The Terminator: Future Shock

The Terminator: Future Shock
The Terminator logo: Future Shock
Studio	Bethesda Softworks
Publisher	Virgin Interactive
Erstveröffent- lichung	December 31, 1995
platform	PC ( MS-DOS )
Game engine	XnGine
genre	3D shooter
Subject	Science fiction
Game mode	Single player, 2 players via LAN
control	Keyboard + mouse / joystick
system advantages preconditions	486/50 MHz 8 MB main memory VGA card 20 MB hard disk space 2x CD-ROM
medium	CD-ROM
language	English (German manual)
Age rating	USK

The Terminator: Future Shock is an early 3D shooter released in 1995 from game developer Bethesda Softworks . Despite important technical and playful innovations, the game was not very successful in Germany.

Although published Future Shock almost the same time as Duke Nukem 3D , in graphic ways, it was the competitor but far ahead. The so-called "Xngine" made it possible to display opponents with polygons instead of two-dimensional sprites . In connection with the level design based on polygons, Future Shock introduced, in addition to modern character control via a WASD keyboard layout, for the first time real 3D control with the mouse (free view in all directions), which is still part of the genre standard today. It was also possible to open up huge areas for the player for the time - a design feature that is also reflected in the Elder Scrolls series (also by Bethesda Softworks ).

In terms of play, small puzzles in particular were new, which went beyond the switch and key problems of most other 3D shooters. For example, the player must overturn a mast in order to build a bridge over two high-rise buildings. The "Xngine" also has a great influence on the feel of the game, as the way to the mission goal often has to be found first and an obvious route is not necessarily given.

In terms of content, the game uses the Terminator license and is set in a dark, post-apocalyptic future in which humanity is waging a guerrilla war against the overpowering robot and cyborg army of the supercomputer network Skynet .

The violence aspect of the game is controversial. A broad arsenal of weapons is suggested to the player as the main tool, as is typical for a 3D shooter, but the player's violence is directed exclusively against inanimate targets (flying mines, combat robots, human-like cyborgs). Future Shock is on the index of the federal inspection agency for media harmful to minors .

In 1996 the successor The Terminator: Skynet appeared .

reviews

• PC Player 1/1996: 78%
• PC Games 1/1996: 87%

Web links

• The Terminator: Future Shock at MobyGames (English)

swell

• Future Shock at Gamespot (English)