Time is of the essence

Time Crisis Strike Lite is a fun, free preview of the first stage in Time Crisis Strike, an iPhone and iPod Touch adaptation of the classic arcade game series, in which you fight against the forces of the evil mercenary Wild Dog. Like its stand-up arcade forebears, Time Crisis Strike is a "rail shooter"--a first-person shooter in which you are moved from one static fight scene to the next--but instead of pressing a metal pedal to take cover, you tilt your iPhone or iPod Touch forward to duck and reload (or you can change the settings so you tilt back). You just tap the screen to target the myriad bad guys in Wild Dog's army, as you try to take down all the enemies in each scene before a timer runs out. This preview only takes you through the first stage of the full game, but it provides a surprising amount of replay value with three different difficulty settings.