Into the Vault: Tron: Evolution
Tron is having a bit of a moment yet again, as the uneven Disney sci-fi franchise just recently had a brand new ride open at Walt Disney World, and as all new rides at a Disney park are it’s pretty popular right off the bat. It’s also getting a new video game out this week on PC and Nintendo Switch, Tron: Identity, albeit a more low-key release as it’s made by an indie studio and it’s a visual novel-style of game (which I am buying tomorrow and will likely have a review up by this weekend). But it seemed like an opportune time to look back at a past attempt to do Tron in a video game which seems like the most natural fit in the world but has been met with mixed success over the years.
Tron: Evolution serves as a prequel to the last Tron movie released, Tron: Legacy, and features the majority of characters and their likenesses in the game. It basically shows how the world of Tron in Tron: Legacy got to where it is. You play as a security program created by Flynn to investigate a conspiracy going on in the digital world. Disc battles, light cycle races and more ensue.
I’ll be upfront with my opinion of Tron as a film franchise: Not a fan. But I’ve had a good time with a couple of the games based on the franchise (Discs of Tron is a fantastic game you can buy for $5 on Xbox right now) and I see the potential in the design and feel of the franchise for video games, so I went into Tron: Evolution with an open mind that it might not be another mediocre licensed tie-in.
And ultimately with Tron: Evolution there are the bones of an interesting game, with some parkour elements, leveling up Anon with better stats and new abilities. But it’s wasted on repetitive environments with a bland story (just like the movies, hiyo!) and the controls just aren’t up to snuff.
The combat is fine but even with adding new moves and abilities and varying up the enemies a bit with shielding and whatnot largely remains the same from the first ten minutes of the game.
The biggest problem in Tron: Evolution is the fact that it’s very parkour-centered and doesn’t control very well on that end. Your jumps and wall- runs always feel awkward and come up short. If the parkour was done really well this could mix with the combat to make for some really fun sequences, but they just don’t mesh well (or at all).
I’ll be honest I didn’t bother with any of the multi-player modes because I can only imagine what kind of insane people are still playing multi-player modes of Tron: Evolution nearly 15 years after its release. Definitely not anyone who would let a newbie learn the ropes and have fun.
Ultimately Tron: Evolution is not a terrible game though, just one that feels like it had a lot more potential it didn’t live up to most likely due to time constraints like most games directly tied to a movie release. I actually think if you are a fan of the films (which again I am not) you will probably get some enjoyment out of this and these days it’s not horribly expensive on PC or Xbox (for reference I played it on my Xbox series X). On the tier of video game movie tie-ins, it’s far from the most egregious, it might be worth a pickup if you are in fact getting some Tron nostalgia with all the renewed hype.
That’s all for today, as I mentioned earlier brand new Tron game, Tron: Identity is due out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch and PC, I fully am planning on having a review of that up this weekend so look for that and see ya real soon.
