I bought this game and just thought it would be another generic shoot 'em up with some license to terminator but I was very wrong. I'll start out by saying that the minute I booted it up and heard that main menu theme I knew I was going to fall in love with the atmosphere because I felt a sense of nostalgia and dare say the theme is better than the original music from the movie.

First - The graphics, they are not over the top but the game is running on unreal engine so lighting and atmosphere are still pretty good. The models for the characters, and enemies are fantastic and the detail put into the T-800's is extremely well done. All of the weapons you get are straight from the movies too, which I thought was a neat detail.

Second - The story, It takes you on a journey in the world of the future after Skynet (a computer defense program designed to protect humans) has gone rogue, creating machines to annihilate humanity and you take on the role of a resistance member who has been fighting the war when suddenly their squad was wiped out by an unknown enemy. Along the way you encounter survivors who are just trying to survive, these characters have their own stories and give you some light on what life has been like for them in the destroyed world. It's worth getting to know them as you find out that like you, they just want to live. I found myself getting attached to them and genuinely care about how they are, adding on to that, your choices matter and every thing you do can affect how they think of you or what may happen to them later in the game.

Third - game play, you do have the ability to pursue stealth in this game, but sometimes it is unavoidable to go guns blazing. Personally I just went guns blazing the whole time because I love the fast-paced action and the sound of the weapons (which I will also mention the sound effects are so great for the laser guns). You have your RPG mechanics too such as a skill based level-up system where you can pick different skills to help with your exploration, such as inventory size or lock-picking. This brings me to my next point which is the linear-open world aspect of the game, sure you still have a set path where you must follow the main objective, but you have the ability to venture off from that path and pursue side quests from the various characters in the game. This allows for a sense of exploration and openness to the world so you can truly immerse yourself in a story where you can play how you want to play.

Finally - the cons, personally I feel like the weapon animations could have been better and so could the voice acting (which voice acting wasn't terrible but I feel there could have been more expression from some characters). Though those things did not stop me from playing the game, they just stuck out to me. The game is also pretty easy, I recommend if you pick it up to play the game on hard mode, because when you begin to make progress and start really customizing your equipment enemies seem to just drop and you lose that sense of being tense in a battle.

I'll leave off with a thumbs up though, definitely try it out if you are looking for something new to play, especially if you are a fan of the Terminator franchise. I'm leaving this review right after I beat the game with all skills acquired and side quests completed, so about 12 hours of progress but still worth it in my eyes because of how attached to the story I was and always being excited to find out what happens next. Thanks for reading and hope you consider it!

EDIT: Infiltrator mode! - can't believe I forgot to add this, but the team updated the game with a FREE update that lets you play as one of the Terminators created to mimic the features of a human who is tasked with well, infiltrating a resistance stronghold to terminate a member of the resistance. I loved that the team added this to give us some more fun with the game, it really shows their dedication and love to the project and I can not wait to see what they do in the future.