Terminator Salvation Updated Q&A - Enemies, Weapons, and Movie Tie-Ins

Terminator: Salvation will be a third-person shooter based on the upcoming motion picture. The game will offer plenty of over-the-top action, a cover system, blind firing of weapons, on-rails shooting sequences, and lots of angry, angry androids for you to blast. To get the final details before the game's launch, we sat down with executive producer Per Juhlén.

GameSpot: Give us an update on the game. What aspects is the team working on?

Per Juhlén: Currently, the team is working on some additional releases of the game for additional regions or languages. The team is also assisting, to some extent, in various marketing activities and providing marketing material. So we are done and ready for the release.

GS: Give us a rundown of the kind of hardware that players will be carrying around in the game. Clearly, you'll need some pretty big guns to bring down the machines, yes?

PJ: That is very true; the arsenal that players will use is mainly based on big weapons that we can relate to. The Resistance had to utilize what was available on Judgment Day, while Skynet had time and resources to get a few steps ahead. Players have access to grenades, pipe bombs, various explosive weapons, and an arsenal of guns and rifles. Each weapon has its strengths against the Terminators, and weaponry plays a key role in combat strategy.

GS: Aside from guns, what other tools and toys will players have at their disposal in their war against the machines?

PJ: Players will be able to use explosives, and in one instance the weapons that Skynet is using will be available to players as well.

GS: We understand that Terminator Salvation will have a great variety of different combat scenarios. For instance, there will be several enemies with the ability to fly--how will these opponents differ from standard ground opponents?

PJ: Players will appreciate a different set of weapons when taking on flying enemies. For the Aerostats, which are fast and attack in numbers, a weapon with more spread will be better to take them down, while a pistol shot might not even scratch their armor. Taking down flying enemies will change the way players interact with the environment since a flying enemy has an advantageous position most of the time, being able to attack above cover and so forth.

GS: We understand that there will be several on-rails sequences in which players must hop onto a moving vehicle and blast oncoming enemies. How has the team worked to make these sequences different and more exciting than standard on-rails sequences in other games?

PJ: I do not want to spoil anything, but what we have focused on was making sure that the [weapons that players will use are] different from typical rail sequences, and that the objectives and the means of transportation require players to use tactical strategies to be successful. When it comes to rail sequences, it is important to ensure that they feel "fair." In my opinion, it is OK to go crazy with prestaged effects and events that do not affect the difficulty. But whenever players don't feel that they've made a difference in the game, then the [developer] has chosen the wrong path, I believe.

GS: Aside from these on-rails sequences, what other sorts of gameplay features are being added to the game to make it seem more cinematic?

PJ: I would say that the tie between the game and the movie adds a lot to the cinematic feeling of the game. Many aspects of the game will transition into the movie, and players will be able to follow how the characters and relationships evolve from the game to the movie. Another thing we have put a lot of effort into is to make sure that the tempo and mood conveyed to the player is similar to a movie experience. A good way to convey the cinematic feeling of the game is through stressing the music and events surrounding players in order to trigger action and emotion. The challenge was to convey action while balancing focus so that players did not just rush into battle headfirst.

GS: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add about the game?

PJ: I would like to thank the whole dev team working on the title; this project was a true team effort. And I hope that as many as people possible will have the chance to pair up the game with the movie.