If you believe in the law of diminishing returns, then the second movie tie-in from a very average film should be a big disappointment, right? Well, of sorts, though just like the desperate endo-skeleton at the end of the first Terminator movie, Redemption makes a damn good fight of it.

The futuristic action kicks off with a reprogrammed Arnie fighting for the human resistance against the mighty Skynet. And kick off it does, because Redemption allows Arnie to flex his mechanical muscles and indulge in some seriously slick fighting. The on-foot action is satisfyingly violent and hectic, making for a very entertaining third-person blaster. The auto lock-on function means charging through waves of Terminators and Skynet vehicles is a riot, so put your CPU-powered brain on hold for some great, thought-free blasting.

However, our unfeeling friend doesn't boast a hefty combo list for nothing, so get up close and personal with the murderous mechanoids and put the boot in. Or fist. Or any object that comes to hand in fact, because street signs and other assorted debris are all fair game to try and quell the rise of the machines, and it's brilliant fun smashing your way through the aluminium armies.

If you played our T3: Redemption demo way back in Issue 28, you'll know the game involves a fair bit of vehicular action, and here's where events really start to go off. Each mission usually requires some kind of pursuit, and one of your human allies will either rock up with a suitable vehicle, or public vehicles will be on hand to be 'commandeered' in Arnie's own inimitable way. The controls (the Left thumbstick moves and steers, whilst the Right thumbstick separately aims your weapon) are a bit tricky to get to grips with, and may feel alien to anyone familiar with the more intuitive controls of, say, Halo's Warthog.

The graphics may look a bit dated now, but at least the action never lets up for one second, and provides an absolutely mental, balls-out gaming experience. Tons of enemies and huge explosions are thrown at players at a breakneck pace, and really make for an exhilarating time. Trust us, using force is the only way to safely navigate the environments when bridges are collapsing, buildings are exploding and everyone's trying to kill you. Upgrade points are awarded for completing a mission within a set time limit too, again encouraging speedy, scintillating gameplay.

That said, the later, purely driving-based levels set in the present day do drag their impressive predecessors down a bit. Modern-day man's vehicles limp weakly behind the futuristic might of Skynet tanks, and feel slow and sluggish. Shortcuts are the only way to successfully chase down the fleeing T-X but, because of their obscure nature, victory is dependent on memorising an exact route after some very frustrating trial and error gameplay.

But don't get us wrong; T3's full of neat little touches. Arnie's trademark 'Scan' vision is fully customisable, (charge time, damage infliction etc), and its kill-enhancing nature means you'll be spending more time in the red than Nick Leeson.

A solid shooter that's only let down by rudimentary presentation and frustrating driving levels, Redemption does go some way to redeeming the reputation of Terminator tie-ins.

1. Absolutely ballistic vehicular combat. There's so much going on it's gonna make your eyes bleed.
2. Players are encouraged to use a great mix of on-foot blasting and hand-to-hand combat.

1. Punishing trial and error gameplay, especially during later driving missions, resulting in frequently replaying entire levels from the start.
2. Action and excitement wise, this is bang on the money, though poor graphics look decidedly last-gen.
3. After the umpteenth run/shoot/hop aboard a vehicle scripted mission, gameplay does become rather repetitive.

Ignore Arnie, remove your CPU chip and indulge in some mindless, repetitive blasting. We're sure he'll be back.