A Gaming Diary
Posts tagged terminator salvation
Terminator Salvation (iPhone)
Feb 8th
Excellent shooter. I’d played the demo a lot, then bought the game ages ago for 59p in a sale, but hadn’t got around to playing it.
Look! It's a real Terminator! Not Generic Enemy Robot #63.
Started it up yesterday afternoon, didn’t stop until I’d finished the game. So, yes, it’s short. I’m not sure how short, but at a guess it took three or four family guys to get to through. Maybe five. Over an hour, I reckon, but less than two. (These Family Guys were on the BBC, so no commercials.)
It’s got a nice cover mechanic, the licence helps the atmosphere enormously and there are even some decent vehicle levels. It’s very easy on Normal, yes, but I didn’t feel like that was a bad thing.
You get to ride a Terminator motorcycle over the Golden Gate bridge. Awesome.
The only bad point I can think of is the reliance on laser beams that turn on and off to slow things down. It’s a bit of a lame way to try and make the game a bit longer.
Still, I enjoyed my run through the game enormously and consider it to be 59p well spent.
I have to wonder why Gameloft took the “tilt to aim” option out of their more recent shooters. It’s definitely the best way to play and lack of that option in Modern Combat really hurts the game. Strange.
Terminator Salvation Lite (iPhone)
Aug 4th
I’ve been thinking about buying the full version of Terminator Salvation, so thought I should go back to the Lite to see if my opinion about it has changed since I last played.
If anything, it’s even better. I’m now much more used to using virtual pads and buttons than I was even two weeks ago, which helps enormously.
Now I have more idea of the average standard of graphics on the iPhone, it looks even more impressive than it did before. It’s different enough in pace to feel like a complement to Resident Evil 4, rather than a competitor. Really, the only thing holding me back is knowing that it’s £2.99 for a game that, from what I’ve read on forums, lasts no time at all.
Terminator Salvation Lite (iPhone)
Jul 17th
I played through this demo yet again last night. I’m actually seriously considering getting the full game now.
Look, you can even destroy Terminators with a big mounted gun. Who doesn’t want to do that?
And you can point your gun at a ruined school bus for no reason! Ace!
Seriously, though, it’s a good fun game, even though the tilt controls don’t like you changing position while you’re playing the game. Indeed, they’re a bit fussy all the time. I found I couldn’t play lying on my back in bed – my guy just turned around in a circle and wouldn’t stop – but lying on my side worked. I’m sure there’s a technical reason for that.
Terminator Salvation Lite (iPhone)
Jul 16th
Buoyed by my success with controlling Resident Evil, I decided to try this game again. (Assassin’s Creed and Mega Man 2, which also use virtual d-pads had been deleted, so I couldn’t try those.) Guess what? It worked far better than it had before. It seems that Resident Evil had taught me how to get the best from virtual controls.
Moving around with the virtual d-pad and looking around by tilting the phone works best for me, though it’s hard to make small adjustments when lining up shots. The generous auto aim helps most of the time, but sometimes you just wanted to udge the sight slightly and it doesn’t respond until you’ve tipped the phone over more than you want to. Still, it’s a very workable solution, all things considered. I can’t imagine it working for something fast and precise like Quake or Unreal Tournament, but Terminator Salvation does seem to have been designed with the controls in mind, judging by this demo.
I played through it a couple of times and had fun both times. So much so that I’m toying with the idea of getting the full game.
I think I’m going to download Mega Man 2 Lite again to make sure it was as awful as I thought it was.
