The Enemy Within (Cyberdyne)

Wolfenstein 3D was a seminal title. Released in 1992, the game featured smooth, snappy gun fighting in a naturally displayed 3D environment. While it wasn’t the very first 3D shooter (as there were various tank and maze games that came before it, such as Combat, Hovertank 3D, and even Bethesda’s The Terminator), it was the first to put everything together into a slick and effective package. It became one of the best known 3D shooters of all time, and is commonly considered the great grandfather of the entire genre.

It’s amazing then that just a year after Wolfenstein 3D came out, id software (the game’s creators) came along and did it all again with Doom. Released in 1993, Doom took everything that made Wolfenstein 3D interesting, all the snappy gun fighting and slick maze exploration, and improved it all. Anyone trying to compete with id and make their own version of Wolfenstein 3D suddenly found themselves fighting an uphill battle against creators that weren’t even playing at the same level. There was id, and then there was everyone else. And among the “everyone else” was Bethesda.

Over the course of four years, and three releases, Bethesda had taken the TerminatorIs it a series about a future nuclear war and the survivors of the aftermath? Is it a series of chase movies set in the present day? Is it a series about time travel? That fact is that the Terminator series is all of those concepts. The mash-up of genres and ideas shouldn't work, but the films have proven adept at mixing into a heady series unlike any other. license and tried to make their own continuous 3D shooter series. The first game, 1991’s The Terminator was functional but sparse, containing a lot of great ideas but gameplay and graphics that felt lacking. The next game, 1992’s The Terminator 2029, went for grid-based movement coupled with free-moving mouse shooting that felt great when it came to the weapons but felt awful when you had to actually move around. It was once again a game with great ideas but compromised gameplay. Plus, it came out the same year as Wolfenstein 3D and, thus, was absolutely blown away by id’s game.

So Bethesda decided to play at the same level of id. They took the Terminator license and used the same engine they were developing for The Elder Scrolls: Arena, the first game in that series, and worked to build their own Wolfenstein 3D-alike. And they did an effective job. The Terminator: Rampage is a solid 3D shooter that can stand at the same level as Wolfenstein 3D, giving players the same kind of snappy action and maze exploration they could find in id’s very first shooting opus. Unfortunately they were also beaten to the punch as this third Terminator game from the company came out in December 1993, the same month that id changed the game again with Doom. What could have been a great title in the genre already felt old and behind the times.

The Terminator: Rampage is set in 1988. Four years earlier a probe, the Meta-Node, was sent back in time by SkyNet to ensure its own creation. The node landed near the Cyberdyne facility out in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and quickly took over, killing all the Cyberdyne workers within while sending out false signals so that no one outside would ever suspect there were any problems. And then it worked, building the future SkyNet so it could be a force to eventually defeat the human Resistance back in the future.

To prevent this, the Resistance sent one man, a soldier hand selected by John Connor, to infiltrate the Cyberdyne facility and take out the Meta-Node. Through 30-plus stages the soldier would have to battle through probes, security drones, infiltration units, terminators, and more all to reach the Meta-Node and take it out. But to damage the node they’d also have to build a special gun, the parts of which were scattered through the base. This gun, a prototype plasma rifle, is the only thing that could damage the Meta-Node. It’s a quest to find the parts, defeat the robots, and save humanity.

At its most basic, The Terminator: Rampage is a Wolfenstein 3D clone. It has the same kind of shooting, the same kind of level exploration, and the same style of gameplay overall. You’ll wander through single-level, flat, maze-like stages, finding enemies to shoot out and power-ups to collect. You don’t have to worry about aiming up or down as this game doesn’t feature multi-axis shooting. All you have to do is run, fire, and collect, and you’ll get through the game, just like in id’s own shooter.

That’s not to say that it’s an exact clone, though. The game does feature a few little twists to the formula. First, keys are absolutely required in the game. You can’t just find the exit to the next floor, you have to first explore the stage and find an access card that will let you use the elevator to descend further. Each stage has a key, and all keys are required to fully explore the game. This means that you’re going to spend more time on each stage, and can’t simply blaze your way right to the end (unlike in Wolfenstein 3D).

The weapons are also more varied here than in id’s seminal shooter. You start off with a simple gun but, over time, you’ll find upgrades that will give you an uzi, a combat rifle, an AK-47, all that use your basic ammo. You’ll also pick up shells along with a shotgun, for varied amounts of combat. These guns are all useful, and just finding a new one doesn’t simply mean a faster firing rate (as it did in id’s game). Instead, the upgraded weapons provide more damage, giving you reason to find the upgrades and explore the stages. And there are even further weapons, like a grenade launcher and a mini-cannon, that can do even more damage while using their own specialized ammo. It’s a nice variety that helps to vary the basic shooting.

Of course the real star of the show is the plasma rifle, which is effectively this game’s version of a BFG. It’s a powerful cannon that can level most enemies in a single shot, and it has unlimited ammo to go along with it. You just have to watch its heat and make sure it doesn’t run out of charge while using it, as, otherwise, you’ll be waiting for it to come back online before you can use it again. This is a great additional weapon that feels just different enough from anything id included in either Wolfenstein 3D or Doom that it helps the game stand apart just a little.

Plus, the fact that you have to collect the parts of the plasma rifle does add another level to the experience. While Wolfenstein 3D had collectibles you could find, various treasures and the like, these all just amounted to more points so you could try for a high score. There was no motivation to actually get collectibles so you could do something with them. Even Doom was limited to collecting keys and that was the full extent of its exploration motivation. Actually getting something tangible for your effort motivated the players to do more in the game and really take the exploration to heart. It’s a solid twist that works well.

With that said, the game is still pretty limited in a number of ways. For starters, it’s a very flat shooter like Wolfenstein 3D, lacking in the level variance and variety that games like Doom provided. Coming out the same time as Doom really hurts the experience when players were already craving something more varied and detailed. Sure, we were still a couple of years away from Duke Nukem 3D, which had truly 3D level design (well, at least it felt that way) and even more varied gameplay, but just in comparison to what was out at the time, The Terminator: Rampage feels a touch old and crusty.

And, frankly, the levels are just too long and tedious. The gameplay, as smooth as it is, becomes quite a slog to get through as the hours stretch on. Even if you know what you’re doing and where you’re going, the game’s levels are massive and they take a lot of time to move through, especially since there’s a bunch of enemies in every stage you have to deal with. A playthrough where you know what you’re doing can still take five-to-six hours, and if you don’t already have detailed maps and notes telling you where to go, you could be in for two-to-three times that length… if you don’t just quit the first time you get lost.

Everything feels very repetitive by the end of the first hour, and there’s little to change that as the hours stretch on. Level designs are varied, and each maze has a ton of nooks and crannies making them all feel different. There are a ton of various wall designs and, as a step above Wolfenstein 3D, floors and ceilings can have tiling sprites as well. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re frequently going through samey looking stages, fighting the same kinds of enemies over and over ad nauseam. At a certain point you’re either going to get tired, bored, or both from the whole experience.

And it’s a pity too because I feel like if this game had been just a little shorter, with stages that weren’t so massive, and without so many nooks and crannies that led nowhere, it could have been fun. Maybe it was never going to beat Doom, but it could have at least been a fun side experience where you weren’t blasting your way through a ton of demons on Mars. For short bursts The Terminator: Rampage is a fun, if creaky, classic-style shooter. It doesn’t provide much to beat the contemporary competition of the time, but there are just a few kernels of good ideas that make you want to try more and explore further. It’s not bad by any stretch, it just wasn’t going to wow fans at the time.

Still, you have to think that the second Doom came out, the developers went, “shit.” They had a good game they were developing, and then id went and destroyed the competition again. Frankly, The Terminator: Rampage never stood a chance.