In late 2019, the Teyon studio offered Terminator Resistance, a game expected by all fans and feared by all gamers who know the studio’s liabilities. However, since their disastrous Rambo in 2014, the studio had taken a huge leap forward in offering a completely honest title and perfectly respecting the universe of the famous saga. Now that her next generation update has arrived, let’s see what she has.
About the test
I am young but obsolete
Terminator Resistance was basically not a visual masterpiece. However, the pretty well-made post-apocalyptic atmosphere, the (some) successful sets and the scenario that stayed true to the spirit of the saga had allowed us to exceed our tolerance threshold to some extent. It must be said that after the disastrous Rambo, caution was advised. Unfortunately, what was tolerated in the previous generation is much less tolerated here. No need to go four ways, if the original work was the minimal union from a technical and visual point of view, this next generation version is ugly. The display distances very rarely exceed twenty meters and the whole game is played at night under thick fog. The protagonists received no special treatment as their faces and facial expressions were completely similar to their 2019 versions. This upgrade came after the biggest tenors in the industry in terms of facial animation, and it was difficult not to flinch when our interlocutors contented themselves with opening and closing their mouths with wide eyebrows. It’s a shame because some elements have been redesigned: the lighting is better controlled and certain textures like the floor and metal are much more convincing. Most notably, our dear T-800 (and other machines) that really benefit from ‘a’ finer rendering.
This terminator is therefore not a technological showcase either. But what’s the real point of this next-gen version? First of all, the player will have the pleasure of roaming the ruined streets of Los Angeles all in one 60fps stable, which unfortunately does not escape a bit of clipping and aliasing, sometimes not available, sometimes annoying. It’s also strange to note that the errors appear especially in the second half of the title. If the first one does not escape the mistakes mentioned above, it will remain much more controlled. We could therefore think that the developers are still working on the title and that a patch will correct the remaining bugs in the near future … to continue (the trophies are also buggy and the game is not playable yet). On the other hand, it is difficult to be ecstatic about the exploitation of the double sense reduced to its simplest expression. And yes, the Sony controller is still struggling to find a game that does it justice. The haptic feedback is completely unused and only adaptive triggers are used lightly. So much the better, you’ll be shooting a lot.
Since we’re talking about the shooting, let’s talk about the difficulty. The developers seem to have heard criticism of the title’s under-challenging quality, and This upgrade is much more difficult and it is out of normal mode. Enemies are tougher, do more damage, and weapons are less powerful. On several occasions we even ran out of ammunition or we repeated the same run five or six times, which was never the case with the old generation version. The effort is noticeable, although the difficulty of the title is now more uneven and the enemy AI is still just as poorly calibrated. Regardless of whether you play hard or not, it still won’t take you more than eight hours to complete the adventure before entering the new game mode, Infiltrated Mode.
Stay away from me if you wanna live
As the mode’s title suggests, you play a Terminator who has infiltrated the Resistance. Well that was the idea on paper. In fact, you begin the mission at the control of an Android with half-torn human skin, revealing the metal skeleton and red eyes. It is difficult for members of the resistance to give you the benefit of the doubt, they will attack you instantly on sight. If the infiltrated mode originally suggested an infiltration mission, it is not. “Terminator” would have been a much more appropriate name. After a pretty nice cutscene made specifically for the next generation, you gain control of your character and your goal is simple: kill everything that moves. The immersion is quite successful, your vision is red (even a little too much, luckily it can be turned off), your ATH sets the tone, and you analyze everything you come across. Your target is a member of the resistance whose position on the map remains secret. To find it you will have to search the map by killing marauders and resistance fighters to get a certain amount of data. Once you’ve had enough of it, it’ll show the target’s location and it’s up to you to find it. The idea of this mode is very nice; in fact, it is something else.
First you return to the game engine after a nice cutscene and it’s even uglier than before. The viewing distance is even smaller, all the elements and settings that you come across are absolutely sad. You will be content to wander this desert of ruins without looking more than ten meters by following the information on the map and slaughtering the unfortunates your way. Your Terminator vision will be of very little use to you, except in the end, when the enemy’s heat signature makes your life easier. In addition, the followers of difficulty are served with this mission, which must be done all at once, with no protection and especially extremely difficult. The whole thing will be completed in about 40 minutes with no replayability issue. Especially since the many bugs, ranging from simply disappearing the sound to crashing the game, should deter you from trying the experience again.
The notes
+Good arguments
- It’s a little prettier …
- Difficulty reset …
- The idea of infiltration mode: play as terminator …
- Free update for owners of basic games
– –Negative points
- … but it’s still ugly, especially from a distance
- … but badly balanced
- … in fact, this mode is completely missed
- The DualSense is used to the strict minimum
- Lots of (new) bugs
- Still way too expensive (45 dollars)
After a serious leap forward between his Rambo and Terminator Resistance, Teyon is being slightly downgraded with this update, which is only on behalf of the next generation. Adaptive triggers or some improved visual effects aside, it is indeed difficult to get into ecstasy in front of a game that still features gameplay and tech that was a decade ago, and it is not a very short infiltrated mode that is a game will be changer. Terminator Resistance, however, retains everything that made it a decent game in 2019. With a price drop, fans and fans of the genre should enjoy it while waiting for more games to come their way.
iGamesNews users
May 21, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
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