Salvation. Definitely something the Designers of this game are gonna be praying for.
The story is pretty low as you pretty much spend nine chapters running across an apocalyptic LA to save three men trapped in machine territory… which sounds awfully fun and challenging and the fact that they have managed to squeeze nine chapters worth of play out of it is rather impressive but is unfortunately as exciting as watching paint dry. The campaign to be honest can take less than five hours to complete even in the hardest difficulty as there is no challenge what so ever in the incredibly repetitive game play, run shoot a Spider or Wasp thing, run, shoot another Spider and Wasp thing, shoot a T-600, run, etc etc and the constant inclusion of cut scenes can get irritating and interruptive at times.
Despite being given the same name as the film its set two years before it and the only resemblance is through the lousy design of the main characters being John Connor, Blair and Barnes which leads us to the graphics… which in one word are terrible. Considering the potential both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have it's a real let down, while the environments do look ok and the game has been given a fair bit of detail in creating a destroyed LA the graphics are mainly let down through the characters which for whatever reason (maybe they weren't allowed or just didn't try) look nothing like the characters they're representing most notably Christian Bales John Connor which in a way has been designed to look like him (through the clothing and even the same form of hair) but at the same time has completely failed. Cut scenes during and in between chapters aren't terrific again due to the poor graphics making them not very eventful or entertaining to watch, which is a shame.
To let this down ever more is the voice acting which isn't great and again is let down by the notable disappearance of Christian Bale as well as a decent script and character AI.
During combat you'll constantly hear other characters in the middle of a gun fight telling Machine to "Leave Them Alone" or "Go Away" I mean honestly what's that all about? And they actually will spend more time doing that as well as sliding back and forth in cover than actually shooting as they honestly seem to believe that a harsh use of verbal words will save them… which aren't even that harsh (its more along the lines of what a toddler would say to someone when he or she is really upset). Thankfully the Machines ignore the verbal abuse… kind of… as most the time they will stand completely still a good few feet away making it clear and easy for you to attack. The only time they'll come closer is if the T-600 decides to swing an attack at you in which case it again doesn't really need to be near you thanks to the again poor design. I've honestly had moments where I'm standing behind cover, on a second story of a building or in a ditch kneeling below them only for it to take one horizontal swing which will be no where near me only to kill me, making it incredibly frustrating at times.
The only real good points I can think of is the intriguing cover system which is different and nicely done but still flawed as there are many cover positions that can get you stuck or are rather inaccessible despite looking fairly simple to get to and as mentioned early can't protect you form the invincible swing of a T-600's arm, and for some reason the game has a real urge to constantly tell you to press A to get to cover every time you stand next to a wall or whatever, you can probably turn this off I don't know.
Other than the cover system the only other good point is the incredibly easy Achievements which all 11 can be gained just by finishing the game in the hard difficulty setting which isn't that hard and again can take less than five hours.
Overall this is an incredibly disappointing game which is a shame because it does have real potential to be really good if only the designers had actually sat down to think and take their time in creating it. Basically try to avoid this game at all costs, if you do want it for the achievements please do just rent it or borrow it whatever but do not I repeat DO NOT! Spend to much on it as it just really isn't worth the money. No replay value at all, no online multiplayer and unless you play it co-op first time round with a friend no point in the co-op for the second time, JUST STAY AWAY!