“The guiding principle of Terminator 2D: No Fate’s development was always to make it feel like the kind of arcade game that could’ve come out in the 90’s alongside the release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” say the developers, Bitmap Bureau, and it’s fair to say that is exactly what they have made. I am old enough to have been gaming in the 90s and Terminator 2D: No Fate reminds me of the excellent RoboCop 2 game that was released on the Commodore Amiga.
The story follows the plot of Terminator 2 fairly closely, with a few extra missions set in the future. All the key scenes from the film are brought to life in chunky pixel graphics with even chunkier pixel text explaining the plot before you set off on your rampage of violence.
Terminator 2D: No Fate is a side scrolling shoot ’em up in which you play one of the famous characters from the game and run around shooting bad guys until you reach the boss and finish the level. You can only fire in eight directions, starting with your basic pistol or automatic rifle, with bonus weapons such as spread fire lasers hidden throughout the levels. These pick-up weapons only last for a limited amount of time rather than a number of bullets – in true action movie style, those are infinite. Shotgun, pistol, or laser cannon; it doesn’t matter what you use, the weapon never needs reloading.
To mix things up a little, there are two driving sections, both based on the chase sequence from the film where the T-1000 has a truck, and Arnie is on his bike. You also get to play as a completely naked Arnold – his nether regions naturally being pixellated to hide anything saucy – in a beat ’em up sequence set in the Biker bar.
There are four difficulty levels and the harder you make the game the more enemies you get, the less health you have, and other additional factors are added such as time limits and limited continues. The developers suggest playing the game on Hard and that does give you a true arcade experience. By that, I mean you will be cursing a lot, and gradually working your way through each level over many, many attempts, as you learn the positioning and patterns of the enemies and commit them to muscle memory; 90s games were as much a test of your memory as of your joystick skills.
While the game does use the 90s aesthetic there are a few modern improvements. Most notable is just how slick the animation is, which has many more frames than you would have got back in the day when one megabyte was considered a lot of memory. The music is also rather epic with a couple of licensed songs that play out under certain circumstances.
The big question is, does this retro gameplay work in the modern day? For me it absolutely did, I found myself playing just like I did in 90s, learning the enemy patterns and firing in their direction before they even appear. Terminator 2D: No Fate is a challenge on the harder levels, but deaths rarely feel cheap and it does have that much needed “one more go factor” that will have you playing in to the small hours. That said there is one level where you are chased through entire level by the T-1000 and if you miss-time opening a door or take a misstep then you will get speared through the eye with a metal spike. It verges on being frustrating but does feel like an achievement when you finally make it through.
