Tron 2.0: Killer App (Xbox)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Tron and Tron 2.0

Back in 2010, Disney released Tron: Legacy, the official sequel to the 1982 film Tron, which had gained a cult following at the time. While most modern Tron fans would know of Legacy (often erroneously labeled a reboot) and maybe its spinoff media, including the criminally underrated Tron: Uprising, few today may remember that Tron once had a different official sequel, a video game appropriately titled Tron 2.0, as far back as 2003. Monolith Productions, perhaps best known now for F.E.A.R. and the Middle-earth games, developed the original PC version of Tron 2.0, which would receive two mobile versions (subtitled Light Cycles and Discs of Tron) developed by Lavastorm Analytics, an Xbox port (subtitled Killer App) developed by Climax LA (who would later develop Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) and a Game Boy Advance prequel (also subtitled Killer App) developed by Digital Eclipse. All versions of the game received mixed to positive reviews from critics, though the game unfortunately didn’t sell very well and the publisher, Buena Vista Games, dropped support for the game two years later.

My own memories of Tron 2.0 date back to around the year of release, or maybe a little later, when I saw a boxed copy on a retail shelf and never picked it up despite liking the original Tron. Even after I got into Tron: Legacy (Legacy) and its related media, I still had that memory in the back of my mind and found myself growing more curious about what could have been. This year, I finally sated my curiosity through the Xbox port (henceforth referred to as Killer App for the purpose of this review) in time for not only the thirteenth anniversary of this blog, but also, coincidentally, the twentieth anniversary of the game itself. While the Xbox Killer App version has some technical issues, likely brought on by the porting process, I found myself having a fun time and curious about what could have been for the franchise if it had continued in this direction.

Sometime after the events of Tron, ENCOM has been taken over by Future Control Industries (FCon). In that time, Alan Bradley’s son, Jethro “Jet” Bradley, has been working at the same company as his father, but turned down a programming position in favor of continuing work on video games. During a phone conversation between them, Alan is kidnapped and Ma3a, an artificial intelligence he had developed, digitizes Jet in his father’s computer. Once inside, Jet learns that Ma3a needs his aid against J.D. Thorne, an FCon executive who has spread a virus throughout the system. During his journey, he must also prevent a hostile takeover from FCon, in which they plan to use ENCOM’s digitizing technology for their own nefarious purposes.

Jet finds himself in the digital world (screenshots from the Steam version).

Since Killer App predates most other Tron media, understanding the story naturally only requires watching the original film, which creates a low barrier of entry for both fans and newcomers. While non-canon as of Legacy, I did notice during my playthrough that both sequels still hit some of the same plot points, which includes the son of one of the original characters, in this case Alan Bradley’s son rather than Kevin Flynn’s, entering the digital world and searching for their father, as well as getting sent to compete in the games, particularly light cycle races, shortly into their visit. In an odd twist, Killer App even features a plot-critical “Tron Legacy” program.

As a sequel to the original Tron, Killer App is actually very well-written. As with the original film, corporate politics play a major factor in the story, but are presented in a digestible way. FCon’s hostile takeover and kidnapping of Alan Bradley, not to mention their plans for the digitizing technology, provide some rather high stakes and good motivations for both the player and for Jet. With each passing level, the player witnesses the spreading corruption caused by Thorne’s virus and how the system struggles in handling it. FCon’s actions explore the potential negative effects of ENCOM’s digitizer if it fell into the wrong hands, especially through the introduction of Datawraiths, as well as the consequences of handling the technology lightly, but never in a way that suggests that it's inherently good or evil.

While the game delivers its story primarily through cutscenes, it continues the momentum in presenting plot points through diagetic interactions between characters or certain events like a looming server reset, as well as conversations with certain Programs and Users through I/O Nodes. Players can also find emails that expand on the backstory of events that led up to that point while filling in the rocky relationship between Jet and Alan, as well as how FCon got involved with ENCOM. At some point, these emails also act as a window into the outside world in real time, which helps give the player the full picture in a way that fits the setting and doesn’t derail the game’s momentum. I also like the attention to detail that Programs and Users process the world very differently, like how Ma3a doesn’t understand the concepts of “family” or “fatherhood” and instead refers to Alan as “Alan One” and Jet as “Alan Two”, like he’s a new version of the same software. Confronting this perspective also helps Jet start reevaluating his relationship with his father, which acts as the emotional core tying the story together, while he also gradually understands the Programs more, even growing attached to one named Mercury after she helps save his life.

Jet grows attached to Mercury throughout his journey.

After the emotional journey Jet goes through, however, I found the ending oddly inconclusive. Certain plot threads aren’t fully resolved, including FCon’s hostile takeover and the actions they took to try and ensure their plans for the digitizer would succeed. Despite this, the story does at least end on a positive note, notably more positive than Legacy even, that feels oddly satisfying, especially for the father/son plot at its core.

While interacting with the digital world, Killer App gradually introduces its gameplay systems within the first few stages so that the player better understands them and learns how best to use them all in tandem. These elements are presented through a first-person shooter with platforming elements where you can save at any time (the game even encourages you to save often, which you will). Due to the number of elements in play, I’ll try and explain them here as succinctly as possible. Know going in, however, that many interactions are performed with the Y button and that accidentally derezzing an innocent Program (labeled an Illegal Program Termination) is an instant Game Over.

At the start of his digital journey, Jet is assigned a clearly visible Build Number, starting at v1.0.0, that incrementally increases by completing tasks or finding hidden Build Notes (you can always see how many are left in each level). Every 100 Build Notes leads to a version upgrade that gives Jet resources to improve any of his five Performance Ratings however the player sees fit: Health, Energy, Weapon Efficiency (lowers weapon energy consumption), Transfer Rate (speeds up energy transfers and item downloads) and Processor (Procedural Subroutines complete tasks faster). Once you commit to assigning resources, however, you can’t take it back unless you thought to save beforehand.

Between the Health and Energy bars, which the player can restore through Patch Routines or Energy Pools, Jet also has a Permission Ring with eight slots for keys that determine what systems you can interact with, such as doors or Archive Bins, and persist during the level. With the right permissions, however, Jet can also disable Sec Rezzers, which spawn enemies into the current sector. Jet can obtain these permissions from interacting with certain characters, as well as from Archive Bins and Core Dumps dropped by enemies, which can also contain Health, Energy and valuable subroutines. Unlike Core Dumps, Archive Bins usually require permissions, but, like Core Dumps, accessing them lets you view a Transfer Menu where you can select what Item Nodes you want to download and see how much Energy any one costs. Fortunately, if you already own any subroutines visible in this menu, you’ll be informed of which ones and at what level, plus you can cancel a download at anytime by pressing B or simply walking away (no Energy is spent until the transfer completes). You may also transfer Energy to certain objects to advance, in which case you just fill its transfer bar.

Throughout his journey, Jet will inevitably encounter hostile Programs. Fortunately for the player, combat is very simple mechanically, as you almost exclusively use the trigger buttons (and maybe clicking the right stick for zooming in if possible). Where it gets more complex is that you can use one of four “Primitives” (Disc, Rod, Ball and Mesh), each of which play very differently from each other and have their own variations that the player can enable through various subroutines with different strengths and weaknesses (ex. the Rod can transform into a shotgun or sniper rifle with the Suffusion and LOL subroutines respectively). Each of the four different enemy types will also use a specific Primitive themselves and players can tell which one by the color of the Program (ex. green Z-Lots use the Ball and red ICPs use the Disc). Players can cycle through any of their Primitives at any time with the Black and White buttons, though they must also keep in mind that each one will also consume a different amount of Energy when used, though the game itself doesn’t tell you anything super specific.

Jet will inevitably encounter hostile Programs.

Since I played on the lowest difficulty setting, Easy, for personal reasons, I ended up almost exclusively using the Disc Primitive, as it doesn’t consume energy. This didn’t bar me form using other Primitives or variations, but my playstyle made them more situational and I only used something else when absolutely necessary. I didn’t intend this at first, as I ended up saving a lot of Energy for other uses, but the more I used the Disc, the more I grew comfortable with it. While this likely made certain sections more difficult than if I had used a healthy mixture of different Primitives, I found the disc very reliable and improved at both blocking and dodging to stay alive, even if I had to redo certain sections a few times. If I had played on a higher difficulty, however, I’m sure I would have approached combat very differently.

As you may have guessed by now, subroutines are a very important gameplay element. There are a total of twenty subroutines the player can obtain, each divided among the Combat, Defensive and Utility classes; Utility subroutines provide passive bonuses and are always visible in the HUD as a reminder (ex. Y-Amp increases jump height and Corrode adds corrosive damage to weapons). Even if you collect them all, however, you can’t use all of them at once, as each subroutine takes up room in your Memory and you can only allocate so much space, so you must carefully choose which are most effective for the current situation, especially since the shape of your Memory will change each time Jet reaches a major location in the system. Fortunately, the player can upgrade a subroutine by interacting with Code Optimization Wares (COWs) found in each level, which graze on their energy and optimize them, increasing a subroutine’s effectiveness and reducing the amount of space they take up. Since subroutines have three color-coded levels of optimization, Alpha (red, three blocks, Beta (green, two blocks) and Gold (gold, one block), it’s best if you can also think ahead about what you may want to have with you next time your Memory changes shape. At one point, I could barely have any subroutines active, so I felt glad that I had optimized a few to Gold level by that point, though the Memory shape did end up influencing my playstyle for certain levels.

Placing subroutines isn’t all you worry about though. Every so often, you may need to perform memory maintenance with one of three Procedural subroutines: Disinfect, which cleans infected subroutines and restores them to their full power; Identify, which allows use of foreign subroutines; and Defragment, which repairs corrupted memory blocks. Personally, I never found myself using Defragment, but it’s still good to know how all the Procedurals work, as infections and fragmentations can spread to adjacent memory blocks.

Of course, since Light Cycles are perhaps the most iconic element from Tron apart from Identity Discs and the visual style, Killer App features its own fully three-dimensional take. As in the film, the rules are simple in that you win by forcing the opponent(s) to crash into either a wall or a Light Cycle trail. As an added twist, the player can also drive through power-ups for an additional advantage, like a burst of speed from Turbo or driving through a trail with Shield, though they must also watch out for certain environmental hazards: green Speed Zones speed up the Light Cycle to its maximum speed, red Slow Zones slow the Light Cycle to its slowest possible speed (even with Turbo active) and Energy Cubes that act like walls cycle on and off at regular intervals.

The obligatory Light Cycle appearance.

Although I liked the implementation of Light Cycles, certain elements made it unnecessarily frustrating at times. For one thing, while the game tells you can turn the Light Cycle with the triggers and adjust your speed with the left analog stick, accelerating by holding up and decelerating by holding down, it doesn’t tell you that the left stick also turns the Light Cycle, which led to a few unintended deaths. You’re also not told you can use the d-pad for the same purpose, which I actually highly recommend for at least accelerating and decelerating for easier control. Then there’s the camera: you can swap between a first- and third-person view in real time, as well as whether the camera follows you or floats freely. This sounds good on paper, but in practice, you may find yourself fighting the camera regardless of setting (I sure did). Even once you adjust, however, nothing makes up for the fact that the AI acts a bit unfair with its frame-perfect precision that a human can’t hope to match, at least when they’re not killing themselves from driving around in a small, crowded arena. The only saving grace is that when racing between multiple arenas at once, there’s always a checkpoint at the start of the one you just started.

Although I did run into some other admittedly minor issues, like the inclusion of fall damage and the fact that I got locked out of an email when its associated Archive Bin spawned far below its intended location for no discernable reason, I have to give Killer App credit for how it skillfully mapped a myriad of actions to a controller. Not only did I find everything easy to grasp and remember, I also liked how certain menus were tied to the d-pad, which made addressing various onscreen notifications much easier. It may feel like a small thing for some, but considering the game’s PC roots, I greatly appreciated the relative ease of playing on console.

As with other FPS games at the time, Killer App has its own Multiplayer offering, where you can still play offline matches through the System Link or Splitscreen functionality (the shutdown of Xbox Live on the original Xbox made online play inaccessible, which prevented me from commenting on it). This mode boasts eight game types (Disc Arena, Disc Tournament, Light Cycles, Derez, Team Derez, overRIDE, Team overRIDE, Data Capture) with five to twelve maps each, though some modes recycle or repurpose maps between them. Since three modes are variations of others, leaving five wholly unique modes, I’ll briefly describe them: Disc Arena recreates the first game seen in the movie, with different variations based on the map, and players are also given a Gold Y-Amp and the Disc Primitive with Power Block; Light Cycles is a multiplayer version of the occasional Light Cycle level form the main game; Derez is a Tron take on the ever-popular Deathmatch; overRIDE is a hybrid of Derez and Light Cycles in both maps and gameplay, including the ability to summon or retract a Light Cycle at any time; and Data Capture is a Control Point mode.

Since we only had two players to test every map and mode with, we quickly found that matches felt empty or even boring with a low player count. While we did enjoy the fairly robust customization options, both for player appearance and gameplay modifiers, the latter of which let us complete matches in a timely fashion, the lack of an option to play with bots, unlike a game like TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, led to issues like one player steamrolling another or ignoring kills in favor of a single-minded focus on another objective, which made some matches end far too quickly. As such, we felt we might have had more fun of we had a third or even fourth player, which would certainly make matches more enjoyably chaotic.

After seeing so many modern media use the Legacy aesthetic, it felt oddly refreshing to see Killer App follow the aesthetic of the original Tron, a look that has rarely appeared in a full video game (as opposed to an arcade game) apart from Kingdom Hearts II. This approach made sense considering it predated Legacy, but I thought they did a great job translating it to 3D graphics and I never got tired of it. Even though the HUD throws a good amount of information at you, it never feels overwhelming and I liked that the aiming reticle doubled as a source of information, though I sometimes couldn’t read some of the onscreen text, either due to the font size or the speed of the information. Interestingly, players can toggle Screen Glow, which affects the brightness of the glowing lines.

The old aesthetic is satisfying to look at.

While Killer App does a great job at replicating the look and feel of the original Tron, the graphics have started showing their age, especially in the real world, and I found that, oddly enough, you could tell from the cutscenes that the game had originally come out on PC. Most noticeably, Alan Bradley hardly resembles Bruce Boxleitner, who reprised his role from the game. I also noticed framerate drops during certain sections, especially during Firewall, though I don’t know if that’s an issue exclusive to the port or if the original PC release has the same issue.

Killer App also features great voice acting, including, but not limited to, the returning Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan, the latter of whom voices Ma3a, as well as newcomers Jason Cottle, who voices Jet, and Rebecca Romijn, who voices Mercury. Nathan Grigg also composed a score that perfectly fits the tone of Wendy Carlos’ iconic score from the original film and has some memorable tracks of its own. I also found the sound design very fitting for interacting with a digital world, though I only noticed more than I normally would because for some reason, performing certain tasks like saving the game would halt the music until something major happened like Jet fighting hostile Programs (no idea if this issue was exclusive to the port). The multiplayer features its own tracks by Breaking Benjamin and while I thought they sounded fine for pumping up the player, it does noticeably clash with the rest of the music. The only other small thing I noticed was that in the rare instance a Program would say “Action Button” you clearly hear them say “Action Key”, which acted as a random reminder I was playing a port of a PC game.

Before I end this review, I’ll also mention that this game had its own six-issue sequel comic, subtitled The Ghost in the Machine, published by Slave Labor Graphics. Due to its secondhand market price and inconvenient distance from any library that might potentially have a copy, however, it’s very unlikely it will receive any coverage here. Should this situation change, we’ll go into as much depth on it as we possibly can.

Good luck finding this.

Although not officially canon anymore, Tron 2.0: Killer App proves itself worthy of its sequel status thanks its solid writing and fun gameplay. While this port may have some issues, they’re not enough to bring down the experience too much and I would encourage any Tron enthusiast to give it a shot. If you’d rather play the game without worrying about a console, you can still find Tron 2.0 digitally on Steam, a miracle unto itself.