Terminator Genisys: Future War review - A belated tie-in

Well here it is, folks. The Terminator game you neither wanted nor asked for. Inexplicably released two years after the Terminator Genisys film, Terminator Genisys: Future War serves as a sequel of sorts to the failed blockbuster. Future War is essentially Combat Strike, a free-to-play multiplayer base-building game with a seemingly endless number of tasks to accomplish, but very little substance.

In Future War, players can choose to side with either Skynet or the humans, though in the grand scheme of things this choice becomes a matter of aesthetics more than anything else. The game has very little story, you see.

Once that's done, you set about establishing your base. After a brief tutorial, you're set free to really start fleshing things out. An endless array of quests task you with constructing and leveling up buildings, conducting research, and amassing an army.

Any task that takes less than five minutes to complete can be “boosted” for free, allowing you to finish the job immediately. You finish these tasks for the sake of levelling up. There's no campaign along the way to help flesh things out or keep you invested in the world. Although you progress very quickly early on, it all feels very empty.

Once you have your base going, you can set out onto the world map to take on other bases and abandoned structures in an attempt to gather resources and gain military prowess. Your best bet for doing so is to join an alliance.

There's no real skill required for doing this, however. Battles are automated and your success is largely determined by your level and the number of units you decide to throw at your opponents. It's simply another part of the grind.

If you are a mobile gamer who enjoys grinding out levels, who finds progression for progession's sake alone a sheer joy, you'll probably enjoy Terminator Genisys: Future War. Apart from that, though, there's little to really recommend here.

The game features a lot of buildings, units, and upgrades to unlock, but there's no real end goal in sight. This would be greatly aided by some semblance of a story or some more robust competition, but that is sadly lacking.