[5][6] Set in 2016 in Los Angeles, the console and PC versions of the game take place between the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation and follow John Connor (Gideon Emery), and his team, consisting of Angie Salter (Rose McGowan), Barnes (Common) and Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood).

[5][8] Rose McGowan voiced the game-exclusive character Angie Salter, who is an ex-high school teacher.

Terminator Salvation is a third-person shooter where the player needs to "constantly move, flank, cover and utilize their squad to progress.

The co-op version of the game enables players to play as both John Connor and his teammate Blair Williams.

[9] The game employs a cover and movement system not unlike those featured in Gears of War and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, wherein the player can quickly choose to dodge between different forms of cover, coming out only to fire shots at enemies.

Staying in cover is advantageous, as the player only regenerates health when they have not received damage for a certain amount of time (as in the Halo and Call of Duty games).

Returning to an evac point with Blair Williams and other soldiers, they battle their way through machines to discover that there are no helicopters waiting for them.

A Resistance team led by soldier David Weston (Sean Cory Cooper) asks for help, but his transmission is lost.

They rescue four soldiers, Angie (Rose McGowan), an unknown, Deckard (Joe Camareno) and Dobkin (Nolan North).

They have no choice but to retreat, but with no way out, the team is forced to destroy the T-600s, though Dobkin is mortally wounded in the fight.

There are too many machines on a nearby street that they planned to go down, so the three decide to go to Union Station at the subway, following the tracks to Skynet.

The leader, named Warren Campbell (Ed O' Ross), leads him to Barnes (Common), who will supply them.

Battling numerous machines to infiltrate the Skynet compound, an alarm is accidentally triggered when Connor steals important documents.

He calls his base (answered by teammate Linda (Lupe)), saying he needs airpower to rescue David's team.

"That won't be a problem", John says, because he reprogrammed a Hunter-Killer tank, and programmed it to go straight to Skynet.

Warren's men agreed to escort them to the vehicles, while John, Blair, David and Barnes go through the service tunnels to deactivate the turrets.

John Connor arrives via a helicopter in Los Angeles to assist a squad of resistance fighters.

A team of resistance fighters carrying a special transmitter in the city was given a mission to call airstrikes on a Hunter-Killer tank to destroy it and recover its remains for research.

He is given the last transmitter part by a member of the team who tells him to find a way around the H-K tank through a nearby house in order to call upon an airstrike on it.

The intel gathered from the destroyed H-K tank showed the location of Skynet's base and John decides to enter it alone.

The base defences catch John by surprise and injure him, but he manages to escape and blow up the complex.

Peter Levin, a former Disney executive, headed up Halcyon Games as acting CEO.

[13] GameSpot reviewer Chris Watters rated it a 5 out of 10, citing the repetitive combat, mediocre visuals, short length, and that the lead actor of the film, Christian Bale, did not do the voice acting for the game's John Connor.