Was Bethesda's 1991 Terminator Game Ambitious But Rubbish?

[@hanksgarage_]

That’s incredible for the time, I mean an open world game like this back then. I wasn’t even aware this existed.

[@MN12BIRD]

Yeah I wondered how many of you would have seen this one back in the day. It wasn't super well known considering it's a decent Terminator game

[@Dj.MODÆO]

My best friend in middle school had this on his dads PC. I got to play it for a few hours one summer the weekend Jurassic park came out, which we had went to see the night before. I didn’t get the same vibe again till I played GTA 3

[@timel0rd57]

This was an incredible technical accomplishment. We take 3D graphics for granted these days. This is THE FIRST '3D FPS' and its in 16-color EGA, a year before Wolfenstein 3D was released. There was no OpenGL, Unreal, Source. The game had to be programmed in Assembly code from scratch using matrix math so it could run on a 80286 processor.

[@MN12BIRD]

Nice reminder it predates Wolfenstein 3D wow that's something to think about!

[@Dj.MODÆO]

Not only was this a pre-wolfenstein 3d FPS, it’s also a massive open world game where you can rob stores, shoplift, pickpocket and carjack people and search through their stuff. The different address for Sarah Connor in the in game phone book actually match one of the places she can be found if you find a city map.

[@ryanthomas9336]

If your wondering how to find Sahara/ terminator the green line on the compass points to where they are

[@redfoxbennaton]

This set the stage for how Bethesda would make their video games from then onward.

[@MikeTXBC]

I had this game and the overall level of freedom and immersion was absolutely groundbreaking for 1991. It was a lot of fun and there were details (like the reaction of the doctors at the ER if you go the hospital as the T-800 or how you could buy/steal anything you saw in any store, even if it had no purpose and was totally worthless to you) that really added to the game, especially since most of these details weren't necessary for gameplay. However, to this day I still have no idea how the Terminator is supposed to locate Sarah Connor. That said, there were definitely some flaws, not the least of which were the controls. At the time, computer games had absolutely no standardization when it came to controls and key-mapping. So every game was mapped however the developers wanted it, and often this turned out to be confusing and very clunky.

[@theDiReW0lf]

Played this as a kid. This is pure nostalgia zero additives.

[@Xegethra]

Yeah this game is a bit confusing. Especially with the far, far too many key binds. The game is way easier as the Terminator though. I played as Kyle and I never could protect Sarah. I think Terminator can track Sarah and Kyle, a little black arrow tells you the direction they are in, I remember following some sort of marker to find them.

[@herbsuperb6034]

I got a custom DoxBox install of this from a fellow. I used to play it back in the early 90s after it came out. Loved it. The Dosbox install played more or less like I remember, but soon as you get the rocket launcher, and set it off anywhere near a giant parking lot, the game would just end. 🙂. Ah, the joys of abandonware. Really was a pretty incredible game for its time.

[@thepirategamerboy12]

There's another pretty interesting early open world game called Hunter which came out the same year as this for the Amiga and Atari ST.

[@blitheringrando1410]

I had pretty much the same experience but my friend would loan me the box with the big map. This game and an old vietnam dos game were some of the first 3D games I played, both very forward thinking

[@demonofelru3214]

I had this game back in the day could never really figure out how to play lol. Playing as Reese was very hard. I remember being excited when I found the army depot. A literal pre-cursor to the elder scrolls and fallout games. Even has fast travel.

[@davezynder7410]

Early ethesda jank. I tried playing it recently and it's interesting but just too early of a 3d game to be anything more than a footnote. Unlike wolf 3d which still has pretty good action.

[@dftfire]

Looking at their intro with the two lines of text scrolling in opposite directions gives me Commander Keen 4-6 vibes

[@1300l]

It aged and is flawed, but i don't think it was bad at all in 1991. The immersion still is there!

[@rogerstalder7184]

Well there was open world games before like Elite, that was 1984. but not like this lol. Nuts ^^

[@vgmastercleveland]

This will always be my favorite KZbin channel 💚

[@MN12BIRD]

Thanks 👍

[@hubertmitura2587]

As I remember you even could buy the dog which alerts you barking if terminator is near

[@herbsuperb6034]

Really? I played this one a lot, and I don't remember that. But I usually played as the Terminator.

[@andystandys]

I played this a fair bit back when it came out, and still own my original copy. Even with the manual and all the paperwork, I remember my experience with the game being very similar. I would just randomly run or drive around the map and hope that I would run into Sarah or the Terminator by chance, depending on who I was playing. And I guess that was the only goal? Once you made that kill the game was over? It was basically just one "mission" - no levels to it. But, yes - I think about this game from time to time and realize that it was very ambitious for the era.

[@ms-ex8em]

hello - does any1 know where i can download (just) the Terminator (demo) from 1990 or 1991????? doe any1 know where i can download this from?? NOT the entire game just the demo (msdos) i recall it was on a 720k or 1.44 mb floppy disc from 1990 or 1991 ?? thanks......................

[@roflman]

Imagine if they had waited a few years and used the Daggerfall engine

[@GoryionB]

Even having the manual, this game was rough. It's fun to think Bethesda has been trying to cram kitchen sinks into games since forever :P

[@MN_-]

terminator future shock is really awesome

[@MN12BIRD]

Yeah I think I played a demo for that one but that's it

[@MN_-]

@@MN12BIRD the sequel terminator skynet is even better I highly recommend you check it out, also I've been watching your videos since 2008!

[@finzgar420]

I remember getting this game from a BBS.

[@garywongch]

My question is if there’s any game that is similar to this title back in 1991? I enjoyed the setting of open world and trying to evade the enemy from killing my self. Is there any other games have similar gameplay?

[@MN12BIRD]

Not sure I think there were a few CGA DOS games with somewhat open worlds I vaugly remember playing one

[@thepirategamerboy12]

I just tried this game out on my 486 and I wouldn't call it bad, honestly. Though, I do wish the controls were a bit easier and I also had a number of odd glitches occur if I was using Sound Blaster instead of Adlib. Perhaps it's an SB16 compatibility issue.

[@MN12BIRD]

Back in the day I was playing this in a 286 but with PC speaker sound. I will check out your vid just to listen to it.

[@Dethmobile]

Don’t copy that floppy!! Lol

[@mraaron1584]

grand theft schwarzenegger. i need your cloths your boots and bike

[@Haddley333]

1:10 I like it dirty !

[@screenapple1660]

Never lock program helped people remove poverty. Kids remember using it.😂

[@SevenCompleted]

You gotta look in the phonebook. I don't know its just what he does in the movie

[@MN12BIRD]

You can look in the phonebook I think just to find local businesses though

[@TheLastLineLive]

This game seems pretty badass for 1991. I bet you knew you were in for something special once you saw that opening and heard that theme.

[@MN12BIRD]

Back when I played this I didn't have a sound card yet so I never heard that music until now! With PC speaker you got some sound effects and the "I'll be back" voice sample surprisingly was there but no music.

[@RedRider-esRightof]

There is another Terminator game, "The Terminator 2029"... According to Mobygames gamebrowser, it ran even on a 286! I played Wolfenstein on a OCed to something like 30-33Mhz 0WS Harris-25, but in 1994. So 2029 must be fast enough on those maxxed out 286s. Btw that pc ran Wolfenstein mods right, as well.

[@MN12BIRD]

I played one of the DOS FPS Terminator games back in the late 90's but I don't think it was that one. May have to check it out sometime.

[@MikeTXBC]

Terminator 2029 was weird. It's like it wanted to be an FPS/RPG hybrid, but it didn't really do either one of those well. The RPG elements were lacking and the FPS elements were very limited, especially since you moved screen-by-screen, not smoothly around like you did in The Terminator or other games, like Daggerfall, System Shock, etc.