Tron 2.0

The Good
Everything about the TRON world is beautifully constructed. Every single thing in the game has the glowing TRON look (may be diminished on less than highest video settings) that makes the world distinct and everything stand-out. Monolith has done a wonderful job of giving an update to the TRON world which still making everything seem like it belongs and seem in place. Changes between the movie and this game are usually well-explained by characters, help files or email and you can even see where familiar objects have been 'updated' into a different type of program.

The world itself and the dialog is definitely the high-point of the game. You'll find yourself running from a system format and watching the world change as files get compressed and see a defrag rearrange your pathways. You'll grab new permissions from dead programs and avoid viral infection from bright yellow intruders. There's lots of voice acting characters to bring this world to life. The objectives of various missions are diverse and unique.

All in all it's a wonderfully done movie conversion (of course they had a 22 year gap between the movie and this game... most movie licenses aren't willing to wait a fraction of that time for development) and I could talk about that all day, I'll try to focus on the gameplay instead. The game is a solid First Person Shooter with all the elements we've come to expect from the genre; Jumping, crouching, strafing, leaning. The weapons too are indicative of most FPS. You have your melee weapons, sniper weapon, rocket weapon... But the difference is, all these weapons may be upgraded and oftentimes other 'programs' may be run to add abilities to the weapon. For instance, your default weapon (and certainly one of the more unique ones... even after 22 years), the Disc, by default can be thrown at the enemy/obstacles (and bounce off of them) and be recalled. Through upgrades you can give additional status effects to the weapon, or you can load the ability to fire 3 at a time or you can load increased accuracy upgrades. It's all more diverse than your average FPS.

I'm a TRON movie fan and I loved this game.

And for fans of lightcycles, they're here too and also a lot of fun in their simplicity.

There's also a fair share of "secret areas", the finding of which will net you better weapons sooner and/or build upgrades which can increase your stats beyond those of a player who does not find them.

The Bad
So what didn't I like? Well... er... not much. I suppose it would be the 'locked access' areas in the levels that are unopenable by any means (I'd love to explore and see every single thing ;)

At the time of writing this review, I have not finished the game... so I can not comment on the later levels or the ending.

The Bottom Line
On the highest graphics modes... THIS IS TRON!!! Every bit of the world has the unique feel to it and all of it feels as if it should somehow belong. Never has plain black 'grid' walls looked so natural and wonderful. I can't help but think how easily the TRON universe would lend itself to an "online world" of some sort... and in fact this game is very linear; but the player probably won't mind because it's a wonderfully evolving storyline and a bright glowing world!