Reviews

The spectrums last Christmas - from memory I make this 1991.

This was the last year a Spectrum owner could hope to receive a full priced game in their stocking on Christmas morning.

But what a swansong the spectrum had. Lemmings, WWF, Hudson Hawk, SmashTV (tho' I hated it), Turtles - the coin op, Audiogenics Rugby, Pit Fighter, Simpsons, Final Fight, Rodland, Double Dragon 3, Cisco Heat, Super Space Invaders, Heroquest, F16 Combat Pilot and probably more that I can't remember.

In hindsight Terminator 2 is actually one of the weaker titles released in time for that Christmas. And like usual I had not seen the film when I played the game. From what people who had seen Arnie's finest could tell me this was a high-octane actionfest.

So I was a bit surprised when I loaded it up to find a slow fighter (really slow). A couple of spy hunter style car chases and some sliding block puzzles. (I don't usually associate sliding block puzzles with action films or fun for that matter...)

I was also surprised to complete it on the same day I got it.

To be fair the spectrum version of this game is actually pretty good as at the time this game was a renowned stinker on other formats.

The graphics are beautifully drawn and animate well in the fight scenes. Sound effects and music are also present and correct.

It's just a shame that there is so little gameplay.

The fight scenes are too slow - you can complete them all with just the headbutt move. Level 2 is so fast that you are just better off ignoring it and steering the bike over to the right of the screen and holding up until the level is over. The other driving section and the puzzles are far too easy and the whole game can be completed in a couple of minutes.

Ocean had been masters of the movie licence multi-level game. Batman and Robocop showed several different gameplay styles between levels that really worked well. Terminator 2 just lacks the scale of these past efforts which is a real shame.

So i enjoyed it for the graphics and the sound. Completed it. And then moved on to one of the many better games that were available that Christmas.

In 1991, Ocean Software, one of the leading software houses in the 8-bit home computer era were attempting to hit the market with yet another movie licensed game, but one that would set the boundaries in computer programming, one that was to break new ground, one that was to set new heights, a game that would change the face of computer gaming forever.

They failed.

Yep while Terminator 2 succeeded in breaking new ground in the film world, in gaming terms it turned out to be a complete misfire from Ocean Software and a total dud of a license. Ocean released a number of high quality movie licensed games, Robocop and Batman the Movie to name two, then came this debacle that I paid £11 for. Boring fight scenes, tedious driving levels, only the puzzle games stand out but it still doesn't save this from being a disappointment.

£11 quid down the drain. Sob.

An extremely disappointing game, feels like it was rushed and recycled, it feels like more could have been done to it. The fighting parts seem lazy and I was very surprised to see no shooting elements in the game apart from inside a van which is pretty much the driving level recycled. Even the music's crap. Horrible game, one of Ocean's worst.