Tron 2.0 (PC)

Page 2

Just when things get interesting, though, the game typically gives you another forgettable level, or it sabotages itself with unimaginatively implemented shooter clichés. You're forced to protect a helpless ally from hordes of onrushing enemies. You must fight through nonsensical, prosaic boss battles. You have to work through tedious and arbitrary jumping puzzles that require a bunch of retries. These sorts of things can work if they're given a fresh twist, but that's just not the case here.

While the gameplay is mostly generic shooter fare at heart, everything has been given a fresh name. In Tron 2.0, ordinary shooter objects, enemies, and concepts get names inspired by the world of computer programming. A key is now a "permission," an exit is a "data stream," and a power-up is a "subroutine."

The game features light RPG elements, so instead of leveling up, you "upgrade" your character by completing missions and picking up "build notes" that are scattered about the gameworld. Instead of reaching character level two, for instance, you upgrade to version 2.0.0 and get to distribute extra stat points to a handful of abilities like "transfer_rate" (how fast you can pick up keys, power-ups, and the like). As the game progresses, you find, keep, and then upgrade a variety of subroutine power-ups. When installed, these grant you special abilities, like added damage, quieter movement, or higher jumping. You only get a limited number of free "memory blocks," so you need to decide which subroutines to install at any given time.

This whole management aspect of the game adds a welcome bit of strategizing, but it's also where all the computerese moves from being a clever movie tie-in to being potentially frustrating. Figuring out what all these power-ups are and how to manipulate them can be confusing at first because of the cognitive dissonance caused by all the usual shooter terms being switched into Tron-speak. On the bright side, the actual interface for using them is clear once you get the hang of it.

Along with Tron 2.0's story-based campaign, you get a separate light cycle game mode. (You also ride the cycles a number of times in the campaign.) Here you compete in a series of battles against AI opponents in different arenas. For anyone who's seen the film, the cycle racing works just the way you'd expect, with some additions like power-ups, an advanced super cycle, zones that affect your speed as you travel over them, and so forth. If you're unfamiliar with the film, think of the omnipresent Snake game found on cell phones for an analogy. The cycles make 90-degree turns. They can speed up or slow down but can never stop, and each of them leaves a long, receding trail. If you hit a wall, your own trail, or someone else's trail, you lose. So, at high speeds, you try to block in your opponents while avoiding the same fate. The light cycle racing is moderately amusing, with enough variations to keep it interesting for a while. Unfortunately, it lacks the cinematic drama and adrenaline-pumping thrills of the cycle sequence in the film.

You can also race the light cycles against friends, but you'll need a LAN to do it. Internet multiplayer is limited to a disc combat mode, akin to what you see in the film and the old Discs of Tron arcade game. Unfortunately, we were unable to connect to servers to test it. The manual mentions a patch that might address this issue, but it hasn't been released yet. We assume the patch will fix this problem in short order.

More than anything, the Tron film was famed for its then-cutting-edge, computer-generated visuals and trademark neon glow. That's one thing Tron 2.0 nails beautifully. It's all here: the stark, blocky geometric structures outlined in brilliant blues and reds and yellows, the paper-thin trails of the light cycles, and the pulsating diamond-like bytes and bits that occasionally talk to you. As far as copying the film's look and feel, Monolith's artists got it all right. They did have some help from legendary visual conceptualist Syd Mead, who worked on the film and helped design the super cycle for the game. Still, with a few very impressive exceptions, all the blocky, glowing rooms blur together once the neon novelty wears off.

Tron 2.0's audio also fares pretty well overall. Despite having a few well-known actors on board, like Bruce Boxleitner from the film, most of the voice-overs sound generic. In fact, Jet sounds way too much like a gee-whiz Saturday morning cartoon character to take seriously. On the other hand, springy footsteps, derezzing enemies, light cycle engine whines, and weapon effects are all well-done and will be familiar to fans of the film. The music effectively reworks some of the themes from Wendy Carlos' original movie score in a nice homage.

Like the original film, Tron 2.0 has an unusual visual style, though this time it's merely a copy--albeit a very good one--of what was once so fresh and original. The gameplay concepts tie into the film nicely, too, so hardcore fans of the movie should enjoy it as a nostalgic trip. On the other hand, Tron 2.0 suffers from too many generic and uninspired sections and dull combat. The multiplayer issues are also cause for real concern, though we assume they'll be fixed soon enough. Despite such faults, Tron 2.0 nevertheless does have some real strengths that help make it a solid, if ultimately unexceptional, shooter.

See more CNET content tagged:

cycle,

Disney Corp.

Compare prices for Tron 2.0

This product is currently not in stock at any of our online merchants.

Email me when this product is available