Tron: Legacy

05:13 in

Of all the campy sci-fi flicks from the '80s, few have more built-in potential for a videogame adaptation thanTron. With its (at-the-time) groundbreaking CG animation and game-developer-trapped-in-a-computer storyline, Disney's cult classic has plenty of hooks in place for a decent gaming crossover. Unfortunately,Tron: Evolution wastes most of that potential on sloppy, unimaginative third-person action and some seriously reprehensible vehicular segments.
Evolution attempts to bridge the gap between the upcoming Tron: Legacy and the nearly 30-year-old original by putting you in the neon-striped shoes of a System Monitor program called Anon. You're initially sent by Kevin Flynn to investigate the suspicious derezzing of an ISO on the Game Grid, but that plot thread quickly evaporates when a violent coup and a viral outbreak strike Tron City almost simultaneously.

Click the image above to check out all Tron: Evolution screens.

Now, if that previous paragraph sounded like the ravings of a former Silicon Valley magnate turned blathering hobo, it's probably because I provided about as much context for the plot as the game does. Anyone who hasn't at least watched the first Tron won't have much luck deciphering Evolution's story, but it's also fairly easy for longtime fans like myself to wind up confused. The plot moves so quickly and the connections to the original film are so tenuous that I actually stopped playing to pop in the DVD -- just to make sure I hadn't simply forgotten a bunch of characters and concepts that appear in Evolution with little-to-no background or introduction.
Poor storytelling aside, Tron: Evolution captures the iconic look and sound of the films. Though the game's set much closer to the original movie than its upcoming sequel, all of the environments, outfits, and vehicles in Evolution resemble the sleeker, darker aesthetics featured in Legacy. Also on loan from the second film are a pair of Daft Punk songs off the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, which, great as they sound, turn up a bit too often to remain interesting for long.

It's a safe bet that somebody over at developer Propaganda Games is a huge fan of the 2008 Prince of Persia reboot, because Tron: Evolution's on-foot sections borrow heavily from the cel-shaded free-running game. Each level in Evolution features the same sort of platforming puzzles typical of Ubisoft's franchise (loads of wall-running, bounding from one surface to the next, etc.) The game uses a fairly elegant visual language to indicate where you should apply your acrobatics throughout its levels, but get lost and you can summon the Nav-Bit to lead you down the path of least resistance -- much like the magical light-thingy from Prince of Persia.