Remember that hot girl you dated briefly in college (or high school)? The one that made you feel like a superstar because she looked SO GOOD? The one who got everything right, on the outside? The one who, while not unintelligent, simply did not have a lot going on in her head at any given moment?
Well, that’s Tron: Evolution. It’s hot looking, fairly easy, but ultimately empty.
Game: Tron: Evolution
Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: Propaganda Games
Genre: Third Person Action
Price: $60.00 $48.21 at Amazon
Verdict: Beautiful but empty.
Pros: Lovely visual recreation of the modern TRON universe.
Cons: Game play retreads other classics, only not as well.
Acquired via Publisher
The game stars an anonymous System Monitor, Anon, who was created by the real Kevin Flynn in order to figure out what’s going on in his computer world. The beginning cut scene establishes the pacing of the game: Tron: Evolution plays as one big interactive movie with parkour-style button mashing and capoiera-style combat in between the cut scenes. The scenes are enjoyable to watch, the voice acting is solid, and the actors look as convincingly CG as the ones in the actual TRON movie. The editing could use a little work, though; as a movie with game components, a little more attention to detail on the fade in and fade out would go a long way.
It’s almost as if in their joy at being able to work in the TRON universe, the game developers forgot the little things. They obviously spent a LOT of time animating the characters from the movie, and the environments are as lush and foreboding as one could expect. Gameplay, however, is fairly boring once the thrill of wall running and combat combos wears off–a fairly quick thing if players have already played Mirror’s Edge or any modern Prince of Persia game.
Combat in the single player sections consists of throwing the light disk at enemies, learning special combo moves, and running up “health-strips” on the walls to regain health. The first few battles are fun while the controls are new, but repetition wears the shine off quickly. In the first big battle with Abraxas, the erstwhile villain early in the game, the patterns were easily recognizable. Abraxas would fight, jump to a platform to send in some minions, then jump down, then jump to the platform, send in some minions, and then do it all again. Seriously, if a character is supposed to be so badass, why does he need to pattern his attacks, spacing them apart with faceless minions to fight? Are we so lacking in creativity that we can’t come up with better ways to vary and sustain interest in combat?
Multiplayer is an odd addition to this mix of gameplay, with access tied to in-game kiosks that also offer weapons and health upgrades. The PSN community, small already, is not the best place to experience a multiplayer, but with this game, things seem even smaller and less interesting than usual.
The anticipated light-cycle portions of the game simply do not meet the level of excitement they truly deserve. The goal of most of these sections is more about avoiding giant potholes and making jumps from one section of highway to the next; there’s noting even slightly interesting about these sad on-rails sections of the game.
When I was able to look at the game pre-release, the developer on hand really tried to sell me on the fact that there were story beats in the game that led into the movie. When I mentioned how cool it was that this and the other tie-in games would be much more than simple movie tie-ins, he gave me a rueful smile, as if to say, “well, okay…if you say so.” Is the moment of nerd joy in the movie theater worth the $60 price tag? I’m going to have to say no. This is a game that will suit any hardcore TRON fan who wants to run around in the TRON world and have the little story bits that are not available elsewhere. The rest of us will have to look elsewhere for a movie-associated game that isn’t just a simple tie-in built to generate sales for the parent company. Sorry, Disney, but that’s just what this one feels like.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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