The opening chords and rat-a-tat drumming of the familiar Terminator theme sets the tone and gets the blood flowing. The menus are cool and display that special Gameloft touch with dark clouds and lightning flashing behind the red-eyed head of a terminator. As you tap the info buttons you’ll hear nice robotic-techno claps and beeps and find out that there aren’t just one or two control options, but four; a virtual pad, a wheel pad, accelerometer and reversed accelerometer. I found the virtual pad to my liking but there should be a control method to suit everyone. My only complaint is that there’s no sensitivity adjustment, as the accelerometer seems a tad slow.
The graphics are fabulous with great texturing whether you’re making your way down the debris strewn streets of a crumbling Los Angeles circa 2018 or through it’s burnt out buildings and tunnels. The explosions are some of the best ever seen on a mobile phone with sparks and electrical charges dancing around the headless torso of a terminator as he tries to compute before bursting into a fireball. If you take them down with body shots they’ll mindlessly crawl toward you where you can finish them with your boot. If you get close to a standing terminator you can melee it or rip the mini gun from a T-1.
The game is full of small graphical touches such as walking through a room and seeing dust particles floating in the sunlight as it streams through a window or the water reflected off the walls in a sewer, touches that a lesser developer wouldn’t even consider. Yet even with these demanding graphics, the frame rate remains solid amid all the excitement.
As seen in Brothers in Arms, John Connor will take cover behind walls and barriers while you take aim, with a slight assist, on the advancing terminators who rely on sheer numbers and their exoskeleton more than brains or guile for their survival. This cover system, which isn’t available in extreme difficulty, is terrific and adds a lot of tension to the game as you peek around corners or over barriers to line up head-shots on the relentless T-600’s.
Terminator Salvation has great pacing and diversity. One second you’re fighting your way down narrow hallways or tunnels only to break out into an open area where a large firefight is erupting followed by Connor having to hack a door with an accelerometer based mini game. The game play never lets up or becomes repetitive. Even though you’re directed by arrows there’s a sense of freedom due to short alternate paths and different angles you can use to engage the terminators.
Salvation contains an arsenal of nice cut scenes both before and during the missions that give you various objectives or set up an upcoming battle. Several times you’ll need to man a stationary rocket launcher for more killing power when your shotgun, mini gun or grenade launcher aren’t enough to clear out a particularly large group of machines. You also get to commandeer a jeep and motorcycle
There are eight levels in diverse locations in which you can play at 3 difficulty levels. After completion of the levels you unlock the ability to play as a Terminator. The levels aren’t terribly long (about 15-20 min. depending on your playing style) and with game play this involving and fun, time seems to fly, bringing about some game length concerns. Gameloft, ever mindful of its target audience, has already lowered the price of Salvation to less than the cost of a bag of popcorn!
Terminator Salvation is a blast - an abrupt flash. While we all want that thrilling rollercoaster ride or sweet dream to last longer, Gameloft has crafted a game that is so highly-polished and filled with so many signature moments that it demands 5 stars. It’s a remarkable game for a cell phone.
Reviewed by Glenn Yamaguchi - Iphone