Terminator 2D: No Fate Review – What We Make for Ourselves

Before the turn of the millennium, decades before it became socially relevant, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was already an instant rewatch. Every single scene, every set piece and every stunt felt as hard-hitting as its themes of defying fate, against all odds, even as a nigh-indestructible Robert Patrick bears down on you. And yet, its iconic status has lain by the wayside in video games, even as efforts like Terminator: Resistance found their audiences.

Enter Terminator 2D: No Fate, which trades the bombastic nature of triple-A for a retro, side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter approach. While it doesn’t fully encapsulate every single iconic moment, this is still a strong rendition which also supplements the plot in intriguing ways.

Which is funny because it begins in perhaps the least expected way possible: Sarah Connor attempting to save her son from some gun-toting hooligans, led by a minigun-toting Michael Madsen knockoff. Don’t remember this part of the movie? Neither do I, but it serves as an adequate setup for many of the iconic moments. John Connor’s escape from the T-1000 before being rescued by the T-800; Sarah Connor’s escape from mental hospital captivity; the highway chase scene; even the T-800’s arrival in 1994 and its impromptu shopping spree.

"You have moments like the T-800 appearing before Sarah for the first time, evoking past trauma, that feel ever-so-slightly less impactful without the part where he blows away the T-1000."

And all of this is rendered in immaculate sprite art, bolstered by fantastic animation. Seeing the T-1000 scan its surroundings while Connor hides or its many transformations as it flails about – it’s all the small details, but they’re what make this feel like an authentic adaptation. The music is also incredible in this regard, capturing the classic theme but also presenting its own mix of tracks that fit the overall tension and pacing of each mission. Such quality is welcome because if you’re a really dedicated player, it’s going to get very familiar.

Of course, creative liberties abound. The assault on Cyberdyne HQ with Miles Dyson skips the hilarious infiltration and goes straight into a shootout with the cops as Sarah plants bombs throughout the vicinity. In some cases, it works well enough – escaping alongside John, evading the T-1000 at every turn in the steel mill, is a harrowing exercise, even if the trial-and-error can be annoying the first few go-arounds.

In others, it ties into one of my bigger gripes with the game: The distinct lack of T-800 sections in the base narrative, at least compared to Sarah and future John (who we’ll get to). You have his arrival, the rescue of John, driving down the highway to escape the T-1000’s helicopter…and that’s it for the base story. No fleeing from the T-1000 with Sarah Connor in tow, as it sinks its hooks into your escape vehicle. No wandering through tear gas, taking out cops while searching for masks for Sarah and John. Even sequences like the final melee against the T-1000 are completely hands-off.

When considering the narrative focus of Terminator 2D, which is more on Sarah and John, it’s understandable. However, you have moments like the T-800 appearing before Sarah for the first time, evoking past trauma, that feel ever-so-slightly less impactful without the part where he blows away the T-1000. It’s the whole reason she accepts his offer to live in the first place. Even the accompanying text card afterwards, where she says it saved her life, doesn’t make sense if you haven’t watched the film to fill in the blanks. Kudos to the animation team, though, for capturing Sarah scampering away, evoking memories of that slow-mo face of fear without actually rendering it in-game.

"While some stages boil down to running from one end of the screen to the other, mowing down enemies with impunity, others offer some strong platforming scenarios and varied threats, whether it’s Cyberdyne security systems or different kinds of Terminators."

As much as I love the film’s pacing, it’s somewhat understandable that Terminator 2D skips over some sections to retain its momentum. Still, it feels like it’s a disservice to why those moments were even in the original to begin with. John bonding with the T-800, teaching him various hand gestures? I can visualize that in my head just based on their animations, but where’s the part where they look at children, playing with pretend weapons, and comment on humanity’s desire to destroy itself? The T-800 revealing his true nature to Dyson to reinforce their claims about Skynet? All are absent to keep the game’s plot moving (though it could very well be for budgetary reasons as well).

Of course, all of this constitutes only one aspect of Terminator 2D. Once you clear the story, you can go back and make one of two – yes, only two – decisions to significantly alter its course. What if Sarah Connor didn’t reset the T-800’s chip and instead ordered it to kill Miles Dyson? What if she pulled the trigger herself instead of sparing Dyson?

This opens up some rather interesting alternative stages, including one where the T-800 massacres numerous cops at Cyberdyne HQ, leading to the classic scene of destroying their cars. It feels all the weirder because of the line about “zero casualties,” especially when you just rinsed their friends in cold blood. Interestingly, this particular route is the most encompassing, as we jump to Sarah fighting in the future. Of course, you also control future John at several points, which intersects well with the past and introduces all kinds of Skynet machines to combat in some fun boss battles. I especially like how these stages introduce cover as an optional endeavor. If you want to barrel through and maximize times by rolling or jumping over enemy fire – since John can’t just crouch and avoid most projectiles like Sarah – go for it.

I’ve spoken a lot about the story and how much Terminator 2D is faithful to the film. How does it play? Pretty well, actually. While some stages boil down to running from one end of the screen to the other, mowing down enemies with impunity, others offer some strong platforming scenarios and varied threats, whether it’s Cyberdyne security systems or different kinds of Terminators. I especially like how actions like sliding can be used offensively, like kicking explosive roombas into enemies or knocking away grenades to make space.

And while I criticize the adaptation as a film purist, it really makes for a fun arcade-like experience, especially across multiple difficulties. Enemies don’t just gain more health or gain reinforcements – they also become far more responsive and aggressive, challenging your reaction time all the more. The same goes for certain platforming sections and boss fights, which gain more attacks. But you’re not just honing your skills, selecting the right power-ups, or even nailing the timing for certain encounters. The layouts of each level, enemy placements and patterns are becoming ingrained. By the time you finish a difficulty with no continues and minimal hits taken, it feels like you’ve mastered it. I can almost hear young John saying, “Are we learning yet?”

"Nevertheless, as a run-and-gun sidescroller that captures the essence of the classic, Terminator 2D: No Fate comes recommended. Some aspects certainly could’ve been better or more faithful to the film, and yet, jumping back in to achieve that perfect run still feels extremely satisfying, quirks and all."

Movement is solid throughout, but we need to talk about the dedicated aiming button. Sarah and John can aim in seven directions and crouch to avoid projectiles. It’s smooth and doesn’t offer any trouble – heck, even the fact that Sarah stops and shoots in the pre-future war missions feels about right, both gameplay and story-wise. But if you want that eighth direction, aka shooting directly below you, the aim button is required, and it’s awkward. You’ll need to press it first, then aim down, even though every single instinct till now is telling you to just press down, which is a crouch, and you can’t aim down while crouching. It’s one of those things that can mess with your muscle memory, but since only one stage really, really necessitates aiming directly down, it’s not the biggest deal-breaker.

Outside of Story Mode, there’s Arcade for playing through all the stages without any continues or story scenes. If you’re feeling particularly gutsy, try taking on Mother of the Future, which not only lacks any continues but requires completing all of Sarah’s missions on a fixed timer. It really encourages you to optimize your playstyle, and if you’re successful, then good news – the even tougher Judgment Day difficulty awaits.

I can see some criticizing the playtime of Terminator 2D’s story, which makes sense if you’re only doing a singular playthrough on Easy Money (the lowest difficulty) and No Problemo (the Normal difficulty, which is still pretty easy for platforming veterans). Re-experiencing the core of the storyline and the unique future scenarios could serve as your primary motivator. However, if you’re not keen on actually mastering the game to one day conquer Judgment Day difficulty, then I can see value for money being an issue.

Nevertheless, as a run-and-gun sidescroller that captures the essence of the classic, Terminator 2D: No Fate comes recommended. Some aspects certainly could’ve been better or more faithful to the film, and yet, jumping back in to achieve that perfect run still feels extremely satisfying, quirks and all.

This game was reviewed on PS5.