YMMV / Terminator: Resistance

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The appearance of the M16A4 was initially considered to be anachronistic by some; in reality, the M16A4 was officially adopted by the US Marines in July 1997, one month before Judgment Day occurred (August 29th 1997).
• Awesome Moments:
  • At the start of the game, it's you, all by yourself, with only some pathetically outdated weapons and a helpful voice on the radio against the entirety of Skynet's war machine. At the end? It's the massed forces of humanity, and on all but the highest difficulty you're outright chewing through everything Skynet is sending against you in the game's - and possibly the entire series' - ultimate affirmation of its core premise; there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
• Awesome Music:
  • The game's version of Brad Fiedel's theme for the franchise is regarded by players as one of the best. For fans of both the first two movies, there's a little something here for everyone. It possesses the original T1 synth for a slow and gentle yet ominous build-up, before cranking out one of the best guitar riff covers as the energy picks up, much like T2's cover. There's also the two tracks that play during the final level, remixing the theme into a Triumphant Reprise.
  • The Medical Facility Escape track, a punchy remix of the T-1000's Drone of Dread from Judgment Day, whilst sneaking past hordes of nearly-unstoppable (as you lack sufficient firepower at the time) T-800s and gets played again when battling the Infiltrator.
• Best Level Ever: It's fair to say that the final mission No Fate is one of the most entertaining, if not the best level in the game. Following from a faithful recreation of the prologue scene from T2, Connor sends you and your squad out to attack the Time Displacement Equipment facility along with back-up from a reprogrammed HK-tank, and mowing down Terminators with both your squad and the most powerful weapons you found during the course of the game. Combine that with the epic Terminator theme music playing triumphantly as you make your final stand against Skynet, and you have one of the most exciting fights you've experienced in the whole game.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: If the reveal that the always helpful Stranger is Jacob's time-displaced future self took you by surprise, you must be new to the Terminator franchise. In the characters' defense, they don't know that they're in a franchise built around Time Travel, but even setting aside his preternatural knowledge of what's going to happen next the voice actor makes virtually no effort to distinguish the two characters vocally even before he starts dropping hints.
• Critical Dissonance: The game received mixed to negative reviews by critics, ostensibly for its dated presentation and focusing on otherwise stock-standard FPS/RPG mechanics framed within the Terminator universe. Fans and players, however, were much more enthusiastic about it, given how it goes back to the moments, mythology and characters fleetingly seen during the Future War flashbacks of the first two films. Currently, the game has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam. It largely comes down to how invested you are in the universe of The Terminator and the Future War that's been teased, but never really explored, in the films. If you aren't a hardcore T-fan, then the game is a pretty okay FPS-RPG hybrid that's fun enough but doesn't really do anything unique. If you are a big Terminator fan, then its a chance to shoot Terminators in the face with plasma rifles, as well as having a solid story that fits well with the themes and mythology of the first two films.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Evans from the Annihilation Line DLC demonstrates a flat affect, literal-mindedness, issues with sarcasm, and Spock Speak. In another work, it would be reasonable to view him as autistic, rather than a potentially disguised Terminator.
• More Popular Spin-Off: Fans of the franchise have generally been much more enthusiastic about the game than the film it released alongside, Terminator: Dark Fate, saying that it did the series far more justice and was more respectful of the material than the latter. The fact that Dark Fate wound up being a Box Office Bomb, while Resistance fared well enough to receive a free content update, Polished Port and a DLC campaign (Annihilation Line) wasn't lost on some players.
• Narm Charm: The more you think about it, the more John Connor knowing that putting his mother's picture in that time capsule meant it would find its way to Kyle through a convoluted series of events makes absolutely no sense, but it's such an impactful resolution to the plot thread you probably won't care.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Robert Patrick cameo. You find his corpse strapped to an operating chair with blood running from his nose & mouth and his body has been sliced open vertically, and a certain Drone of Dread "song" plays in the background. It's clear the guy did not die a quick and painless death. And knowing his role in what's to come, what the fuck does Skynet need to cut someone open and take their organs for?
• No Problem with Licensed Games: Reviewer consensus is that this is a game that, while not flawless, nevertheless is a labor of love for the Terminator franchise and a worthy purchase for fans.
• One-Scene Wonder: You coming across a corpse of a Resistance soldier bearing the likeness of Robert Patrick, all while a familiar theme of Drone of Dread plays...
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The game takes a couple hours to really get going. For the first couple of hours or so you'll mostly be scavenging and fighting nuisance spider robots. You don't encounter Terminators until at least a couple of hours into the game, and you can't actually fight them until getting a plasma weapon about 30 more minutes later.
• Tear Jerker: Mingled with Heartwarming in the new Annihilation Line DLC. The start of the DLC has you playing Jacob in a nightmare where he and his dad went to his old school and dug up a time capsule. This was buried there not only by Rivers' dad and fellow students, but one John Connor. Rivers Senior finds a letter addressed to someone, and Jacob tells him they shouldn't open it because it isn't for them. The elder Rivers agrees to find the person it's addressed to and give it to them. This comes back in a big way at the end of the DLC, where you and Kyle Reese liberate several prisoners from a Skynet camp behind the Annihilation Line, including Jacob's father. On hearing Kyle's name, Jacob's dad gives Kyle the letter he'd been holding on to ever since that fateful day, and dies, saying his son would proud of him for finally completing their project. Later, Jacob asks Kyle was was in the envelope, and Kyle shows him... the picture of Sarah Connor. John left it in that time capsule, addressed to Kyle, because he knew it would make its way into his hands.
• That One Boss: The Infiltrator. The metal bastard runs through a brick wall and you have to chase after it. While you have a Resistance squad, including Baron, helping you for most of the fight, the last section is you, alone, in a relatively confined arena with few viable cover options (and the Infiltrator will move about, making any cover position fleeting). It comes down to circle-strafe, ducking around walls, shoot, while throwing the odd grenade or setting the odd trap, and hope you hit more often than he does and guess about which direction he'll try to outflank you from.
• Win Back the Crowd: Teyon's previous big-budget movie video game adaptation was the infamously terrible Rambo: The Video Game, a butt-ugly, Difficulty Spike laden rail-shooter that was widely despised by gamers, critics and fans of the franchise alike. With this game (and later, RoboCop: Rogue City) Teyon showed that they'd learned from their mistakes and managed to pull off a mid-budget throwback to a classic franchise, producing a video game that, while not flawless, is fun to play and shows great respect to its source material.

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