When I first decided to contribute to this blog nine years ago, my
first review was a review of the video game Tron: Evolution, which was
released to coincide with the movie Tron: Legacy. In my original review,
I was a bit harsh towards the game, however with the impending milestone of
1000 reviews, I decided it was time I give the game another shot and possibly
do it better justice. Though I did remember my initial complaints from my first
playthrough, I got past them on my second playthrough, via New Game +, by
actually getting better acquainted with the controls. Once I had done that, I
found myself actually enjoying the game for what it is, effectively taking back
most of the things I said about it last time.
Before the events of Tron: Legacy, Kevin Flynn records a video
of himself where he talks about the existence of ISOs (Isomorphic Algorithms)
in the system he created, the strange part being that he never programmed them.
Flynn decides to send in a security program he created called Anon to
investigate the death of one of the ISO leaders, Jalen, believing it to have
been a murder orchestrated by Clu, who believes ISOs to be a threat. While
attending and guarding a ceremony for ISO leader Radia, Anon runs into Quorra
shortly before the ceremony is attacked by a virus going by the name Abraxis.
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| Kevin Flynn explains the situation with ISOs. |
As noted above, the game is meant to act as a direct prequel to Tron:
Legacy, filling in story gaps left by its precursors Tron: Betrayal
(a tie-in comic) and Tron: Evolution – Battle Grids (the Wii/3DS version
of the game). In this way, the game works as a way to help explain how the
events of Tron: Legacy got to the point where they did, though fully
understanding it requires at least some cursory knowledge of the Tron
series.
A bulk of the gameplay involves some amount of platforming, featuring a
variety of moves such as vaulting, wall running, wall jumping and hanging from
ledges or objects. Those first two even contribute to the gameplay beyond
platforming, as vaulting glowing objects refills your special moves and wall
running on specific areas refills your health. Once I got the hang of how the
platforming worked, I didn’t mind it too much, however it’s still entirely
possible to derezz from a badly-timed jump, especially during the late game,
and so timing jumps just right eventually becomes a necessity.
Derezzing is also rather frequent in this game, that is unless you
upgrade your character as often as possible. Every time you level up after
gaining enough EXP, you earn more MB (Megabytes) to upgrade Anon, which you can use at
upgrade stations found at certain points in a level. Upgrading your stats and
Discs also allows combat to move a bit faster, though the seemingly endless
swarms of enemies in some areas can still end up a drag. There are four
different Disc types, though for the most part I only needed to use two of
them. The Stasis Disc is required to take on some swarms of viruses, though
aside from that I relied more on the Bomb Disc due to its ability to one-shot a
Tank or act as effective crowd control against most enemies, especially when
upgraded.
Combat and platforming sections are also broken up by Tank and Light
Cycle sections, each with their own gameplay styles. The Tank controls a little
awkwardly, though it mainly involves derezzing enemies and Recognizers, with
rolling over certain spots increasing health. Light Cycle sections are similar,
except with less awkward controls; the real challenge comes from controlling
your speed effectively, as going at max speed can cause you to derezz in some
way, however top speed is required to go the full distance on jumps. There are
also hidden collectibles scattered throughout levels in the form of Tron Files
and Abraxis Shards, the latter being said character’s Identity Disc, and
collecting both of these reveals more about the world and story.
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| Speed is everything in the Light Cycle sections. |
The game also advertises itself as being compatible with PlayStation
Move. While it is certainly possible, I don’t quite have a good grasp on how
the feature was actually implemented, and so I don’t have any real comment to
make here on that.
For this review, I decided to give the multiplayer another shot as well.
Either there really was a server demand at the time of the original review or I
was just doing it wrong, though either way, I was surprised to be able to participate
in a match immediately. After a single match, in which I actually did pretty
well, I can safely say that, even after nine years, there still exists a
thriving online community for this game, so those looking for the multiplayer
option will not be disappointed.
Visually, the game perfectly replicates the look of Tron: Legacy,
with original characters appearing as though they had come straight out of the Tron
universe. While they did get to use the likenesses of Bruce Boxleitner (Tron),
Olivia Wilde (Quorra), Michael Sheen (Zuse) and a young Jeff Bridges (Kevin
Flynn), their CG renders as seen in cutscenes have only aged mostly well, if
only due to the primary factor of it being a nine-year-old game. That said,
while the environments are varied, some of them are a little dark to where I
only obtained Tron Files and Abarxis Shards I had not previously collected by
stumbling into them on accident.
The music, composed by Sonic Mayhem, Cris Velasco and Kevin Manthei,
deserves some praise as well. While the soundtrack makes use of Daft Punk’s
“The Grid” and “Derezzed” from Tron: Legacy, the rest of the score takes
the style of Daft Punk and runs with it to craft an identity of its own, with
the battle music being a primary standout.
As for the voice acting, Bruce Boxleitner and Olivia Wilde actually
reprise their roles as Tron and Quorra respectively from Tron: Legacy,
giving a performance consistent with their on-screen counterparts. Though only
Michael Sheen’s likeness was used, James Frain does a good job emulating his
performance as Zuse; likewise, Fred Tatasciore shows off his range as a
convincing sound-alike for Jeff Bridges as both Kevin Flynn and Clu. As for
original characters, John Glover delivers a great performance as the
intimidating Abraxis while Jensen Ackles makes good use of his screen time as
the opportunistic Gibson, with FLCL alum Kari Wahlgren displaying more
of her talent while portraying ISO leader Radia.
As a side note, when I played this game the first time, I did so using
the officially licensed Collector’s Edition wired PS3 controller from PDP,
which replicates the Tron aesthetic and lights up when plugged in; though it
doesn’t only work with Tron: Evolution, this ended up being the only
game I actually used it with. I had dug it out for use during my second
playthrough, however the rubber had evidently begun to deteriorate after nine
years, with the rubber that makes up most of the body becoming sticky to the
point where I opted to use a regular controller instead. Additionally, upon
noticing the DLC code that came with the game didn’t have any expiration date
on it, I decided to try and redeem it to see if it would actually work;
surprisingly, it still did, so if you have not yet redeemed your own DLC code,
you can rest easy.
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| This is an awesome controller. Unfortunately, its materials have not quite stood the test of time. |
After giving this game another chance, Tron: Evolution is a
fairly solid, if flawed experience. The need to upgrade in order to survive
longer in battle can be a bit frustrating in the early game and the platforming
can be a little tedious towards the end game, though once you get past that it
gets somewhat more enjoyable, especially on a second playthrough. That aside, the
voice acting and soundtrack are really good, plus the aesthetic and
world-building allow it to fit alongside other installments in the Tron
universe. Keeping the game’s somewhat uneven nature in mind, I would still
suggest fans of the Tron series to give this one a try.
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