Terminator Salvation has an interesting setting, but boils it down to a little bit too simple rail shooter. The saving grace of the game is co-op multiplayer, which is good fun compared to somewhat dull single player experience. [June 2009]
While the game is fun, especially with a partner on the couch, the lack of boss battles, no online multiplayer matching, and only a handful of hours of content make this game little more than a solid rental.
Terminator Salvation is a good action game if you are looking for a game with an offline co-op feature. But that's the only fun factor in Salvation. The storyline is far too short, you can complete it within a few hours, and therefore it's not worth the money.
As gamers, we are well accustomed to the fate of movie-related games, which is why Salvation is such a disappointment. It has some solid combat, perhaps the best cover-system to date, and the foundation for a captivating plot, but the game lacks any sort of scope.
After finishing the disappointingly anticlimactic game, I felt like I just read through a graphic novel side-story, but one that doesn't reveal anything new or interesting. From a technical standpoint, the game is passing, but its narrative, structure, and inattention to detail reveal this game for what it is: Yet another lazy cash-in on a "blockbuster" film.
Were your movements less plodding, the weapons a bit meatier, the enemies even basically tactical, the story and dialogue more than perfunctory, the environments remotely imaginative, or the co-operative mode online-enabled, Terminator Salvation would still be far too rough around the edges, far too short, and far too cynical to withstand much critical inspection, but as it is, it's rubbish on virtually every count.