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.

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.

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.

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.

Metal Gear Solid Touch Lite – Very much enjoyed this. Drag your sights around the screen to shoot enemies, the catch being that when you’re moving the sights and shooting you can be shot, but when you’re still you go into cover. I’d very much like the full version, but £4.99 feels steep when it used to cost £3.49.

I Love Katamari Lite – Haven’t quite got used to the tilt controls. Not sure I ever could. I need to play it more, see if it ever becomes comfortable.

Eliss Lite – A game that wouldn’t work on any platform other than the iPhone, which makes it something of a novelty. It’s meant to be good, but the demo is too short and the instructions make no sense at all. I’m interested, but not rushing off to buy.

My Brute Lite – Very limited demo. I play the web version every day, so an iPhone version would seem like an immediate buy, but £2.99 just feels too expensive. £1.79 or less and I’m there… though I may well cave and buy it soon anyway.

Tangled Lite – Untangle stuff. Can’t get my head around it at all and only solve puzzles by fluke. For clever people, though, I can see this being decent.

Unblock Me Free – Great little puzzle game that works perfectly and requires actual thinking. Good stuff.

Skybound Lite – Last but far from least, this is a lovely little game that reminds me off a flash game from a year or two ago where you had to collect bells, or something. A ball falls down the screen, you draw clouds underneath it so it bounces back up, you see how high you can go. Great little demo. I’d buy the full version for 59p in an instant and will probably pay the current price (£1.19 I think) before too long.