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May 15, 2009 8:20 am US/Central
Review: "Terminator" Blows Up On Your iPhone
By Phil Stauskas
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Shooter games, whether done from a first-person perspective or a third-person perspective, often require complex controls. You need two joysticks, one for movement and another for aiming you weapon. You need a jump button and a crouch button. You need a button for opening doors and using items. You need a way to change weapons. Plus, the environments are so big, and enemies lurk around every corner, so you need to be able to access these options quickly and easily.
The skill that's required to effectively play these games has made the genre extremely popular amongst gamers. And as the iPhone gains ground within the video game industry, more and more companies are trying to shift the shooter genre onto the smaller, mobile platform.
But it hasn't quite worked yet.
One of the latest attempts at adapting a shooter onto the iPhone comes courtesy of the new "Terminator: Salvation" movie, landing in theaters later this month. The fourth film of the franchise brings out the big guns, literally. It promises to be loud and full of action, and the iPhone game aims to replicate that.
From that perspective, I suppose the game succeeds. The "Terminator: Salvation" iPhone game is filled with more random explosions than "Terminator: Salvation" star Christian Bale. (
Click here to listen to him rant on the film's set.) There are barrels and buildings and machines blowing up all around you. Gunfire comes from all directions. Airships swoop in to level abandoned cities. Towering machines toss grenades at you. It's exhausting.
Still, and perhaps this is more of a commentary on the movie than the game, everything seems so bland. The environment is mostly in ruins, so places start to lose their distinction. The enemies are just random robots, both big and small, and only a few remind me of the "Terminator" movies. The visuals have been copied in so many other video games that this now feels generic and overdone.
Once you get past the title screens, the "Terminator: Salvation" iPhone game stops feeling epic.
And again, in what seems to be the trend so far for shooter games on the iPhone, the controls are still lacking. Players can choose from one of four different setups, with the primary difference being how you aim. You can either use your finger on the touch screen or the iPhone's accelerometer, tilting the device around to move your aiming reticule. But the touch screen controls aren't as responsive and precise as they need to be, and tilting the phone often leaves your charcater spinning in circles, or you standing in awkward positions without a good view of the screen.
For what it's worth, "Terminator: Salvation" is actually one of the better shooter games on the iPhone. The genre just hasn't been perfected yet on a mobile platform. We're getting closer, I think, but for now we're left with test subjects as companies experiment with the formula.
Priced at only $5.99, the game might be solid enough to warrant a purchase if you're interested in seeing how the genre is progressing. But if you're low on cash and picky with what apps you buy, a better game is coming in the future. Hopefully.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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