The Terminator: Future Shock (1995, Bethesda)

[watchful]

#4041

Possibly the earliest mainstream FPS to default to mouse aiming, this classic was a delightful chance to experience the best setting of the Terminator movies; post-apocalypse.

Ashamed to say I rented it from a local game store and found the absence of any copy protection an easy way to keep playing. Now I have a legit copy but the original developers didn’t see any of it as I bought it used :(.

The sequel Skynet (1996) is also a DOS classic–IMO–and has a fun MP mode which we tried in the school’s video lab for “Chess & Strategy” club.

[Katsumoto]

#4858

I’d second this! Such incredible atmosphere and well ahead of its time in so many ways.

[Tijn]

#4860

Oh wow, they made even more Terminator games?

I knew of this one from 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator_(DOS)

I had no idea they made more later on!

[watchful]

#5498

Funny enough I also played “The Terminator” (1990) too, having bought it expecting much greatness. Yet was disappointed at how crude and difficult it was, though I was also even younger than when I first played Future Shock.

I’d recommend doing most of the Terminator games separately though as they vary quite a bit. Maybe Future Shock and Skynet could go together since the engines are so similar and they are too long.

[pointer]

#5566

Good tip.

As far as I know this is the first mouselook game. Also one of the first to have had actual 3D enemies, including humanoids. Also the amazing intro theme, and in general the atmosphere was pretty good.

I remember the oppressive mood, especially in some of the indoor areas. Those damn missile turrets hit hard like it was going out of style.

Looking at some gameplay now, it’s more freeform/open world than I remember. The Daggerfall xngine roots are clearly visible.

[Windos]

#7065

I never had the full version only the shareware . I found it to be pretty cool . It ran terribly on the computer we had. I remember you could kill the moon if you kept shooting at it

[aamiralavi]

#7163

This was highly atmospheric – they really polished the formula with the sequel Skynet though, made the first game feel like a beta

[yozy]

#7164

I’d like to have an excuse to finish this game. One of the games that is legitimately scary, especially with those flying mines.