The Terminator 2029, Dark Horse Comics (Issue 1)

"The Future Fights Back!" That's the tag line from Dark Horse Comics' latest romp into the world of the machines, The Terminator 2029. But with the marked decline in the franchise over the years the question is does 2029 pack the metallic punch of it's namesake or is the lovable killing machine at the end of it's shelf life?

When it comes to re-makes and sequels friends have told me I play the "wounded fan" card pretty well and in many ways they'd be right. For a start, I hated the Transformers live action films, Command and Conquer is more or less dead to me and if I could travel back in time to stop the Alien Vs Predator films I would. So you can only imagine my reaction to Terminator: Rise of the Machines and 'Salvation.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike sequels and off-shoots simply because they aren't the same as the original, far from it, but I do feel a certain amount of  trepidation when approaching a new chapter in my favorite franchises. Heck, who doesn't? It detracts from the immersion when you have to pick out which bits you like and which you don't. Sometimes a good idea is best left well alone.

With this all in mind I'll finally get round to the subject of this post, which is the review of Dark Horse Comics' first issue of The Terminator 2029, written by Zack Whendon. Given everything I've said there was a lot that could have put me off this comic but I was actually rather surprised. Right off the bat the comic harnessed the gritty, dark atmosphere of the films. Set during the future war before Kyle Reece is sent back in time, the visuals really reflect the post nuclear world and Andy Macdonald has done a wonderful job of capturing the imagery of the war that I felt 'rise and 'salvation missed. Macdonald delivers a clean and crisp art style that some readers may at first feel is a little removed from the "dirty" nature of the future war, however coupled with Dan Jackson's coloring the comic is brought to life with a potent contrast between grimy backdrops and neon action sequences. At times there is an honest brutality to the art which, to it's credit, never seems childish or over the top.

When it comes to the writing of the comic Zack Whendon doesn't disappoint. While the first issue can't give too much away it feels that there won't be too many surprises for the fan of Terminator law, however, the characters are likeable and share mixed relationships that quickly entice the reader to connect with the protagonists. Where Whendon excels is in delivering charisma and compassion between characters, which goes along way to inspire a sense of hope and resilience in a universe where it would be easy to become trapped in it's depressing nature. This is a slight deviation from the Reese monologues in the films which painted an entirely bleak outlook but I feel the additional energy works well in the comic format. There is also a fair balance between story telling and action which is something occasionally missing from comics so it never feels like a struggle to get through. if this pace is continued throughout the series this will be a welcome addition to the franchise.

"I'm Back"

All in all, this is a fair effort from Dark Horse, it's a shame that they decided to lend their name to the horrible Terminator game to coincide with the series but at least the comic is leagues ahead and won't see you ripping your own eyes out. It won't win any awards but I'd give it a solid seven out of ten dinosaurs (that's right, I said dinosours) and go on to make it an 8 for fans of the francise. The Terminator 2029 is well worth checking out, just make sure you
leave 'rise and 'salvation at the door.


       

The Terminator: A Mini Review

Judgment Day was inevitable. Like an unstoppable storm the clouds rolled over mankind and extinguished it's light, giving rise to the time of the machines. But not all hope is gone, before humanity ended Big Head Games and Dark Horse Comics worked together to produce a final battlefield where humanity would stand against the machines and win it's right to exist. It is the year 2010 and Drew has been sent back in time to fight on this electronic battle ground and deal with the machine menace one and for all...

Well that was a mistake. I'm not sure that I was sent back in time to save mankind from annihilation (sometimes the lines between reality and fantasy get a little blurred), but if I was, I would rather let the bombs drop then play The Terminator. I'm sorry guys, but it really is that bad.

However, before I move on to give this game the sound, public panning it deserves allow me to get those of you who have not been introduced to Big Head Games' shooter up to speed. Back in February The Terminator, a top down shooter produced by Big Head Games, appeared on the Playstation store as one of the systems new "mini" games. The concept was fairly simple as top down shooters have become a mainstay of digital games, but The Terminator appeared to offer greater appear because of it's link to the franchise of the same name and the apparent involvement of Dark Horse Comics who produce the Terminator comic book line.

Throw in the £3.99 price tag and the Terminator should be a promising prospect. It's a simple shoot 'em up set in the Terminator universe with endorsement from a cool, gritty comic label and a low price tag to boot. Apart from somehow being the worst game in all creation, what in Cyberdyne's name could go wrong?

Just that. It's t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. I actually find my self at a loss with where to begin with my execution of this game because it has so many faults for me to exploit it's like I've been given every comic, game and movie ever for free and I have no idea what to do first. I guess I'll do things the other way around and mention the games one redeeming feature and then go on to rip it's horrible little glass eyes out. So hear goes...


I quite liked the fact that in the game you can "salvage" terminator heads in the same why that they do in the films/comics giving the game the tiniest shred of association with the source material. That's it. Out of the entire game the only thing I like is that you can walk over things and pick them up and even this has it's down side. You see, normally pick-ups and collectibles are a good thing but when you pick up a health pack your character, I assume it's Kyle Reese, makes this odd sound which sounds like Macho Man Randy Savage taking a particularly pleasing dump. I'm sorry to lie that image on you but it truly does. It made me laugh the first time but after that it just reminded me how terrible the sound in the game really is. The few sound effects that there are sound dull and flat while the background music cuts out after a minute stripping away what might be called a layer of depth if the games developers had any idea of what depth actually is. 

Then there's the fact that the game is just ugly to look at. Eye bleeding ugly. Now I know it's meant to be a small portable game (it appears on the PSP was well as the iPhone) so I can understand a little fuzz when shown on a full sized television screen, but anyone who has used a PSP or iPhone will tell you that these devices a capable of some impressive graphics. The Terminator's graphics are murky, simple and frankly an insult to the machines intended to play it. One particular gripe is that the firing animation is a single frame that looks to have been drawn in paint. It doesn't even flicker, I mean top down shooters in the 90's had better animation, come on Big Head put a damned flicker in there!

Usually bad graphics and sounds can be over looked with the advantage of good game play so we should be thankful that Big Head are at least consistent. The controls stink. In many was am thankful because I don't have to back peddle about all the nasty things I have said because like the rest of the game the controls are essentially toilet water so I can continue to flog it until either I get fed up or it dies. The Terminator is clearly an attempt to create a dual stick shooter on a console that has no dual sticks which has been ported to the PS3, which it does with no change to the games control system. You basically move with the d-pad or left stick and shoot with the face buttons which depending on which one you go for fires in a different direction. Yuuuurk! It's incredibly lazy that when the game finally does find a duel stick platform that no change was made. I have no idea how this works on the iPhone and I refuse to even think about it. The saddest thing about this is that if this were even 5% of the games that Killzone: Liberation is then Big Head could have copied that control system but alas.

So that's it, The Terminator in all it's feted, stinking evil, putrid glory, you may have noticed that I haven't mentioned the games' features or the inclusion of Dark Horse, well this is mainly because they don't exist. Apart from the campaign there is a free play mode but after seeing the campaign you'll never want to play it and the inclusion of the Dark Horse Comic brand it just name dropping, which is probably the biggest insult to fans.

My only advice for anyone who has paid for this game is to take the three hundred and ninety nine pennies you just wasted, sharpen the edges and fire them out of a cannon into your PS3, PSP or iPhone and terminate it. It's what your console would want you to do to save it's soul.