For gamers of the '90s, there was a certain cadence we all got used to when a movie came out. Blockbuster movie releases, and so too does a video game adaptation of wildly varying quality. From Friday the 13th (not good) to Batman: Returns (very good), gamers had no shortage of movie adaptations to choose from. Terminator 2D: No Fate is an homage to that era--and it's a darn good one at that.
Developed by Bitmap Bureau, Terminator 2D: No Fate is a run-n-shoot action game that taps deeply into classics like Metal Slug and Contra. There's also a dash of Double Dragon in at least one agonizingly (and hilarious) short level. In other words, if you grew up loving action games on the NES, Sega Genesis or SNES, No Fate should feel like taking a bite out of a warm, home-cooked meal from your childhood that you haven't had in years.
It's a meal, by the way, cooked with love. So, just to get this out of the way: No Fate is sublimely crafted with love for the source material embedded throughout. Now, just like a good meal, this can be finished in a single sitting. But there are enough bells, whistles, and reasons to replay that you can easily return to the game multiple times.
That being said, if you're a fan of the seminal 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day film that this game is lovingly based on, there won't be too many surprises for you. The meat of the game lines up pretty much 1:1 to the major moments of the film. From the T-800's iconic entrance and biker bar brawl, to the legendary LA river chase scene, to Sarah Connor's escape from Pescadero State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to the final showdown with the T-1000 in the steel mill, No Fate recreates these moments with the sort of interactive flair that's only possible in video games.
Bookending those movie moments are some fascinating explanations of what happened before and after the movie. How did Sarah Connor end up at Pescadero? Was the T-800's noble self-sacrifice at the end of T2 really the end of the Skynet scourge? No Fate does an excellent job answering both questions, and it's an added bonus for fans of who've invested in Terminator lore, which is about as jumbled and messy as anything involving time travel typically is.
Thankfully, there's nothing jumbled or messy about the actual core gameplay found in No Fate. Controls are tight, crisp, responsive, and deaths rarely feel unfair. I say "rarely," however, because there is a noticeable difficulty spike (I played the game on the standard difficulty) in the final levels that felt like the sort of artificial spike you'd get from an arcade game meant to devour your quarters. But minor "git gud" quibbles aside, it's hard to find anything to complain about when it comes to the core gameplay of No Fate.
Outside of the core story mode experience, there's plenty of reason to go back apart from seeing a naked T-800 do battle with bikers while "Bad to the Bone" blares in the background (though that level alone really is worth replaying the whole game for). Beyond the main story mode, there is an Arcade Mode that removes all of the cutscenes and is designed to be a high-score chaser. There is also a Boss Rush Mode, which is exactly what it sounds like, and an Infinite Mode that will test how long you can survive against an endless wave of opponents. Finally, you can also replay specific levels to help develop speedrunning skills, and a Sarah Connor-focused mode that emphasizes stealth over blowing enemies away (that last mode is how you unlock the hardest difficulty).
One complaint I did have in my first playthrough of No Fate's story mode was the distinct lack of controlling the T-800. There's the aforementioned biker bar level and the back-half of the LA river chase level... but that's about it. However, one neat thing story mode does is offer you a couple chances to actually alter canonical decisions made in the film. This unlocks a few new levels on subsequent playthroughs, some of which feature the T-800 in all of Ah-nuld's minigun-toting glory.
But outside of that minor T-800 complaint and the aforementioned difficulty spike, No Fate is just an excellent experience that respects your time, doesn't overstay its welcome, and is lovingly crafted for fans of both the Terminator movies and run-and-gun action platformers. Since beating the game, I've often found myself returning for just one more run, whether it's to try and get a higher grade at the end of a level or to make different decisions in the brisk Story Mode.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch
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