Buena Vista Games first foray as a publisher has certainly been handled with a whole lot of flair and pizzazz, (having the very deep pockets of Disney behind you will do that). Consider that for the launch of TRON 2.0 Buena Vista was kind enough to book a theater in one of Toronto’s most famous Cineplex’s and then give us the opportunity to play the game on the big screen. It’s very difficult not to bump up a score when a company helps you fulfill one of your many gaming fantasies. How many people haven’t wanted to play their games on a HUGE screen with the sound blasting as loud as a Lucas THX system would let them? Journalistic Integrity aside, many thanks goes out to Buena Vista for the experience.
With TRON 2.0 it’s clear Buena Vista Games wanted to come out of the gate and establish themselves as a premier publisher known for its high quality games. A smart move if you consider that so many publisher’s games are bought purely on their reputation now a days. The TRON license is good place to start since it’s a cult hit that will attract both the old time gamers who loved the original movie, and the new kids with its flash. TRON may not quite be a top of the line AAA title, but it’s a great game that will certainly help establish Buena Vista as a top tier publisher.
By far the best part of TRON 2.0 is its story. It’s perfectly tuned to the original down to the smallest detail and quite frankly, as a result, it’s one of the best presented games in recent times. The voice work in the game is top notch, and that’s not too hard to believe when you consider that Buena Vista brought in 2 of the original cast, plus Rebecca Romijn-Stamos to voice some of the main talent in the game.
Movie quality cutscenes help to move the story along as we follow a kidnapped Alan Bradley (of the original movie) and his son Jet in his quest to track down his dad, and unravel the secret of his disappearance. Jet is your new hero taking over the role Alan Bradley had 20 years ago, and he’ll unleash his heroism in much the same way his dad did all that time ago.
Besides the cut-scenes and voice over work, you’ll have another way to get information about what’s going on around you. In the days of internet I don’t think it’ll shock you to find out that its emails that will make up the bulk of your information. The emails even take on an added level of depth since what you can read will correspond directly to whose server you’re in.
There really is an attempt to make TRON 2.0 look, feel, and sound like the inside of a computer. Besides all the internal emails, you’ve got enemies who’re are named ICP Programs, Corrupted Programs, the Kernel, Bits, Bytes, and every other computer related name you can think of. These aptly named people also interact and speak computer lingo in ways that may make most of the computer geeks out there smile. It’s not over the top by any means; just right on the money in setting the tone of the game.
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The weapons and gameplay of TRON 2.0 is an enigma; you’re given the chance to use 12 weapons in the game but none are even remotely worth using when compared to your Disc. There will however be times where the game will actually force you to use another weapon, but they’re so few and far between that they won’t affect your experience in any way. Because of that, those of you with short attention spans, and the need to be dazzled at every turn my find this to be a big no-no. The flip side of that is those who take the time to learn to use the disc and upgrade it will find it very deep and quite frankly, more useful then any one weapon you’ve come across in any previous FPS.
This will certainly be the main sticking point that might keep TRON 2.0 from reaching the pinnacle of gaming heights for you. On easy difficulty settings where the AI is dumb as a rock, you can simply walk around and slap your enemies in the face with the Disc -- and I don’t disagree that after 4 hrs of play even I’d be bored of that. However as the difficult increases, and you need to learn to block, spin, and put your disk to full use, boredom tends to be the furthest thing from your mind. You’ll have to remember that once you pick up TRON: play it on easy, looking to coast through the game and you’ll only be playing to see the story unfold. You will have to find that perfect balance of challenge and enjoyment in TRON 2.0, because the hardest difficulty settings may also be out of your league. Experiment on the training levels, and find that perfect mix that forces you to use the Disc to its fullest while allowing you to actually stay alive.
Another would be problem for some of you will be the jumping. It’s not that the jumping isn’t tight (it’s almost as good as what you’ll find in Metroid Prime). The problem is that a lot of you hardcore FPS lovers HATE jumping in your games, and I can guarantee if that’s the case you’ll be getting ready to punch the screen within 1 hr of playing TRON. Jumping puzzles abound everywhere, and they’re sure to infuriate many of you.
The most unfortunate part of the game (from a difficulty stand point), is going to be the Light Cycle missions. I just finished telling you above that you NEEDED to increased the difficult settings of the game in order to truly enjoy using the Disc, but this my friends is where you’ll pay for that enjoyment (and in spades). Those of you who consider yourselves to have very quick reflexes raise your hands now – congratulations, but you’re still going to find yourself getting whooped by the AI. This part of the game is going to test your video gaming ability in ways not remembered since the days of Super Ghouls and Ghosts. Luckily for us all the Light Cycles take up but a small part of the single player game – so you can all expect to be on them for hours, but at least you’re not overloaded with them. Don’t let the difficulty of Light Cycles in the single player game fool you, because the multiplayer online part of it is fun, and enjoyable for all. That’s mostly a result of knowing if you lose it’s not because you don’t have the reflexes of a robot, but that you suck when compared to your human opponents. As is the case with every online multiplayer, be afraid of high pings, especially here where a tenth of a second is the difference between a wall and a win.
The graphics aren’t just good in TRON 2.0 they’re revolutionary; with a technology developed in conjunction with NVIDIA that gives the game a natural glow that duplicates the look of the original movie very well. Weather this will be your cup of tea remains to be seen, but make no mistake about it: TRON is a graphical marvel with transparencies, silky smooth character models, and environments that just come to life, making you FEEL like you really are inside of a computer.
Well there’s good and there’s bad – so where does TRON 2.0 stand in the grand scheme of gaming? It won’t win game of the year when it’s time to tally the votes for 2003, but don’t be surprised if it’s one of the highest selling games regardless. The same reason that will keep this game from being game of the year, will also give it great sales: TRON 2.0 has something for everyone. It doesn’t try to blow away any one particular segment of the gaming public, but offers enough for everyone to warrant picking it up. It’s not often I say this, the hardcore audience may be vocal with the problems, but it won’t stop TRON 2.0 from selling millions.
TRON 2.0 is a great start for Buena Vista games, and should go a long way to help establishing it as a respected publisher.
