Prime Directive – Rescue Hostages, Destroy Skynet, Eliminate Terminator. RoboCop Vs. The Terminator
Written: Aug 01 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Entertaining, easy to learn game maneuvers, good graphics, adjustable difficulty levels.
Cons: Hard to find.
The Bottom Line: In my opinion, one of the best shooter titles for the Sega Genesis system.
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| Freak369's Full Review: RoboCop vs. The Terminator for Sega Genesis |
After waiting three weeks for a new power cord to arrive, I finally got the Sega Genesis system back up and running. Now, before you laugh and wonder why I haven’t stepped out of the dark ages of video gaming, I have - but - there are just too many cool games for the Genesis and Sega CD add on that I can’t let go of it. One of the furry little four legged creatures decided to make a snack out the power cord for the Genesis and I assumed that the cord for the Sega CD would work instead, I thought wrong. None of the local stores had any used ones in stock and the electronics zombies at Best Buy were clueless to my request. Even with the battery pack and chewed up cord in hand, they still gave me that “uhhhhhhh, what?” look. Thank god for the internet, that’s all I have to say! Out of the small selection of titles that I have for the Genesis, this is one of my favorites. It’s pretty easy to learn how to play, has good gaming control and provides a nice challenge without being so hard that you throw the controller across the room. If you own the Sega Genesis system and haven’t checked out this game, I highly suggest picking it up if you come across it.
The Story
The game pits you, RoboCop, against that meanie from the future, The Terminator. Now if it were just a face to face battle that would be one thing but you have a lot of work to do before you get to actually face off against Terminator. Each stage pits you against villains and enemies, some right in front of you, some that sneak up on you and some that are hidden in windows or behind walls. Your mission is to make it through the scenes and stages, avoid getting killed, rescue hostages, destroying security cameras, finishing off The Terminator and eventually landing yourself at Skynet. Of course, if it were that easy you’d get bored with it rather quickly. You also have to deal with unseen shooters, fire blasting out of pipes, keeping your life line filled, completing levels and a few surprises along the way. Once you make it through a few of the stages you’ll bet set and know, for the most part, how to defeat the villains that stand in your way. Of course, there are some tough ones that you’ll have to waste a few lives to kill off but those are usually the end bosses and represent the baddest of the bad.
Options Menu
When you first power up the game you can either press start or enter the options section. Here you can choose the level of difficulty – which also determines how many lives you get, turn off the special effect sounds and background music and allow you to choose which buttons on the controller are used for weapons selection, jumping and firing. It took me a while to get used to the set up of the buttons but I stuck with it and didn’t alter them from the factory settings. If you press the start button too quickly you’ll completely bypass the options menu and for the first few months I played the game, I wasn’t even aware that you could toggle off the sound or choose the level of difficulty. I’ll admit it, I pick the wimpy setting so I can start with seven lives. You also get more power ups and bonus lives when you pick the easy setting. I never claimed to be an awesome video game player, just someone who loves to play.
Graphics
For a game that was released in 1993, the graphics aren’t all that bad. You aren’t going to get anything stellar here but you can sit and play it without getting too terrible bored. One thing I do have to say is that there is a lot of realism to the game – not in a violent aspect or and of the special effect – but the small things. You shoot out a window and it stays shot out no matter where you go in the scene. Another thing is the path of the bullets from the pulse rifles and fire blasters, some change direction when you move the aim of the gun and you can literally shoot off a few rounds and have them careen around the screen killing off the baddies or trying to take down The Terminator.
Sound
For the most part the background music is the same within each scene. There are some special effect noises that you’ll hear when you get a power up, die, kill off a baddie or rescue a hostage but they are your basic generic sounds that were pretty common ten years ago. The music doesn’t get in the way of the gameplay in the least, even after playing for an extended period of time. When you first start up the game you can enter the options menus and turn the effects and background music off but once you do this, you won’t have the option to turn them back on again until you start another game. Playing the game isn’t as much fun with the effects off so before you start playing around with the options, give it a try and see if you like what you hear.
Rating
On the front of the case you’ll see the MA-13 rating set by the V.R.C. [video game rating council]. The V.R.C. is no longer rating the level of violence of video games, that’s the realm of the E.S.R.B. [entertainment software rating board]. Let’s face it, this is 1993 technology we are dealing with. You see some small splatters of blood here and there, the Terminator turning from a cyborg into an endoskeleton, someone fall off the side of the building etc. I haven’t beat the game yet but from what I’ve see, this isn’t extremely violent, especially when compared to today’s standards. I have no problem with the boys playing this game but in all honesty they laugh at me for playing what they all “prehistoric platforms”.
Level of Difficulty
As a whole, the game isn’t extremely difficult but there are some sections that you might get stuck on. There are directional arrows that show you where to go to complete your mission but these are just suggestions. On the higher levels you really want to root around to find the power ups and bonus lives and there’s no set number – this varies according to the difficulty you pick at the beginning of the game. I am not a great gamer, in fact, the only games that I’ve ever been able to beat are the old NES ones – and even then I needed the help of the Game Genie. Even with that taken into consideration, I can make it through a few levels / stages without losing all my lives. You get a certain number of continues when you deplete your number of lives. As I said, I’ve never been able to beat / complete the game so I can’t tell you what the end stages are like but if they hold true to the rest of the game, it should prove to be an interesting venture when and if I ever get there.
The Bottom Line
If you like shooter games, are a fan of either of the film series or are just looking for a solid Sega Genesis game, I have to give this one a strong recommendation. After about five minutes of playing you’ll have the basics of the game and your missions are pretty clearly set but it doesn’t hurt to read over the instruction booklet to get some helpful hints. Since this is about ten years old there’s a good chance you won’t be able to find it new but it can be picked up at various online sites that deal with used games for older systems. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and destroy Skynet!
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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