Terminator 3: War of the Machines announced

Atari has today announced that it will release Terminator 3: War of the Machines for the PC later this year. The game, which is currently in development at Hungary-based Clever's Games, will feature both a single-player adventure and online support for up to 32 players.

In the single-player campaign, players will assume the role of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator character as it does battle with humankind alongside the rest of SkyNet's mechanical forces. Later in the game, the character is captured and reprogrammed by human Tech Com revolutionaries, giving players a chance to go up against the same SkyNet forces they were allied with previously.

"Terminator 3: War of the Machines will capitalize on every aspect of the feature film's popularity," said Martin Spiess, head of European marketing for Atari, "from an immersive storyline that closely follows the movie's script to the first-ever appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness and voice in a video game."

The multiplayer game will pit the forces of Tech Com and SkyNet against each other in a range of locales from the movie including downtown Los Angeles, a ruined ocean harbor, devastated highways, Tech Com and SkyNet bases, and crumbling factories. There will be eight different character classes available for each faction, and according to Atari each class will offer unique advantages and disadvantages in certain battle situations. The example given in today's press release is that someone playing as a SkyNet T-900 endoskeleton will be able to use unique visual capabilities to identify even camoflauged human enemies--they won't, however, be able to heal or repair themselves in combat as humans can.

Details concerning the different human units that will be available in the game have not been released at this time, but it has been revealed that while Tech Com forces will have access to a number of different vehicles, SkyNet vehicles are unmanned and so will be included as character classes in their own right. The examples in today's press release included an FK hover attack craft and an HK tank.

Terminator 3: War of the Machines is currently scheduled for release toward the end of this year. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.