Tron 2.0

The Good
I wasn't very much surprised when I first saw it, but over time I realised that Tron 2.0 is actually the best FPS I ever played. It's as simple as that - if you add up everything that Tron 2.0 has to offer, no other FPS can surpass it.

First thing you see is the graphical splendour of the game. Even with all settings upped to maximum it plays smoothly on my GF4 Ti4200. Hi-res textures, familiar Tron glow, huge fantastic structures, this simply looks amazing. Add to that very well animated characters with high quality models, great effects and weapons that are absolutely cool and original.

Second thing that you notice about Tron 2.0 are levels. They aren't too complex, they aren't too linear and they aren't repetitive. Almost perfect levels. :)

Then you have a great story. There was a certain lack of cohesion, due to the necessary shooting part of the FPS (sometimes you forget why are you shooting), but other than that it was engaging and enjoyable.

Finally, Tron 2.0 is full of little things that add to the fun. The atmosphere of the movie and of the computer world in general was recreated brilliantly. Spam message on the Internet, funny comments in the code like "Tanks read-only and indestructible. Enjoy. :)", "Progress Bar" where programs hang out and countless other things like that certainly add a lot to the game. There is also a lot of innovation in the game mechanics. The subroutines were very original and because of that the way you approached the weapons was completely different from all other games. Upgrading your subroutines (from Alpha to Beta to Gold) and selecting the active ones depending on the game situation allowed for a great variety of game styles. While some people claimed that the Disc was too powerful and other weapons were useless, I found weapons to be carefully balanced, with optimal strategy being always selecting the right tool for the job.

The Bad
I had some problems with sound. With many enemies around my weapons' sounds didn't work. I had to go to options and disable/enable EAX. I also found that positional 5.1 sound didn't work (for me it was only stereo).

Some cutscenes could be made a bit longer for extra exposition and not to feel rushed.

This isn't really a flaw, but there could have been a little bit more interactivity in the levels and may be things like side-quests.

The Bottom Line
The best first-person shooter as of September 2003.