Teyon and Reef Entertainment have released a new version of Terminator Resistance for PS5, and it’s the ‘Enhanced’ version, but is it any good?
Terminator Resistance Enhanced is the same game that already released on PS4 a couple of years ago, but with a fresh lick of paint, a little facelift, and an all-new gameplay mode. I’ve spent a few hours running around the desolate wasteland, facing off against terminators and even having a go at being a cyborg murderer myself, though not successfully, I might add.
[If you want a more in-depth review for Terminator Resistance, check out our original review from 2019.]
The first thing to note is that the game now runs at a solid 60 frames-per-second, something the PS4 and even the PS4 Pro struggled to do. On last-gen there was the option to disable the framerate limit, allowing the game to run above the set 30 frame target. Sometimes it would get close to 60 but it wouldn’t stay there long, especially once combat was taking place. On PS5, the frame rate is rock solid though you don’t need the Enhanced version of the game to experience this particular improvement. If you’ve got the PS4 version in your library, you can play it on PS5 at 60 frames per second by removing the frame rate cap. But if you’ve got the PS4 version, you’ll surely be upgrading the PS5 version; it’s a free upgrade, after all, but it’s cool to note that I’ve been playing the game on-and-off for the last couple of months at 60 anyway.
The other improvements are slight and without a side-by-side comparison, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference. It just so happens that I’ve knocked together a quick side-by-side comparison, which you can watch under these words.
Terminator Resistance Enhanced improves the visuals by adding extra detail to the game’s bleak environments. You’ll find more debris littering the ground, extra incidental details, and even a greater quantity of shadows, all of which are displayed at a higher resolution than the last-gen version. There’s also support for the DualSense, though it is minimal; the firing trigger offers a little resistance, and that’s about the extent of the DualSense support.
But does this elevate the game from its original trappings? No, not really. It’s still the same game at its core and that means it’s a decent but flawed Terminator experience. It’s still the best Terminator game by a country mile, but that’s more because it’s the only one in recent years rather than being a gold standard of licensed games.
The addition of a new game mode is a great touch, though, and while it’s quite simple – you stomp through a large map collecting intel to eventually kill your target, and you only have one life to do it – it’s a free addition that the developer wasn’t obligated to add, but they did and they didn’t charge a premium for it. Activision could learn a lesson or two here, namely on how to make a half-decent licensed game and how to treat customers.
As far as next-gen upgrades go, it’s decent. It’s not exemplary, but it’s good enough to warrant a second look if you’ve got Terminator Resistance in your library anyway. If you don’t, then your enjoyment of this will hinge squarely on your level of fandom for the Terminator franchise. If you know T2 word for word, you’ll enjoy the story for sure, but the gameplay will leave you wanting a bit more living tissue over the hyper alloy endoskeleton.
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