‘Terminator 2D: No Fate’ Review: Finally, a ‘T2’ Game That Doesn’t Self-Terminate

There’s a generation of gamers that long ago learned to fear video games with the LJN logo on it. Among those are the eight (!) games by the publisher based on Terminator 2: Judgment Day. With a treasure trove of thrilling set pieces and beloved characters to pull from, one would think at least one of them would have been a slam dunk.

So it’s not exactly a surprise that, in a time when some of the best games of the last decade have been 8- and 16-bit throwbacks, a studio finally managed knock a 16-bit video game based on James Cameron’s 1991 action classic out of the park. What’s surprising is that more than just faithfully translating Terminator 2’s big set pieces into pixel art—though there’s plenty of that, executed extremely well, with some beautifully fluid animation to boot—Bitmap Bureau’s Terminator 2D goes the extra mile in just about every aspect.

What hits you first is the soundtrack, a mix of adrenaline-pumping industrial metal and EDM mixed in excellently with deep cuts and cues from Brad Fiedel’s Terminator 2 score. With many of the levels based in the future taking their cues from Contra, the original tracks make the game feel like the Contra: Shattered Soldier sequel we never got. The single exception is a side-scrolling beat-em-up level based on the iconic hillbilly bar scene from the start of Cameron’s film, with the cherry on the top being Dwight Yoakam’s “Guitars and Cadillacs” on the soundtrack. (George Thoroughgood’s “Bad to the Bone” is also used as boss music.)

The game’s graphics make an effort to stay period-accurate, with some charmingly wonky renditions of actors’ faces and famous shots from the film. During gameplay, some beautifully fluid animation picks up the slack, with everything from the T-1000’s morphing to the eternally cool way in which Arnold Schwarzenegger spin-reloads his shotgun lovingly recreated.

But in terms of the minute-to-minute running and gunning, this is a Frankenstein monster that salvages any and everything worth saving about every previous attempt at a Terminator 2 game adaptation, and just like the titular cyborg, Bitmap has sent these game mechanics back in time and put them to work for good. And while it’s easy to see the influence of the likes of Contra, Rolling Thunder, and Elevator Action in this project, for an old-schooler with a deeper frame of reference, the most lovely surprise is discovering just how much of the game is taking its cues from Virgin Interactive’s highly underrated Terminator game for Sega CD.

Terminator 2D is meant to approximate an arcade experience, so it’s not particularly long. That’s even with a few levels respectfully, if shallowly, extrapolating on events and ideas hinted at in the film, and even a leisurely playthrough on an easier difficulty can be around an hour long. However, those looking for a challenge will delight in the game’s truly devious difficulty scaling that adds new enemies and obstacles rather than just making enemies harder to kill.

Even without the Terminator license, this would be just a very well-executed old-school side-scrolling shooter. With the touchstones of the film to work with, though, Bitmap has delivered an experience that finally does proper justice to one of the greatest blockbuster films of all time.