Good but needed more Jeff Bridges.
Tron: Evolution is a movie game, plain and simple. They can throw around the term that this is a totally seperate story to the movie but at the end of the day, the game was made to sell tickets. As most of you must know, good movie video games are rare, so rare that very little people believe that they are still possible. Which is why Tron: Evolution is a welcome surprise. It has interesting gameplay and story that make for an above average game that is actually worth playing (shocker !).
Tron: Evolution, as you must already know, bridges (let's see how many off these puns I can make) the story between the first and second film. It feels really well made and thought out, earning its place as a cannon part of the story. It's a dark tale showing you how everything went bad 5 years after the original film's abrupt ending. For a Disney game, there is a surprising amount of drama with characters dying in tragic ways and the main theme of genocide reveals to be interesting without drowning you in jargon (Final Fantasy XIII, this is not). Olivia Wilde and (fake) Jeff Bridges make for an interesting cast and despite the fact that you control a silent protagonist, you become attached to your program and will be compelled to see the story through.
The gameplay is probably, at the same time, Tron's greatest strength and weakest link. To put it this way, the first couple hours will feel like hell. Your character feels loose, uncontrollable and ineffective against the waves of enemies. Combat is confusing and you'll die alot. The thing is, is that Tron's gameplay is an original take on third person action. You basically have to fight like a ninja, jumping off walls and objects, staying mobile at all times. It takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, you'll have a blast and realise the game is very easy. The learning curve is just so steep that you'll kind of want to drop it before the third chapter. Don't.
Tron is deeper than it looks. There are four different combat discs to master, each that can be upgraded. The upgrade system lets you customize your character according to your play style. All your upgrades and level carry over to the multiplayer. Multiplayer is a mixed bag. The light cycle arenas are really fun and hectic. However, the light disc maps are dumb as they require very little skill or strategy. And the game has a naughty tendency of putting you into a game with bots without telling you.
On the presentation side, I hope you like the color blue. The environments are slick but lack in variety. But I guess you can't really complain since this is Tron after all. The best part about the game is Daft Punk. Many songs from the Tron: Legacy soundtrack carry over into the game making for an awesome soundtrack. On the sound side of things, the voice acting is excellent, even fake Jeff Bridges sounds like Jeff Bridges.
All in all, Tron: Evolution is an excellent movie game and a good video game. It's a great companion piece to the movie and will be loved by all Tron fans. It has its faults and the fact that you can beat it in about 3 hours if you'r egood at it doesn't help. But this is a perfect rental and should appeal to all.
One Word Review: Jeff Bridges
Yann
0 Comments