Terminator Salvation Walkthrough

Terminator Salvation is a third-person shooter video game based on the film. The game features a prologue to the film's story, further expanding on how John Connor came into his own within the "Resistance", the group of freedom fighters battling to prevent the genocidal artificial intelligence Skynet from annihilating all of humanity in the year 2016.

Terminator Salvation Basics

Controls

A: Context action
A: Take cover against objects. Press A to exit from cover. You can use the left analog to "aim" towards new cover and press A to charge to it.
B: Tap it to change your secondary firearms. Hold B to open a menu to switch weapons/grenade types.
X: Reload firearm
Y: Context look
Y: Revive a fallen ally/co-op partner
Y: Man a turret
RB: Throw grenade
LT: Fine aim
RT: Fire your weapon

Weapons

Rifle: Weakest of the weapons, but it is at least very accurate and excellent against T-7 Spiders.
Machine Gun: An upgrade version of the rifle. It does far more damage and has a massive ammo clip and capacity. It's excellent against Terminators.
Shotgun: Eight-shell capacity and very strong. It's excellent against Aerostats.
Rocket Launcher: Fires a single dumb rocket; must be reloaded after each shot. Will usually take one enemy out in a hit, more if they are grouped together. Only weapon that can down HK-Flyers.
Grenade Launcher: Essentially a weaker version of the rocket launcher, but it can hold far more rounds. The Terminators will usually require two grenades to take aprt.
Grenades: Hurl them at the enemy; they can explode on contact. Can aimed just like any other weapon. They can also be "blind thrown" from behind cover by just pressing RB (without holding LT) while behind any cover.
Pipe Bombs: An upgrade to the standard grenade. They are devastating to the enemy.

Enemies

In this game your health does not self-regenerate nor are there health pick-ups. The only way to restore health is to kill all the enemies that are present.
Enemies have both a weakness to a weapon type and a weakness to a particular weapon. Exploiting both of these weaknesses is integral to defeating the enemies quickly as taking them head on while usually result in a dragged-out firefight and tons of wasted ammo.
Aerostats: Also known as "Wasps". These are flying robots that will pester you with a smattering of gunfire. They are extremely weak to shotguns, especially from a direct frontal hit.
T-7 Spiders: Also known simply as "Spiders". They can take an absurd amount of punishment from the front, and are extremely deadly up close as they have a one-hit kill "ram charge". Their weakness is the battery pack on their rear; the rifle and machine gun will absolutely demolish that battery pack and kill them quickly. It's possible to stun a T-7 Spider by shooting it repeatedly from the front (a direct hit from the shogun is an instant stun). During a prolonged battle, their armor may blast open; if it does, you can kill them from the front by shooting the glowing blue. The machine gun and turret guns can kill them from the front if you aim at their shoulder areas, while explosives can often down them in one shot.
T-600 Terminators: Terminators armed with a minigun. They are extremely deadly and relentless, and are practically invincible unless you are targeting their chestplates. They have a specific weakness to the machine gun although the shotgun can also get the job done. Turrets can down them very quickly, and most explosives save for grenades and pipe bombs can drop them in a hit if you aim at their chests. If they take enough damage, their armor will come apart; aim for the glowing blue to drop them quickly.
Endos: Also known as "Skinjobs; T-600 variants with rubber skin on their faces. Unlike regular T-600s, their weakness is their skin-covered heads themselves. Aim at their heads and they will go down quickly; the shotgun will do the most damage.
HK-Flyers: These are the iconic flying craft that rule the skies. You will fight them during boss-like sequences; simply shoot them with the rocket launcher ammo they provide you until the Flyer is destroyed. Make sure to stay under cover if they are strafing the area as their gunfire really hurts.

Terminator Salvation Walkthrough

Chapter 1 - L.A. 2016

Freeway Exchange

Take cover behind the rampart wall and then jump over it by pressing up on the left analog plus A. If you are playing co-op, Player 2 will appear ahead of the rampart wall already.
Blast your way forward, following the group. They will stop and take on flying droids called "Aerostats", nicknamed "Wasps"; just take cover and shoot them.
Continue on and follow the group. They will fight another batch of HK-Drones underneath a freeway. Afterward, follow them to the left underneath an overpass
The overpass collapses, leaving your group stuck fighting a "T-600", who wields a built-in minigun. Ignore the Terminator as he is invincible, and run down the hall to a door.

Apartment Building

You'll meet up with the core group back outside; follow them to a cutscene and a new mission.
You'll be inside an apartment building. An HK-Flyer will be soaring around outside; you need to down it with rockets.
Pick up a rocket launcher off the ground, and fire rockets from behind cover at the HK-Flyer. There's a cache in the room you can walk over for more ammo.
As the HK-Flyer takes damage, it will periodically release Aerostats, which will fly into the room and pester you. Destroy them asap; the shotgun will make quick work of them.
Eventually the HK-Flyer will take enough damage and leave. When it does, exit out the blown-out portal and cross to the other building using the fallen scaffolding for a cutscene.

Highways

This is a rail shooter sequence. . Note that the turret guns that you man can overheat if you do not let them cool down after extended use. An overheat takes a very long time to recover from, so be careful.
For the first section, simply aim at the Aerostats with your turret gun and mow them down as they approach.
Later, the HK-Flyer will return. Aim for the damaged engine (the targeting reticule will go red when you are aiming correctly at it).
After wrecking the engine, aim for the blue targets on the front. After destroying them, aim for the plasma guns before it can bring them to bare. Once all of the targets are destroyed, it will crash.
After a cutscene, you will take on the T-600 again, who will steal an allied vehicle and pursue you in it. The trick is to ignore the Aerostats flying around and concentrate on shooting the T-600's vehicle over and over until it crashes. If you are not fast enough, it will likely Conner quickly.
After the T-600 wipes out, just shoot the remaining Aerostats until the level ends.

Chapter 2 - Thank Heaven

Shopping Center

Exit the tunnel up the slope and follow the group through the store front.
Kill the Aerostats ahead and continue onward.
Afterward, Marks will be killed by a tough enemy known as an "T-7 Spider"; you will need to take it out. The T-7s can only take real damage by shooting the battery pack on its rear plating, preferably with the rifle; your allies must distract it while you or your co-op buddy shoot it in the back. It's possible to stun the T-7 Spider by shooting the front of it enough times, giving you or your co-op partner an opening (the shotgun is often an instant stun at close range). You can also simply kill it with one fired rocket if you still have the rocket launcher, but it's best to save that ammo if you still have it. Be very careful fighting it as it has powerful guns and a one-hit kill "ram attack" if you get too close.
Killing the first T-7 Spider brings on two more, plus some Aerostats. Note that to the left of this area is a staircase you can climb to gain the high ground over it; there's also rifle ammo up there.
After killing the enemies, follow Rogers through the buildings, shooting the odd Aerostat. There's a dead soldier in one of the rooms that has grenades for you.
Outside the building with the dead body and grenades are a mob of Aerostats and T-7 Spiders. If you have the rocket launcher, you may want to use them now. Otherwise, kill the Aerostats first before clearing out the T-7s from right to left.
Once they are all down, continue onward to the next area. You will get a cutscene.

Storefront

First, head outside and eliminate the Aerostats. They are easily dealt with.
After a while, you will have a cutscene, then be charged with heading to the roof of the store and defend it from the hordes below. Just man the turret on the rooftop edge with the Y button (you must be standing in just the right spot for the prompt to appear). The turret can chew up anything, including T-7 Spiders without having to shoot their backs.
Make sure to watch your backs at all times on the rooftop for T-7s trying to flank you from behind. Once everything is dead, you will get a cutscene.
Now you must run down the street, avoiding blasts from the giant, towering Harvester. Just use cover until you find a hole in the street you can jump down to end the level.

Chapter 3 - New Acquaintances

Downtown

Make your way through the car wrecks. Your goal is to fight your way through an extraction point.
You will have roughly three groups of T-7 Spiders to deal with. The first group will be right up on top of you, aided by Aerostats; make sure to NOT rush them and to use the cars to get behind them while an ally keeps them distracted.
The second and third groups will actually be patrolling with sensors. As long as you don't get tagged by their sensors, you can bushwhack them and get some easy kills with grenades, or even just with a few shotgun blasts.
Comb every battleground for ammo, including helpful shotgun ammo. After a while you will find a wrecked building with a dead body next to a desk with a lantern. On the desk is a powerful machine gun; take it if you like, but note that ammo for it is rare.

Extraction Point

You'll reach the extraction point and need to fend off a group of T-7 Spiders bottlenecking the path leading to the group of soldiers you need to rescue. Take care of the Aerostats first before taking out the T-7 Spiders, preferably with grenades as flanking them can be a pain.
You will get a cutscene once all the enemies are down and you reach the soldiers. Afterward you must defend your position from machines coming from the other side.
Keep killing the enemies without rushing too deep into their turf. You can head through the shop on the right for an easy access to their flanks.
Once all the machines are down, walk up to the surviving troops; they may give you ammo if they are offering any. When ready, proceed down the street.

Corporate Building

A T-600 will attack and kill one of the squad. Run away from it, following your CPU-controlled allies.
Eventually you will hit a dead-end. Just take cover and wait for Dobkins to drop the ceiling, then climb out through the collapsed ceiling.
Keep running from the T-600s and you will enter another room with a staircase. Climb it to the top.
At the top, Dobkins will make pipe bombs for you to pick up and use against the three T-600s that are climbing up the stairwell. Just aim towards them and hurl the pipe bomb with RB. They will do colossal damage to them, and often expose their glowing-blue battery cores. Shoot the cores repeatedly to finish them. Dobkins will make about 5 or so pipe bombs before running out, so use them wisely.
After killing them, a passage out will be blasted open; take it and follow your group into another room. More T-600s will storm in; shoot the pipes on the wall to blow them up. If you have a spare pipe bomb, "blind throw" it from behind cover to wipe them out instantly.
The group will run into the next room. Dobkins will make more pipe bombs and you must throw them. A cheap trick is to have one ally sacrifice him or herself to get the T-600s to group around the victim, while the other hurls pipe bombs while they are bunched together. Once these T-600s are destroyed, the level ends.

Chapter 4 - The Sights

Financial District

Move forward and take out the T-7 Spiders and Aerostats. There should be nothing unexpected here.
Continue on and you will have another battle. It's best if you hit the T-7 Spiders from the stairwell to the left, hitting them from above while your allies distract them. There are also some grenades up there that will let you get some easy hits.
Past the second group will be a battle against two T-600 variants called "Endos". Aim for their heads and keep firing until they go down.
Scout around for ammo, then continue on; there should be a machine gun nearby.
A cutscene will occur; after which head down. Three T-7 Spiders will block the passage ahead. Try to get behind them from the corner wreckage across from where they came. Remember that their battery packs are weak to the rifle.
Press forward inside. You can grab a shotgun off a dead soldier before dropping down the hole.
You will exit out onto a main street leading to the office tower. Six T-7s and a slew of Aerostats will be blocking your way; the second three Spiders will come after the first group. You MUST hit both groups from the left-hand side wreckage inside the building and not head-on (there will also be ammo back there for you).
Once all the enemies are mopped up, head into the office tower.

Office Tower

There's TONS of rocket ammo throughout this building; dump one of your weapons for it.
Find the Aerostats and waste them. Afterward, head upstairs.
An HK-Flyer will attack. Shoot him with a rocket. He will flee and you will go upstairs.
The Flyer will return on the next floor; shoot him again with a rocket. If you need more ammo, just collect it from the various dead bodies holding rockets.
Finally, head to the roof and shoot the Flyer with rockets until he crashes.

Resistance Outpost

You'll be back outside after a cutscene. Press forward through the wreckage.
You will be hit with wave after wave of T-7 Spiders. For the first group, it's best if you hit them with a rocket right off the bat while they are still bunched up for an easy kill.
The next few groups will try to make a choke point on the main road; you must veer left up the stairs to flank them. Remember that the rifle is perfect for sniping their battery packs.
After they are down, you will head into an outpost. Collect the ammo, and immediately head to the second floor.
There's a turret here; take out the Aerostats first, then use the turrets to mow down any Spiders below. There will be two waves of enemies. If the turret stops working and there are still more Spiders down below, hopefully you'll have some left over rockets to finish them off, because otherwise flanking them will be tough.

Chapter 5 - Underground

Subway Station

Follow the linear path through the subway station.
You will eventually come across a fortification. There's plenty of ammo, including rockets and turrets. Save the ammo for now as you will be back here soon.
Keep along the path and you will reach a human encampment and a cutscene. Afterward, find Barnes, a tall bald man hanging out in the back.
Afterward, Barnes will join your group. Follow him back to the fortification. As he futzes with the charges, you will need to fend off wave after wave of machines.
The first waves see nothing but Aerostats; just blast them. Once the T-7 Spiders show up, start manning the turrets to get rid of them, starting with the one on the bottom of the choke point.
Later on the machines will be joined by T-600s. Start using the last of turrets and the rocket launchers to finish them off.
Once all the machines are down, you'll be greeted with a cutscene.

Subway Line

You will need to defend the train in another rail shooting segment. This time you are using a rocket launcher with infinite rockets. Most of your enemies will be motorbikes that you can take out just by firing a rocket into their path. Do not let the motorbikes overtake the train (assuming they don't kill your first).
After the first wave of motorbikes, you will be hit with a second wave. They will be joined by T-7 Spiders trying to flank the sides of the train. Ignore the Spiders as they are too slow to do much; concentrate on the motorbikes.
Eventually the train will stop to pick up more humans. Your squad however will stay inside the train, still firing rockets. Just fire at everything that moves until the train gets going again.
Protect the train again for the last stretch. This time, an HK-Flyer and some Aerostats will join the motorbikes. Ignore them and concentrate on the motorbikes as they are far more deadly.

School Bus Commute

Yet another rail shooting segment. This time you are riding in a dune buggy with a mounted laser cannon. The cannon is very powerful but heats up extremely quick, so be careful of overheats. Your goal is to protect the school bus, and stay alive at the same time.
For the first segment, just shoot up all the Spiders and T-600s. Be careful not to hit wrecked cars as they can be flung about, interfering with your aim. Also watch for close obstructions moving into your line of fire, causing you to blast them by mistake and getting hurt by the blowback.
Keep an eye out for machines as you travel; remember that once you see a "blue explosion", the machine has been destroyed and you need to find your next target.
Eventually you will get a cutscene, and the bus will enter a freeway. Fire at the motorbikes coming up from your rear.
Later on, the camera angle switches and this time you are shooting motorbikes as they swerve around your dune buggy to strike at the bus. Try to lead your shots to take them out.
Once the school bus survives this final segment, it's on to the next level.

Chapter 6 - Into the Wild

Penthouses

The first penthouse suite will have a fight with Endos and Spiders. Blast your way to the second floor and pick off the enemies below.
Head across the driveway ahead into the next penthouse. This time the Spiders are guarding a dead-end and it's suicide to storm it, because more will pour in from all sides after killing the first group. Instead, raid the housing to the right via the stairs, collect the ammo, and pick off the spiders.
Endos and T-600s will eventually blow a hole in the wall underneath your perch, along with Spiders barreling in from the far side. Take them all out and enter through the hole.

Park Area

Head up the road. Look for a dead body along the way; raid his corpse for a useful grenade launcher.
The way up is blocked by cars and a wrecked bus. Inside the bus is another grenade launcher. Dive into the bus for cover; you can use the grenade launcher rounds you have so far to bomb all the T-600s milling about.
Once you've fought through the blockade, follow the linear path to the exit.

Chapter 7 - Angie

Compound Center

Follow the linear path into the boiler room (compound center) for a cutscene.
After the cutscene, enemies will pour into the room from the garage door entrance you originally came through. It's best to flank the sides of the door and bomb the hell out of everything coming through with the grenade launcher. If you need to, retreat behind the boilers.
The surviving enemies should be the T-600s. If you are out of grenades, get a machine gun or shotgun out and shoot their chests until they go down.
Once all the enemies are dead, quickly round up ammo and follow your allies out.

Warehouses

You must blast your way to the level exit within twenty minutes. Ammo is going to be a problem unless you are attacking enemy weapons and not just praying and spraying.
The first ambush is just a bunch of Aerostats. Waste them and move on up the stairs.
Grab the ammo quickly in the next area before the Spiders and Aerostats get situated. Blast them and head into the opened warehouse, grabbing the machine gun ammo if you can.
In the next warehouse, be very careful about entering the pit to the right of the door. The enemies can trap you in there and pound you real good, however, if you are loaded with grenades you can overwhelm them easily in there. Blow up the Spiders first, then pick off the T-600s with whatever explosives you have left and the machine gun.
Once you've wasted this group of enemies, head out the open exit. Don't forget to grab the machine gun ammo to the left of the pit.
The next area will be easier. Head up to the left and grab all the ammo you can, then start whittling down the enemies, starting with the Aerostats, then the Spiders, then the T-600s.
The final battle is in the next area and it is loaded with Spiders and T-600s. Round up any rocket launcher ammo you can find and blast them all as fast as you can. You need to go all out on them before you run out of time. Once you've won this battle, you be greeted with a cutscene.

HK-Tank Assault

This will be the final rail gun sequence. This time you will use both LT and RT to fire twin gatling guns; these can also overheat. Note that you will be using what's essentially "Terminator Vision"; the enemies will have a red hue and blink furiously when they are killed, so take note.
For the first section, shoot down all in your way until you reach the first AA site. Shoot down the turrets asap with your twin gatling guns or they will wreck your HK-Tank.
Once the turrets are down, clear the ground of enemies and you will be allowed to move to the next site.
The next site will come pretty quickly; make sure to hit the turrets first as usual, starting with the one on the right, then clearing out the ones on the left.
The third site will come after the bridge. This site will have HK-Flyers guarding the turrets; go after them immediately after blowing up the turrets.
The final site will be the roughest; you need to quickly bring the two HK-Flyers pestering you before you reach the last AA site. Once you reach the site, stop and nothing to clear out all the turrets around you before are overwhelmed.
Once you clear the last AA site, it's on to the next level.

Chapter 8 - Every Life is Sacred

Catwalks

Right off the bat you'll be under assault from T-7 Spiders. The cover here is thick, so it may be easy for you to bushwhack them, and yet vice versa. If one catches you by surprise, grenade or shotgun them off you.
Head up the stairs after winning the battle and follow the catwalk to the next battle, collecting all the ammo all the way.
The next battle has a load of pesky T-600s and Aerostats attacking from all around giant pipes. Get some machine guns and shoot their chests until they are downed; do not break cover too often or you'll be hit in a crossfire.
If you need rocket launcher ammo, head to the left from where you came in. Kill the Spider there and grab the ammo.
After taking out the enemies, follow the path to the next area and the next battle.

Pipeworks

Make sure to thin out the enemy ranks from the entrance first before pressing forward. Kill the enemies and, if you wish, grab the grenade launcher across from the entrance.
Head into the next area and blast all the enemies on the immediate ground before pressing forward to the stairs.
Climb the stairs onto the catwalk and follow it. There's plenty of rockets, grenades, and other goodies to collect. Save a rocket for an annoying T-600 sniping from the next catwalk above. There will be more rocket ammo on the catwalk underneath them.
With all the enemies in this area dead, head all the way back down and go through the now-open garage door to exit this level.

Chapter 9 - For the Resistance

Nerve Center

Blair and Connor will go down their own path. It will lead to a perch with plenty of ammo to rain down on the foes below. Do so.
After you've cleared out the foes below, go down and then up the stairs ahead. There's ammo below including plenty of rockets and machine gun ammo if you need it.
Past the stairs ahead is an ambush of Aerostats. Clear them all out. Once this is done, Barnes will set a charge to blow access to the control room (stay away from the door after he sets the charge).
Enter the control room for a cutscene.

Control Room

After the cutscene, you will be under massive assault from a slew of T-600s. There's plenty of rocket launcher ammo lying around to destroy them.
After killing all the T-600s, a fifth T-600 will appear from the doorway Barnes blew open. Kill him for a cutscene.
After the cutscene, go down the hall where the fifth T-600 was killed. The enemies will all be shut down by Connors' actions in the cutscene, so ignore them.
Past the disabled Terminators is the chopper. Run straight to it, ignoring the enemies shooting at you. Once you reach the chopper, you'll win the game.

About the Game

The Terminator Salvation game is based on the film released on May 21, 2009. It stars John Connor as he fights for the resistance against Skynet's Terminators and other machines in a stark post-apocalyptic world. A common soldier trained by his mother Sarah, John has a natural ability to lead. He is joined in his fight by various companions, like Blair Williams and Barnes.

The game is a third-person shooter with a cover system similar to that of Gears of War. Battles take place all around the player and it's imperative to learn to effectively use the cover system. Players can duck behind cover by approaching a likely object, which will cause a button prompt to appear onscreen. Once hidden, they can blind fire or use precision aim to take out enemies or toss grenades.G4TV: Terminator Salvation Direct-Feed Walkthrough (Cover System info) (Time: 9:28)

The Terminator Salvation game was developed by GRIN for the Xbox 360, PS3, PC and iPhone, and was released on May 19, 2009.