Terminator 2D: No Fate Review – No Problemo

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The best way to describe Terminator 2D: No Fate is “authentic.” It perfectly captures the feel of both the original 1991 movie and the classic 16-bit video games of that time. Most movie-based games were pretty bad back then, but this one feels like something you actually could have rented from Blockbuster and enjoyed alongside games like Dragon Ball Z and WWF Smackdown – a genuinely fun, sidescrolling action experience.

No Fate is a short game – you can finish it faster than watching the movie Terminator 2 – but it’s a fantastic example of a licensed game done well. It’s clearly made with a lot of love for the original material and the classic video games that inspired it.

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The story mode of No Fate begins with a view of a highway, showing the yellow lines speeding by – a scene reminiscent of Terminator 2. However, instead of live-action, it’s beautifully recreated with pixel art and chiptune music. The famous monologue from Sarah Connor is displayed as text instead of being spoken. This version takes place on a desert road, not a Los Angeles freeway, and it appears at the beginning of the game, rather than at the end like in the movie.

Originally, the ending offered two hours of fantastic filmmaking and a positive outlook on the future. Now, ‘No Fate’ foreshadows the dark events to come – Judgment Day and the machines taking over. The scene brilliantly captures the feel of ‘Terminator 2’ while still feeling fresh thanks to Bitmap Bureau’s unique touch. It stays true to the original movie, but adds its own creative flair.

Playing through No Fate’s story mode, I kept noticing this cool thing. When it wasn’t perfectly recreating scenes from a classic movie like it was a retro game, it was really diving into the spirit of ’90s gaming. The gameplay would even change up to fit whatever part of the story it was telling, which was awesome. It clearly loves that era and isn’t afraid to show it!

Let’s look at the first level: it starts with a new scene just before the movie’s story begins. We see Sarah training John Connor in combat, preparing him for the potential future war he might face. This unusual bonding moment is quickly broken when a large man attacks John, throwing him over his shoulder in a move reminiscent of the classic game Double Dragon. From there, the game becomes a side-scrolling action platformer, playing much like the console and arcade games from the early 1990s.

Moving Sarah across the screen to defeat enemies with shots fired up, down, or diagonally feels reminiscent of classic games like Metal Slug, Super Star Wars, and RoboCop Versus The Terminator. The controls are snappy, and enemies fall quickly, creating a fast and exciting experience.

So, I managed to save John, but things went south fast. I tried taking down a Cyberdyne lab, and ended up getting shot, arrested, and thrown into Pescadero mental hospital – the movie touched on that, but this game really dives into it. After my plan to stop Judgment Day failed, the game throws you right into the action, just like the beginning of Terminator 2. Except this time, I’m playing as a battle-hardened John Connor, leading the human resistance in the Future War of 2029. It’s intense!

These stages feel heavily inspired by Konami’s Contra games, even including a classic boss fight behind a wall and power-ups that let you fire guided plasma or split your shots. Bitmap Bureau has added some new features like cover and a dodge roll to help you avoid attacks. However, the game really picks up once you move beyond simply destroying the robots—T-800s, Centurions, and Hunter-Killers—that are threatening the future of Los Angeles.

When John activates the time machine and sends a Terminator back to 1995, the game seamlessly shifts to recreate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic entrance in Terminator 2, showing him arriving at The Corral biker bar. Interestingly, the game doesn’t use Schwarzenegger’s actual likeness, even though Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, and Robert Patrick all appear. From this point on, the game retells the movie’s story through playable levels, capturing all the key moments and changing the gameplay to match each scene.

When a nude Arnie requests a biker’s outfit, boots, and motorcycle, the game briefly transforms into a brawl. You’ll fight your way through the bar, even tossing one enemy onto a scorching grill, leading to a climactic boss battle soundtracked by George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone.”

The film features a now-famous motorcycle and truck chase through a Los Angeles flood channel, which was inspired by the challenging levels in the classic games Battletoads and Contra 3. Players must dodge obstacles while trying to escape the relentless T-1000, driven by Robert Patrick—and the quick, one-handed shotgun reloads remain impressively cool. Later, a freeway chase offers a similar experience, but with a twist: players switch between navigating traffic and controlling Sarah Connor as she fights off the T-1000 in a helicopter.

One of the most exciting parts of the game is Sarah’s escape from the Pescadero Hospital. It briefly transforms the experience into a stealth challenge. The relentless T-1000 is in pursuit, phasing through obstacles and appearing unexpectedly, creating intense pressure since you can’t directly fight it. You have to rely on hiding in doorways and corners to avoid it while you wait for an opportunity to deal with the cruel hospital staff. Getting spotted by the human enemies isn’t a game over; you can easily subdue them, so there’s no real penalty for being seen, which keeps things from getting frustrating.

The game’s design feels right for the time period, even though stealth wasn’t a common feature in 16-bit games. While Bonanza Bros was the biggest influence on how players sneak around in No Fate, the developers at Bitmap Bureau also drew inspiration from classics like Rolling Thunder and Elevator Action Returns, proving their passion for that retro style.

The first time you play through No Fate’s story, you’ll experience the rest of the events from Terminator 2, including the destruction of Cyberdyne and the final battle with the T-1000. But after that, you can start changing the future! The game’s name comes from the idea that we create our own destiny, and it embraces that concept. You’ll be able to make different choices that affect what happens, leading to three unique endings.

Okay, so on paper, the different choices and paths sounded really cool, but honestly, it wasn’t that amazing when I played it. There was one level, escaping a police station, that totally reminded me of the classic 1984 Terminator movie, which was awesome. But the other endings? They were super short and didn’t feel as impactful as the main ending – kind of like how the extended cut’s ending just doesn’t hit the same way as the original film’s finale.

Besides a ranking system and different difficulty levels, the game offers extra modes and three additional endings to encourage replayability, though the main game is quite short – my first run took just 42 minutes, and it gets faster each time. These extra modes include a Boss Rush, where you fight all the bosses back-to-back, and an Infinite mode where you try to get the highest score by endlessly fighting enemies. If you enjoy competing on leaderboards, these modes could keep you playing for a while, but most players will probably try them once just to unlock everything.

Arcade mode makes the game more difficult by eliminating continues. ‘Mother of the Future’ mode focuses the story on Sarah Connor’s sections, and completing it unlocks the most challenging difficulty. While these options are welcome, they primarily change how you replay the game. The game’s shorter length feels appropriate considering older games were designed to be finished in one play session, but if you don’t aim to unlock everything, you might find the experience a bit short.

If you don’t mind a shorter game, you’ll find this one is clearly made with a lot of passion for the original movie and the era it came from. The music is fantastic—possibly the best version of the Terminator 2 theme ever—and perfectly complements the visuals, taking you back to the days of blowing into game cartridges and playing arcade games. From the T-1000’s smooth movements to Sarah Connor reloading her shotgun with one hand, and the T-800’s iconic attack on a semi-truck, Terminator 2D: No Fate flawlessly recreates the movie’s most iconic scenes. It’s a little short, but this is undeniably the ultimate Terminator 2 video game experience.

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2025-12-17 00:41