When reviewing a game like this, often times it is difficult to separate the effect of nostalgia from the actual gameplay elements. However, to deny yourself the effect of nostalgia, especially in this particular game, considering it's incredible fan base of the original 80's cult film, would be an attempt to ignore the deliberate attempts of the programmers to use nostalgia to their advantage. In Tron 2.0, often times it's the throwbacks to the original plotline that will provide for the most enjoyment. There are times when the player will find an email from one of the original characters from the movie, and that alone will sometimes provide more satisfaction than defeating an enemy. Returning to the original game grid from the movie was definitely a nice cookie for the fans too. Nostalgia aside, the any virgin to the Tron universe will not be dissapointed by this game. The system requirements are steep, but those who have invested the time and money into converting their word processor into a bonafide gaming platform will drool over the visuals in this game. Everything is as it was in the original movie. Every surface has an ambient glow, like a neon sign and circuitry runs through practically every surface in the area. Everything moves mechanically, from the wall patterns to the weapons you break out and use. I'd be lying if I said that the level design would shine if the walls and surfaces didn't, but the designers obviously took a lot of time and effort to re-create the visual style of the original movie. This game strays a bit from the conventional FPS by incorporating some fundamentally RPG elements into the mix. In some of the wooden crates (read "storage bins") you'll find upgrades to your programming that affect your stats, such as jump height, available weapons, energy use, and armor upgrades. This adds a sense of progression that is rarely found in other FPS games. In other games, you're exactly the same person on the last level of the game as you are at the very beginning, save for a few more weapons. The game is very linear, and only allows the user to wander for the purpose of collecting your build points (experience points)and extra upgrades. The soundtrack is excellent for anyone that appreciates electronic music. The team at monolith did an excellent job with the dynamic music as they did in the NOLF and AVP series. Some of the original score from the movie was used in places to help add to the immersion. Sound effects for walking and firing weapons are well done, adding the "digitized" effect (acoustic room echoes and phaser/flanger effects). The voice cast is well rounded, and while the dialogue is fixed and a little campy at times, it captures the tone that the movie did. The writers did a great job updating the dialogue for the year 2003, and avoided some blatant ignorant errors that the original movie script had with respect to using tech terms properly instead of just reaching blindly into the cyber-geek lexicon, eg "Integer the RAM Processing procedure for great megabytes, and defrag the bit byte hard drive motherboard overclock while you're at it!" Thankfully, that kind of speak, albeit hilarious, is not found in this game to that extent. The Multiplayer element of the game is entertaining. My only complaints about this particular feature of the game is variety. It's apparent that the designer's primary concern was to create a solid single player experience and threw the multiplayer in as a bread for the circus. The disc game is entertaining, but it's the equivalent of deathmatch to any other game. If they had included a mode that allowed to teams to try an dominate an area by channeling energy into blocks or walls to turn them your team's color, putting an energy pool in the middle for refills, a sort of "viruses vs. antiviruses" kind of mode, that would be mroe akin to UT03's dominate.. or include an assault mode of some kind. The lightcycles are all but useless over the internet because the designers put a ping cap on it. I don't blame them for it, because the nature of lightcycle battles demands split-second reactions. IT would be like trying to play rock-paper-scissors via telegraph. I only wish they could have optimized the online code a bit more to allow for a little bit more freedom for those who don't have a spare T1 in their back pocket. With all of this taken into consideration, the game is very polished, very beautiful and downright fun to play. Your 50 dollars will not be spent in vain. -Brian "FaNToM" Smith
This will be a pretty short review. The main review really sums up a lot of how I also felt. Visually, the game is fantastic - from the glow effect to some extremely large and varied levels, the visual presentation i... Read Full Review
Say what you will about the groundbreaking CG effects used to approximate a virtual world in Tron, but that movie bored the heck out of me. Due to what I suppose were enormous budgetary and technical constraints, most o... Read Full Review
