speed off a short distance away to escape them.

Pro-tip: Always keep your car close to hand. Make sure Its parked next to you before you rob somewhere.

Now Its time to splash some cash Ted Turner style



That drug store looks like a good start



Just quickly check how much dollar I've got on me



Very reasonable. Lets step on In.



Yes, all those Items you see are buy-able. But like the manual states, they're not all useful.



First thing thing I buy up Is a crowbar. You'll see why this becomes handy In future.



I proceed to buy some medical supplies (forgot to screen cap me buying gauze & bandages as well). Not tested If these help, but I speculate that they may reduce healing time for Kyle.



All together, It only cost me about 64$.

They also sell:















Essential supplies.



Still unencumbered & going full speed even with the crowbar & medical supplies, good to see.

Having hopped out, I check the adverts for near by businesses.



A sports store like that “THE KICKER” sounds like a good next step







Here we are. AFAIK, there are only a couple of useful Items:



These slick-kicks will give us a speed boost. Looks like this game beat Sonic the hedgehog to the Idea of speed boots.



Compass does what It says on the tin. Helps make navigation go a little more smoothly



Nice, our speeds gone up from 10 to 12 & our compass Is now fully functioning (The yellow marker points North, naturally)



Stuff set us back $152



Wait a minute, Kyle's running around In nothing but these shoes. >:^O

End of chapter 2

SCO said:

villain of the story said:

I guess FS might also be the first FPS game that you get to man a land and air vehicles and pursue combat in them.

Click to expand...

No.

Edit: actually it might be. I can't recall if vehicles were only on the sequel. Hunter had them, but that is later.

Click to expand...

Oh man! Like what I read In the article, I'll be sure to scrounge around for a copy of that game.

Hemorrhoid Medicine? Oh my.

So if you buy condoms, can you stop John Connor from being born?

Please continue.

I bet someone at Rockstar was inspired by this game when coming up with the idea for the GTA series. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but there are some similarities.

great stuff

oh, THIS game.

i mistook the games.

IIRC playing as Kyle Reese and protecting Sarah was much more difficult than playing as the Terminator.

Interesting choice of LP too. Will watch with interest.

villain of the story said:

the interesting and good looking but mediocre Terminator: Rampage (1993). Check out the screenshots. It was a graphics whore's shit game that didn't work on most on the systems and even if it worked, it was boring.

Click to expand...

The funny thing about Rampage is that, even though it required a monster machine to run on max settings, it still managed to look more primitive than Doom (which came out around the same time). TBH it was pretty shit as far as graphic whorism goes - I don't remember if it used the Wolf 3D engine, but it was definitely that type of engine, so no curves, no multiple elevations, and so on. Level design was excessively boring too. Disappointing game, Future Shosck was much better.

The others were shoot-em up games. They were ok games.

Click to expand...

2029 and its expansion were fun, moreso than Rampage IMO. Not terribly memorable though.

Cassidy said:

I bet someone at Rockstar was inspired by this game when coming up with the idea for the GTA series. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but there are some similarities.

Click to expand...

No coincidence. GTA took a good serving of ideas from Terminator and from Quarantine.

Uh, GTA1 and 2 have nothing in common with this game and the only common thing with Quarantine is doing missions in a car.

But we need an UPDATE, good sir!

In the Kwa, auto is much more common.

GarfunkeL said:

Uh, GTA1 and 2 have nothing in common with this game

Click to expand...

Access to entire city by foot or by car, with ability to steal cars and drive them around the city in an open world manner.

and the only common thing with Quarantine is doing missions in a car.

Click to expand...

And running over pedestrians... though I must say that the similarities with Quarantine probably stop there.

But we need an UPDATE, good sir!

Click to expand...

That we can all agree on!

Chapter 3: “There Is no time, your M16 Is enough”

Chapter 3: “There Is no time, your M16 Is enough”

Welcome back. Just reloaded my save and-



OUR SHOES AND COMPASS HAVE STOPPED WORKING!

Stupid save system. When you reload, all special Inventory Items stop functioning. There Is a solution though:



Buying/stealing any old piece of junk from a store Is sufficient enough to restore our Items back to working order.



The watch only sets us back $8, at least.

Oh and another thing which gets reset on reload are cars (even the ones we were driving) so I'm gonna' have to hunt down a new one.







We've got most of the extra gear we'll need, so lets move on to stuff to kill the Terminator. As Kyle cannot Into melee combat, we will need to obtain some guns & 'nades. So lets look through the ads for a gun store first.



Grizzly guns Is the only one near by, so of course that's where we head.







Before we ogle at the guns, I purchase bullet-proof vest.

Now time for some pre-internet gun porn.











M16, I choose you!



The gun & vest take us down to 10 speed.



Also bag 10 clips to complement the M16, the Terminator can take some serious punishment. All the clips only encumber us down to 9 speed.



On a side note, this store sells truck batteries (kinda weird for a gun store). When cruising through the city, you see some trucks parked around. I think they had plans to have them drivable. But seeing as they neither show up on the map nor give you a prompt as you approach them (even with one of those batteries), I guess they didn't get around to putting them In.



Set us back about $1400, but we've got a decent amount left (we should only need to buy gas here on In).



Locked 'n loaded my M16. Ready for action!



Spot a gas station, I'll fuel up the car so we won't have to swap It on a long trip









Cost about $100.





Following Brother None's Idea by buying a few rubber Johnnies.

Came to (tee hee! ) $16.



Gets classed under drugs with the medical supplies.



Taking a wee look at our physical status.

Earlier on, I had got a little over excited with the M16 and accidentally shot a couple of rounds out of It. The cops arrived (I must have forgot to get a silencer) and plugged a couple of slugs In me. So I'm gonna' go to a doctor to get us back In shape, hoping he can do It faster than Kyle.





On my way I get distracted and and spot this bus (which Sarah decided to pose by). Much like the trucks It's not on the map, doesn't give us a prompt and I haven't been able to drive It.



My concentration falters yet again as I spot a shooting range and decide to fire off a couple of rounds.







Buck Private!? Let me give that another try.



Bah! Maybe I do have the CPU cycles too high. Yeah, that's It.

Moving on like a swift breeze.









I finally reach the hospital.



Hold up, this Isn't any faster that doing this our selves. I'm not wasting any cash here.

There Is a risk of getting caught by Arnold while we are healing (dunno' If using the hospital alleviates this)



Our stats yay far.

Next I'll be heading towards … I'll leave It as a surprise

On my way, I turn the camera around and screen shot some buildings.







Exciting.



Also spot more of those buses I spoke of earlier.





And those are the trucks I was talking about. A lot of service vehicles around here, must be an Industrial district.





And I have arrived. What Is this building? Find out In the next update!

Intriguing!