TRON 2.0 from Buena Vista did something that rarely is ever done when creating games based on movie licenses: it actually expanded on the story of the movie, and fleshed out the universe it created. It wasn’t a perfect title, but fans of the movie were given a credible title to play around with. Developer Climax is putting the finishing touches on the Xbox expansion of the series with TRON 2.0: Killer App, and from what we saw it’s coming along nicely.

The single player mode of the game will remain completely unchanged from a story standpoint. Where Climax has worked hard is to make Killer App as good a console experience as possible. As with the original you’ll take control of Jet Bradley (son of Alan Bradley), who gets sucked into the digital world to save his father.

TRON 2.0 thankfully looks identical to its PC cousin, down to the blue glow, and although you can never expect the Xbox version to be on par with the PC’s, it’s certainly negligible in its differences in quality.

Where the Xbox version shines is in the control department. Although it’s difficult to explain why, the Xbox version just controls better then the PC version. It’s not even that the PC version had horrible controls; it’s just that the Xbox version is that tight. It almost makes it feel like the Xbox is a better home for this franchise then the PC.

The single player portion of the game isn’t where you’re going to get your new experiences – it’ll be in the extensive multiplayer features that are being implemented for the Xbox. The Xbox version gets a huge leg up from the start over the PC because it will pack multiplayer light cycle gameplay.

The most interesting mode that comes about from the inclusion of light cycles is the overRIDE deathmatch mode. You’ll be able to attack in standard First Person Shooter (FPS) ways, but you can also ride around on your light cycle at any time. It creates a few new and interesting ways to have multiplayer fun; you’ll be able to run over your opponents if on your light cycle, or set traps that’ll cause the light cycle to crash if you’re on foot. That’s in addition to the usual light cycle vs. light cycle racing, and FPS vs. FPS fighting.

The “normal” multiplayer experience in TRON 2.0: Killer App will make use of Xbox Live, and you’ll be able to play with 16 other players on the same level. 16 players is the excepted max number of people you can allow in a single level before the game gets very slow as a result of internet connections. Having 16 players on one level at one time should be great fun on Xbox Live, and is probably the biggest selling point of the game.

Other game modes will include: Disc arena, disc tournament, team deathmatch, team overRIDE, light cycle, and data capture. There’s expected to be 42 multiplayer maps you’ll be able to play on, which is an insane amount of maps for a console FPS.

TRON 2.0: Killer App was a decent experience on the PC, but its Xbox cousin looks like it’s going to be a better experience for players. The game will be in store shelves later next month, and we’ll be sure to post a final review then.