Reviewing a game based on a license one isn’t familiar with is a blessing and curse. It’s good because the license itself can’t influence you, but troublesome because you don’t know what things long-time fans will be looking for beyond the most basic facts. So forgive me if I miss various details on the Tron franchise as it’s presented here; this will primarily be a look at how Tron: Evolution holds up as a game. Primarily a third-person action game, Tron: Evolution lets you control a Monitor and fight your way through several stages while uncovering a plot that ties the original movie together with the upcoming one.
When played offline, Evolution is essentially a brawler and platformer with some vehicle segments mixed in. You run through several stages, fighting your way through a variety of enemies (many of which are similar to your character, complete with being armed with the same iconic throwing disc you have) and watching the occasional cutscene. You can do all the usual things; run, jump, do close combat combos, and so on. Where things get different is your disc, which is a throwing weapon but can also hold upgrades that give it new abilities such as stunning foes or striking them with explosive force that gets past their thick shields. You can also purchase various upgrades as you gain enough points, ranging from simple health upgrades to new attack forms, and this works well enough.
One of Evolution’s more noticable traits is its love of acrobatics. Your character can sprint, spring off walls and low objects, sometimes swing along from point to point using a ’grapple beam’, and even run along surfaces in a somewhat exaggerated parkour style. While some of these maneuvers are gimmicks, most of them are required to progress through the game and you’ll be using them a lot. It’s great fun at first, but even as new challenges and ideas are introduced the further you get into the game... the novelty wears off eventually. Vehicle segments try to delay that, and they do that to some extent but aren’t strong enough to carry the game on their own. Along with the repetition, this game suffers from a bad camera. The controls are fine, but you’re often in narrow environments and the camera will pick bizarre places to sit unless you manually adjust it; this can get you killed on some occasions.
Much of what was just said carries over to online play as well, and this is where Tron: Evolution does better for itself. You can play with up to nine others in various modes, ranging from the typical deathmatch and team deathmatch to more strategic fare like Power Monger where you occupy various control points. Some of the maps are very well suited to vehicle use, and it can be great fun chasing after one another on Light-Cycles; even those only vaguely familiar with Tron can enjoy the maneuvering and reflexes being tested as you exchange disc throws and try to trick one another into driving over your energy-line ’wake’ which usually does heavy damage (or can even be an instant kill in some cases). These sort of fights against other human players are easily the best part of the game.
Level-ups persist across single-player and online matches, which doesn’t seem ideal but is better than forcing players to go through several online games in order to have enough upgrades to stand a chance. The option is there, at least; if one mode is giving you trouble, play the other to pick up some points and see if a few more upgrades will get you past your problem.
As a decent but not spectacular action game, Tron: Evolution seems to have only one real target audience: Tron fans. It won’t do much for those who don’t already like the franchise since you’ll be busy wondering who the various characters are and why you should care, but if you’re fond of the original film and/or interested in the upcoming one then this might be worth a look.
