TRON: Evolution - Xbox 360 Reviews

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Tron: Evolution is one of the best video games based on a licensed property I've ever played. Let's face it, games based on movies are usually rushed, ill-funded and just plain sloppy. But the developers of T:E clearly put a ton more effort into the game than the usual licensed game gets.

Graphics:

Everything in the game is rendered beautifully. There's a lush, slick quality to the game. As you're running along smooth streets of glass atop of patterned stone-like pieces you'll see your reflection. The glowing lines of light on your costume cast light on the scenery around you. Your helmet and suit reflect the world around you. If you like the look of the world of Tron as it's presented in Legacy you'll love the look of this game. Each new level provides it's own distinct look and color scheme and all are striking. It's not really a game set-up for sight-seeing but I couldn't help stopping now and again to look at the view. It's amazing to be on a ledge in Tron City and look down at the people milling about, or being on a bomb conveyance system in Clu's warship and gazing down at the Recognizer docking bay.

The cut-scenes are not as strong graphically. The character modeling on some of the human faces leaves a lot to be desired, but it's not a train-wreck and the dialogue is well acted.

Gameplay:

Story-mode is relatively short maybe about 8 or so hours altogether if you play straight through (I don't recommend that, however, more on that later) and consists of using parkour-style moves (running along walls, extreme jumps, etc) to get to certain room. The room locks up and then you have to fight and kill a group of enemies or figure out how to navigate to certain buttons to unlock the room before you proceed on, derezzing enemies along the way. There are also short sections of light-cycle riding. There are a ton of combo moves as well as some special disc powers you'll accumulate along the way to keep the fighting from becoming repetitive. I found battles a lot of fun. You recharge your special power energy and health by jumping over objects or running up walls on energy strips so this encourages you to constantly be in motion. The AI on the enemies is pretty good when you're near them, but they are kind of pokey to follow you if you run away, which is a good thing when you're low on health. Though they usually will catch up with you so don't dawdle too much. The parkour movement takes some getting used to especially when the camera shifts so you can clearly see your path but once you catch on it's simple and rewarding to chain moves together and move through the world.

Storyline

The story is fairly straightforward. There's not a lot of depth here, but enough to keep the story moving along and make you want to find out what happens next. Because this is a prequel the ending ends up being rather dark, which is kind of refreshing in a way.

Multi-player

Multi-player mode is one of the best things about the game. I don't know how it'll do long-term, but in the short term it's a ton of fun and quite busy. There are many maps to choose from, and if you buy the game new, you get even more maps then what is included on the disc by entering a code. There are maps where you play as your character and there are also maps where you can activate your light cycle or even get into a Light Tank. There are a few different kinds of games you can play. Some emphasize just derezzing as many people as possible but others require more strategy by capturing power nodes or "capturing a bit" and trying to keep it away from other players.

Final Verdict

If you go into this expecting a game on the level of some of the big studio releases like Mass Effect, Assassins Creed or games of that caliber you'll be disappointed. These sort of games do not have that sort of budget or timeline. But if you want a fun action game with a great look and an enjoyable multi-player and ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of Tron you'll definitely enjoy this game.

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I bought this game with realistic expectationsA) It's a movie license... 'nuff said. B) It's made by the developer that did the recent Turok reboot... yeesh. So I am not surprised that Tron Evolution isn't exactly Game of the Year material. There was no way I wasn't going to play it, as I've been a Tron-tard since the first movie came out, I've been waiting for the new movie for almost 30 years, and this game is a bridge between them, plugging into both.

The overall issue is that the game play lacks polish. The combat boils down to a familiar forumlaas you progress, you acquire different types of disc weapons, which are selected on the fly via the D-pad. When you encounter a new type of enemy, a little analysis window pops up which notes its weakness, i.e. which disc is best used against it. So far so good, but then the system falls apart. Enemies generally aren't particularly distinctive in appearance, so it's not easy to know which disc you should be using against them. And there is no 'target lock' ability, you simply attack whichever enemy happens to be "more or less directly in front of you" at any given moment. When you're fighting multiple enemy types at once, endeavoring to use the right disc against the right enemy isn't worth the hassle. "Whatever, the Bomb disc will kill everything... eventually." Another pillar of game play is free-running/parkour. Most of the time it gets the job done, but it could have used more fine tuning. Coming on the heels of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, it really feels twitchy and stiff. Finally there are vehicle based segments, so far I've used the Light Cycle and the Tank. Neither was especially fun.

If I wasn't such a big Tron freak or if this game had nothing to do with Tron, I probably never would have bothered with it. As it stands, the flawed game play is decent enough that I'll probably play to completion. The visual design is great, though some of the character models seem outdated vis a vis faces and facial animation. (no pun intended) The environments strike a great balance between hearkening back to the original Tron and also being similar to the look of Tron Legacy. I also really like a lot of the sound effects. But all in all, if I was going to recommend a Tron game, it would still be Tron 2.0, the PC game from 2003.

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Most of the gameplay in "Tron Evolution" is lifted wholesale from "Prince of Persia" (2008). The unfortunate thing is, Tron does not bring over the level of design care, camera tuning, and general polish which PoP 2008 enjoyed.

There is also a subtle but important difference in how player-failure is handled, between PoP's "rescued in time by Elika" presentation and Tron's "De-Rez/Re-Install" presentation. The latter feels much more punishing, and increases a player's stress.

Tron does feature vehicle sequences, which are quite rudimentary and unsatisfying. The initial lightcycle run features no time for familiarization before requiring quick turn reactions -andacceleration to deal with a massive jump.

Overall, the game is quite pretty, and re-creates the world of Tron from the recent movie. This is diminished somewhat by in-game cinematics which are muddy and unsaturated compared to the game's own visuals. The audio is busy, but effective.

If you want to enjoy this type of gameplay, consider buying Prince of Persia. If you want to experience Tron as a player, find the old coin-op machine and go to town.

Honest reviews on TRON: Evolution - Xbox 360

I have really fallen into the Tron universe since the new movie came out last winter. I think that the concept is terrific and as far as sci-fi goes, it has a really beleivable world with physics and weight to it. This game is a good suppliment to that. The graphics and rendings are great, you get to run around in this gorgeous world that looks and feels real. The game play is fun with a combination of acrobatic aireal tricks and dynamic combat. Good game.

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A prequel to the movie TRON: LEGACY, TRON: EVOLUTION is a gloriously rendered game that examines in detail the events that led to Clu's rise in the world of the Grid. In the game you play Monitor, a program created by Flynn to investigate the death of the leader of the ISOs. Not long after that, a virus named Abraxas appears and begins causing havoc. In addition, Monitor witnesses the supposed deaths of Flynn and Tron by Clu. Monitor joins forces with a mysterious program named Quorra and through their joint efforts they warn the programs of the grid of Clu's true actions.

The overall gameplay of TRON: EVOLUTION is mostly as a platform game intermixed with a bit of 3rd person combat. There are some racing elements in the light cycle segments. There are also a few times where you get to drive a tank. The tanks were a bit difficult to drive, but overall these segments were some of the most enjoyable because they reminded me of old-school Atari games.

During gameplay, the graphics in TRON: EVOLUTION are extraordinary. The developers have done a remarkable job of capturing the computer world of the TRON movies. There are moments as Monitor is running along or jumping from building to building that you can see his reflection upon the sheen of the structures he is around. The voice acting is also well done and the score is exceptional.

On the negative side, the cut scenes aren't very impressive. Some of the characters, such as Clu and Flynn, aren't rendered very well. They seem out of place with some of the better rendered characters, such as Quorra and Monitor.

The storyline isn't incredibly long, but it takes longer to play through because of the very touchy game control. Running along walls and jumping incredible heights is exciting, but it gets tedious after awhile when you keep repeating the same little segment over and over and over and over because you can't jump over at the right moment. When running from place to place and jumping from object to object, you have to not only use the right buttons and have your character advancing in the proper direction, but you have to use the camera angle control to be looking in the proper direction, too. The game automatically saves quite frequently, which is a bonus so you don't have to keep repeating the same lengthy sequence over and over.

There are more than enough places to recharge your health and special combo attacks. However, in order to recharge your health you have to run up or along certain walls and to recharge the special combo attacks, you have to jump over control boards or lighted trashcans. When fighting a large number of enemies, this becomes tiresome and causes fighting sequences to last longer than they should.

I was a little disappointed by how little the light cycles are used in the story mode. Not only that, but when they are used it isn't very effectively. The light cycles are one of the things that really stood out in the original movie and were what made the original TRON arcade game so difficult. Instead of incorporating their uniqueness, they simply become a vehicle to move the characters from point A to point B.

There are some multi-player elements that is typical of most multi-player elements: a game where you derezz as many programs as you can in a certain amount of time, a capture the flag type game, and a game that's kind of like king of the mountain. There are some games with the light cycle and tank, but neither one of these is used as much as it should.

Overall, even though I got frustrated at certain points and was disappointed by how much of a platform game TRON:EVOLUTION was, I enjoyed it. However, I'm a fan of the original movie and I rented the game and didn't purchase it. Die hard fans are going to want to purchase the game. I'd recommend waiting for a little while until the price comes down and then buying it. For casual fans who wish to own it, I'd say the same. As for other gamers or just someone who is interested in the game, it's best as a rental and not a purchase.