A private in the Resistance of 2028 is suddenly seen as a
major player in the war against the machines.
This story begins in 2028. It takes place over about two
weeks' time. I have placed it in a timeline spun off from
Judgment Day
(Timeline JD-5, in this case) because the end of the game
depicts
three Terminators sent back in time: a T-800 to 1984 to kill
Sarah Connor (as seen in
The Terminator), a
T-1000 prototype to 1995 to kill John Connor (as seen in
Judgment Day), and a
T-850 sent a few weeks back to kill Jacob Rivers (the hero
of the game). No mention is made of the T-X that was sent
back to 2004 to kill John Connor's lieutenants in Rise
of the Machines. Though the game was released to
coincide with the release of the movie
Terminator: Dark Fate, it
does not seem to have any connection to that story.
Two digital comic books by Dark Horse Comics were produced as a
prequel to this game. They are titled
Terminator: Resistance - Zero Day Exploit and are available
with a digital code provided with purchase of a physical copy of
the game. They feature background stories of Commander Baron and
Dr. Mack. PopApostle's studies of this story can be found here:
"Zero Day Exploit" Part 1
and "Zero Day Exploit" Part
2.
In this game, the Resistance uses a number of weapons against
the forces of Skynet: M1911 rifles, Uzi submachine guns, M-16
rifles, Remington 870P shotguns, RL-43 rocket launchers (laser
guided), and RL-92 rocket launchers (heat seeking).
The (fictitious) plasma weapons used in this game are: RSB-80, VSB-90,
VSB-95, R95, V96, RG01, and VG01.
Dr. Alvin Scott
Dr. Edwin Mack
Didja Notice?
During the introduction of the game, a voice on Rivers'
radio tells him to get under a nearby derelict bus for
protection, saying, "Listen to me if you want to live!" This
is a play on the oft-used dialog in the Terminator
series, "Come with me if you want to live!"
The story opens in the Southern California city of
Pasadena.
Following the voice's guidance, Rivers walks past the
dilapidated Joe's Liquor. This is a fictitious business in
Pasadena.
As with most video games of this type, the same models of
wrecked vehicles are seen throughout the gameplay (van,
school bus, pick-up truck, etc.).
Numerous boxes and crates with the Civil Defense emblem of
the U.S. are seen in various rooms throughout the game.
This game introduces robotic Spider Scouts for Skynet. They
are a couple of feet in diameter and have electric pincers.
The Terminators in the game carry R95 or V96 plasma rifles.
They are very similar to the model traditionally seen in the
Terminator series, the Westinghouse
M-25 Phased Plasma Pulse Rifle.
A sign for Big Jeff's is seen in the
nearby ruins when Rivers and his new friends stop to repair
the bus and treat the injured Mark. Big Jeff's is the
restaurant Sarah Connor worked at in
The Terminator. When
Rivers enters the ruins of the restaurant, he sees a check
with the waitress name of "Nancy" on it. Nancy was one of
the other waitresses with Sarah there.
The check has the slogan printed on it, "The home of
the Big Bun Burger".
A tractor-trailer parked next to the warehouse Rivers raids
is from Cryoco. This is the same company whose truck was
involved in a crash near the end of
Judgment Day that
spilled out the liquid nitrogen that temporarily froze the
T-1000.
A large sign for Golden Tobacco is seen above the warehouse.
Although there are a number of small companies operating
around the world with this name, the one seen here is
probably meant to be fictitious.
When Rivers finds the remains of a South Division resistance
base in the warehouse, the words KEEP CALM can be seen
painted on a wall. This is probably a reference to the
British government propaganda poster of WWII produced by the
British Ministry of Information, "Keep Calm and Carry On." The
poster was never displayed publicly during the war and was
largely unknown until 2000. Since then, it has become
an internet meme and pop icon.
The semi-truck that crashes through the wall of the old
factory has Vortex tires. This is a fictitious company.
In many instances throughout the game, the player can see
that some broken window panes have the same exact shapes of
glass fragments within them, an artifact of the game engine.
Rivers suggests to young Patrick the name of Max for his
German Shepherd puppy. This was also the name of John
Connor's boyhood German Shepherd at his foster home with
Todd and Janelle Voight in
Judgment Day.
Ryan remarks that he had a brother named Tucker before
Judgment Day. They were at an outdoor music festival when
Judgment Day happened. He says the band
Captured! by Robots was playing on stage at the time.
This is a real world band based in California.
Some graffiti on the exterior of a building reads "THE
RESISTANCE ARE THE REAL ENEMY".
Silverfish are seen for the first time in this game. They
were previously mentioned in the novelization of
Judgment Day
and in
"Suicide Mission" and
"Dead Men Walking".
Silverfish are walking, centipede-like bombs.
At one point in the game, Rivers
goes through an old store and there are signs inside listing
sale prices like 5,49. It's odd that a store in the United
States would have signs using a comma as a decimal
separator, as the U.S. uses a dot. Possibly, it was a store
specializing in merchandise from a particular foreign
country. (The game was developed in Poland which uses the
decimal comma, which is likely the real reason for the
presence of the comma.)
Rivers discovers the dead body of a Resistance member held
captive by Skynet in the old university hospital. The man
appears to bear the likeness of Robert Patrick, the actor
who portrayed the T-1000 in
Judgment Day. It seems
likely this Resistance member was the basis for the look of
the T-1000 prototype.
With the Pacific Division of the Resistance wiped out,
Commander Baron takes Rivers into her unit, Tech-Com. This
is the unit Kyle Reese stated he was a member of in
The Terminator,
run by John Connor.
Baron gives her Resistance serial number as DN38217.
A map of Southern California is displayed on an easel in
Commander Baron's office. There are three areas circled in
red on the map. The biggest circle appears to be downtown
Los Angeles itself. To the right (east) of that, an area that
appears to correspond to the city of
West
Covina on Interstate 10 is circled. The third circle
below them appears to be around, roughly, the city of
Gardena, next to Interstate 110. |
 |
Baron tells Rivers that the Resistance intercepted Skynet
communications that indicated John Connor was number one on
its hit list, Baron herself is number two, and Rivers is
number three. Later, it turns out that Rivers was actually
number two, not three and Baron was a bit jealous of the
fact.
Ryan remarks that when he and his brother listened to the
radio after the bombings of
Judgment Day, a list of cities hit was cited and it took a
couple of minutes just to get through the A's.
A note left by Colin that Rivers finds indicates that the
machines have been collecting human teeth. This must be for
building realistic, human-looking T-800 infiltrators.
A derelict tow truck for Road Ranger Trucking is seen in the
ruins of Pasadena. There are a number of businesses in the
world with that name, but the one seen here is probably
meant to be fictitious.
Rivers encounters T-808s. These Terminators utilize
flame-throwers built onto them. The fuel tanks on their
backs are particularly vulnerable to weapons fire.
This game is the first appearance of this model.
Rivers encounters T-47 Hunter-Killer walkers. This game is
the first appearance of this model.
Rivers' Resistance serial number DN46890.
 |
Ryan tells Rivers a story of a time a T-400 found his and
Tucker's camp because he (Ryan) was playing his guitar. The
T-400 model Terminator was an early primitive version of a
Terminator first seen in Dawn
of Fate. The model was mentioned
Terminator Hunt,
Cold War and
Trial by Fire. Ryan
remarks that it didn't even look scary.
(Image from
gamer.ru) |
Baron remarks that no one asks her personal questions since
Perry died. Kyle Reese mentioned that he served under Perry
in Tech-Com in
The Terminator.
In
Dawn of Fate,
his full name is given as Major General Justin Perry and he
survives to see Kyle Reese sent back in time to 1984 to
protect Sarah Connor after the Resistance had defeated
Skynet. Here in our current story, he apparently died some
time back.
While searching for Dr. Alvin Scott, Rivers and his team
pass the ruins of the
Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.
During the search for Alvin, another Cryoco truck is seen.
Rivers passes what appear to be
Union Pacific
railcars.
Rivers finds a supply item in an old refrigerator that
appears to be a Grounding brand. This is a fictitious
company.
The infiltrator Terminator that hunts Rivers and his cohorts is a T-850 sent back in time by Skynet. A T-850
model is also in Rise
of the Machines.
Baron has a skull design on her tank top shirt.

Rivers goes to the Hollywood Hills to look for the long-lost
Dr. Mack. This is an actual neighborhood of Los Angeles. The
Hollywood Hills
are also seen in
Future Shock.
Erin asks Rivers to check for a possible message from her
lost husband Peter at their old house near the
Griffith Park tennis courts.
While searching through Mack's mansion hideout, Rivers finds
a copy of Type magazine featuring an article about
art created by a computer program called Ines, including
"Colors of the Abstract" on display at the Los Angeles
Modern Art Museum. Ines is said to have been created by Gale
Wisher. Though there is a real world magazine called
Type (https://typemag.squarespace.com/), it is about fonts, so I don't think it is meant to be
the one referred to here. Ines and the
Los Angeles Modern Art Museum are fictitious. The name "Gale
Wisher" is a nod to Gale Anne Hurd and William Wisher,
co-writers (along with James Cameron) of
The Terminator.
Some plastic crates with the brand name Svzkien on them are
seen in the mansion. This appears to be an entirely
fictitious brand (and word!)
One license plate is seen throughout the game on many different
vehicles! California 1VK3925.
Near the mansion, Rivers stumbles across Le Pain Bakery.
This may be a reference to the
Le
Pain Quotidien global chain of French organic bakeries.
There are a number of them in the L.A. area, but none very
close to Griffith Park.
After hacking Skynet's latest plasma rifle to make it
possible for the Resistance to use, Dr. Mack says, "Easy
money." This is the same phrase young John Connor used after
hacking into a bank ATM in
Judgment Day.
The scene here of John Connor walking through the
underground tunnels, to emerge and scan the battlefield with
his binoculars was inspired by a similar scene at the
beginning of
Judgment Day. It's not
exactly the same, so it might be considered an alternate
timeline version of that scene.
The Resistance captures and hacks an HK tank to use in the
final assault against Skynet.
The Stranger turns out to be Rivers himself, come back from
the future to correct mistakes he made and ensure the
Resistance victory against Skynet.
The Resistance defeats Skynet, but not before the machine
intelligence sends three Terminators back in time: a T-800
to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (as seen in
The Terminator), a
T-1000 prototype to 1995 to kill John Connor (as seen in
Judgment Day), and a
T-850 a few weeks back to kill Jacob Rivers. In this game,
these events take place in 2028 instead of in 2029 as
described in
The Terminator.
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