Part nostalgia-bomb, part note-taking and part FAQ, what started in GameTrailers as a video game blog is now on Blogger. This blog is a look back at video games, both popular and obscure, from the video game industry's infancy all the way to the previous console generation.
Now to crush this guy and go home. Unless you're Kyle Reese, who actually dies in the movie.
Just before the end, you'll find a ladder hidden behind a pipe. Climb down it for an extra life and some health.
You'll finally meet the Terminator in his metal chassis. Shoot the button on the machines to open the doors on the floors. It's right, right, then left for those wondering where the machines are. After the third set of doors, go left to get the gun power-up. This gives you missiles. Use these and your grenades to do enough damage to destroy its legs. If the Terminator touches you, it's instant death. When you beat the game, the Terminator will finally be crushed under the machine thanks to Sarah Connor, ending it all.
After climbing those ladders at the beginning, you're probably wondering what to do next. Turns out you're supposed to shoot the machine at the left until the door blocking your path opens.
The conveyor belts are pretty self-explanatory, but they do their part in making the final level a lot harder, especially when you're trying to shoot the many turrets that can eat away at your health.
When you ride on the giant crane, jump when the humming sound it makes gets higher. This higher hum sound is made before the crane opens up and dumps you down, assuming you're standing on it when that happens. However, there is a better way to tell when you need to jump: look up at the lights. When the crane approaches one of the flashing, spinning lights, that's your cue to jump.
Also, those two enemies that don't spawn near one of the checkpoints until you double-back a couple of times are absolute bullcrap.
We're finally at the Cyberdyne Factory, where the Terminator awaits us...
Level 9
You'll be dealing with a lot of low-lying robots that will cause you to alternate between ducking and shooting. Use your grenades if you need to.
Make your way up and to the left at the beginning. You'll find another gun power-up, which turns your bullets into larger, more powerful fireballs. It is very powerful against the enemies in this level, so you'll definitely want to go get it in order to destroy the shotgun robots on wheels in a few hits and blow up the ceiling turrets instantly.
Since this is a factory, there will be some conveyor belts here and there. The colums with the sirens and some of the computer systems will block your shots while also acting as cover.
Some of the pipes are platforms. Others are not. If you throw a grenade at the pipe and it explodes on it, it's a platform. If it doesn't, don't bother jumping on it.
Be careful with the box platforms hanging off the ropes. They fall shortly after you stand on them and they can hurt you if you touch the sides.
The boss here is a giant claw. Take out the robot that comes out from the foreground.
After saving Sarah Connor, she and Kyle Reese end up in jail. One problem: why are all these hoodlums running amok outside of the cells?
Level 8
What is with all these pits in the jail area? Sheesh, I know Los Angeles wasn't that poor in the 1980s.
The Terminator is here again. If you shoot him enough, he just falls down for a couple of seconds before getting back up. He takes a lot of shots to kill, and the first time you meet him, you'll be able to get your hands on temporary invincibility. Use your grenades to speed things up.
At one point, you can jump down a pit after a flight of stairs to find some power-ups. Keep going right and you'll re-materialize through the stairs.
Once again, there are electrical cables hanging from the ceiling that will shock you.
If you see any gray panels on the wall, shoot them down to continue through the level.
You'll see Sarah Connor twice in this level, and both times, the Terminator won't be far behind. Take him out temporarily then run straight to the other side.
This level is one big anachronism. We're in 1984, but the music is from the 1990s. What?
Level 7
This level takes place in...you guessed it...Tech Noir. Despite being in 1984, the music here sounds like it's from 1992.
Be sure to take out the light fixtures that swing around...otherwise, they're going to fall right on your head. If you're fortunate enough, you can shoot one off the ceiling and have it hit a bad guy in the head instead, causing a lot of damage. There are also some light fixtures that shoot out electricity every other seconds, so you'll want to pass them by at the right time.
Midway through the level, you find a bartender cleaning glasses with a lot of thugs around him...and a gun power-up. Lay waste to everyone and pick it up. Watch out for the bartender, though...he'll pull his shotgun out as soon as he sees you and will start firing away. With the new power-up making your firepower as good as it was in the fourth level, you should have no problem taking him out as well as other enemies that you'll meet from this point on.
You'll eventually meet a man with a machine gun, none other than the Terminator. Avoid his firepower and counter with both your gun and your grenades. You'll be playing keep-away and jumping over his bullets, but he'll eventually go down.
Just like in the movie, you get new clothes as well as a shotgun as soon as you make it to 1984 Los Angeles. At least you get them automatically and don't have to risk public nudity charges searching for clothes like in the movie.
Climb up the first building to power-up your gun. This allows for a faster fire rate, since you don't start with rapid fire when you travel through time. Oh, and you'll have to start stashing grenades all over again, since you won't be able to bring your grenades from the future with you.
There are a lot of goons here: pistol-packing punks with long red hair, knife tossing jerks, guys that throw Molotov cocktails, motorcyclists and even the police in their police cars all want you dead. Thankfully, the guys that you can shoot down are pretty easy to take care of, and you can easily avoid the indestructible police cars.
Since everyone here is a human, the enemies at this point in the game just collapse when they die as opposed to exploding.
Again, there are lifts that you can go up in with Up on the Control Pad.
Exploring the buildings is worth it, as there are power-ups for the taking, including a couple of extra lives.
Your first destination is to make it all the way to the bar as you search for Sarah Connor.
You'll definitely want to take out the turrets that fire from the ceiling here. Some of them will track you as you move around, so be careful.
The boss here is the Terminator himself. Shoot at him as he teleports around the room, running around the room as you go. If you have the gun power-up, this is significantly easier. When you destroy him, you'll be able to go back in time to 1984 Los Angeles.
At one point, there is a part of the level that contains a steel pipe that you can leap into. Hold Up on the Control Pad and jump straight up into it, and you'll end up at the top. It looks like the rest of the level and I can picture some people being stuck with this, not knowing that this has to be used to continue with the level.
Take out the turret that shoots the red lasers by throwing a couple of grenades at the laser cannon, and avoid the lasers entirely! If they hit you, you will be killed instantly. From there, you can get a gun power-up by climbing up the metal blocks, and then exit the stage.
We're getting close to the time machine, and Skynet has decided to up the ante...
Level 3
Some of the Terminators will be manning Gatling guns. After taking enough damage, the Gatling guns disappear and they'll just start walking around like normal enemies.
Use Up and Down to use the elevators. Yeah, that should be pretty self-explanatory, but still...
Avoid the drones, even though you can shoot them down if you choose to.
The four-legged drones that look like dogs are fairly quick and will leap at you. Thankfully, your jumping ability is far superior.
You'll want to jump through the orange beam when the center is orange. If it's white, it will damage you.
You may remember the music here from the end of one of the AGVN's Terminator videos. This is where it comes from.
Level 2
There are foreground elements at both the beginning and the end of the stage, and they way they're shown is just really weird. They only fully show up fully in those two areas, and they're almost completely hidden from view at the bottom corners of the screen. Also, the blue border flashes every couple of seconds.
You'll be dealing with a lot of Terminators as well as some spider-legged tanks. You'll also be jumping over fire pits on your way to the end of the stage.
At one point, there will be a helicopter shooting at you. Whenever you're at the top of the area and you see it, you'll want to keep moving so you don't lose your health to it. Thankfully, you only see it briefly.
You can jump to the ledge with the 1-Up, but it takes some timing to pull it off.
At the end, you'll have to deal with a giant tank. Avoid its firepower and keep your distance, and throw some grenades at it as you shoot it down.
Sega CD rides again! It's The Terminator, and unlike the other console versions, this one isn't too bad...if you can put up with some of its eccentricities.
In the Sega CD version of this game, you play as Kyle Reese, who has to make it to 1984 to save Sarah Connor. Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with Skynet's forces before you can get over there.
Level 1
He gets around fairly quickly, but aiming is a pain. You can aim upwards as well as diagonally upwards, but not downwards. If you aim diagonally, you'll also run in that direction, so aiming your gun and taking out enemies without getting hit is a pain in the neck.
When you're on stairs, keeping the joystick neutral lets you shoot diagonally in the direction you're taking them. You have to crouch to shoot straight. Again, this makes taking on enemies a little frustrating.
On ladders, you can aim in any diagonal direction as well as left or right.
The first two enemies you'll see are the human terminators (the ones with latex skin) and the all-metal Terminators. The human ones with the latex skin have to duck down to shoot at you, and the all-metal ones can aim downwards at you...something you can't do. Fun.
There are some self-firing sniper guns that will shoot at you, but if you fire at the barrels of the guns until they explode, they won't be able to fire at you anymore.
There are some robots on tank treads that take more damage than the Terminator-type enemies, but if you're far enough away from them when you fire at them, they won't pose much of a threat.
The red First Aid crosses, refill one bar of your life, while the yellow ones replenish it fully.
The flashing grey cylinders are grenades. Use these to take out stuff below you, especially if you're on stairs. Once you're used to its throwing arc, they're pretty easy to use and the damage you do from throwing them is worth it.
The picture of Kyle Reese's face with the word "1-Up" below it is obviously an extra life.
The small black and yellow cylinders on tripods are continue points. Trigger one, and you'll continue there when you lose a life.
The green vest makes you temporarily invincible.
When you see the exit sign, you know you're either there or very nearly there. All you have to do is find it and get out.
