Technical note: For this blog I'd been using the emulator Visual Boy Advance M-64.
Terminator 3 for the Game Boy Advance (Synopsis).
It would be the year 2003 when the Terminator would arrive from the hands of video game developer Atari SA on our favourite portable console from Nintendo, the Game Boy Advance. Developed by the company Taniko, this is an isometric shoot-em-up action game in which we control the iconic T-101, or better known as the Terminator, and in which we will help humanity through joint action with the 'Resistance' against the machines controlled by the Skynet Corporation. Despite the fact that the graphics aren't the best you can get on the GBA, and that the aiming system can be a little awkward at times, I really think you should give this solid game for Nintendo's handheld a try, and if you're a fan of the Terminator saga like me, I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much.
The Freeway System & New Enemies.
The main objective of the Resistance was to collect all the necessary components to rebuild an old time machine abandoned by Skynet, which would help us to travel back in time, and in another timeline to continue fulfilling other missions and objectives dictated by the Resistance. What are these missions that the Resistance wants us to complete?
For all of this we would have to reach the centre of the old abandoned city through the freeway system.
On our way out of the Techcom 2032 facility, we encountered a lot of resistance from Skynet's HK Terminators. Once outside, however, we encountered a resistance officer who was trapped by some concrete structures, which we destroyed with punches and kicks. It's amazing how effective the Terminator's kicks and punches are :O , at least when it comes to destroying immovable objects.
A new type of HK-Tank Terminator has appeared, and this one can be easily recognised, due to the combination of colours of these HK-Tanks where the predominance of blue denotes that they have greater resistance and another type of armament, as the armament of these is composed of a kind of blue laser beams that are capable of lowering our energy bar very easily.
When we managed to destroy the blue HK-Tank, it left us with a good supply of c4 explosives, which we transferred to the resistance soldier we recently freed to destroy a power generator that would destroy a blockade that prevented us from escaping the complex.
After the destruction of the generator, we managed to find the exit of TechCom 2032, thus successfully concluding our first general mission commissioned by the human Resistance. We finished this first mission with what I think was a good precision, if we take into account that the controls, especially in the aiming section of this game, can be chaotic at times.
Note: This videogame uses a password system when you complete a general mission, giving you the opportunity to refresh your arsenal in that level each time you play it.
And as we said earlier, now one of the resistance commanders sends us straight to the city downtown through the freeway system to get the components needed to make Skynet's time machine work again.
But before reaching the city centre through the highway system, we first had to pass through an old Skynet technology facility, where we encountered a new portal technology implemented by Skynet, which during a Skynet attack, if not destroyed in some way, will then teleport terminators of all types to our position.
These Skynet portals can be a real pain in the ass, as many times when shooting at targets with a very small hitbox during the game, it is often difficult to hit them squarely, and that is a big criticism of this game without a doubt, and is the detail that hinders the gameplay the most.
A complicating factor with these portals is that they not only carry one type of terminator, but can carry anything from HK-Tanks to T-850's with their respective colour variants, so it is necessary to focus on destroying the portal first and then farming the enemies.
This Yellow HK-Tank took me by surprise, Its attacks were of the electric type and affected our energy battery very quickly, leaving us with no shielding at all. That's why I lost one life facing this yellow giant :/
After defeat the Yellow giant, we moved on to another section of Skynet's tech facility, which was focused on assembling old terminators, so it was crammed with a lot of heavy machinery. Here a very important feature of the game comes into play, which is the ability to switch between walk, run & strafe modes.
Note: To overcome this type of obstacle, it is advisable to use the Strafe movement. The isometric view of the game makes it much easier.
Just another secondary mission... This time a timed mission in conjunction with another member of the resistance, as seen in the image above, another portal had to be destroyed while the soldier sabotaged one of the plant's reactors to cause it to malfunction.
As the sabotage by the resistance soldier was completed, the Skynet plant began to lose power, and the screen began to go dark. The latter is a very nice touch, considering the graphical limitations of the GBA hardware.
Before reaching the surface and finally accessing the freeway system, we had to assist a soldier as he unlocked a gate, and that assistance consisted of resisting a very tough advance of Skynet terminators who were entering the facility through several portals that we had to destroy one by one before we could emerge to the outside.
Once on the freeway system we had to hurry, to take advantage of the Skynet's power grid being off-line and meet up with the other members of the resistance at the end of the road, all in just 3:30 minutes. Along the way we encountered all kinds of terminators, highlighting the red HK-Tank that you can see in the picture above, which had a highly developed resistance and a powerful arsenal at its disposal.
This is just great! It's really lovely this gameplay feature of Terminator 3: The Rise of The Machines for GBA, as we can also drive heavily-armed vehicles :) . This kind of gunned Jeep helped us to quickly navigate the freeway system, protecting us from enemies with its cannon, although it must be said that they don't have a very high damage resistance. In total we took two of these vehicles to get to the end of the road, as the first one was destroyed by HK-Aereal terminators.
Well, that brings us to the end of this second Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines blog for the Game Boy Advance. I hope you enjoyed this second blog, and thank you for your attention if you made it this far. I'll be bringing more blogs of Terminator for Game boy Advance as soon as possible ;)
Credits
Credits to Atari SA & Taniko for the development of this cool port for the GBA of Terminator 3, as well as to all the creators of the concept art of the Terminator Saga.
First Gaming Blog of Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines for GBA
All the screenshots are taken from my PC - Screen & Emulator.
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