Played on:
Windows
The idea of a new Tron game that acts as a sequel to the cult 80s movie is just plain cool. Of course, plenty of movie-derived games wind up terrible in practice, but luckily, Monolith has done a great job with Tron 2.0. The game delivers a great Tron atmosphere, excellent visuals, and lots of light cycles & disc throwing.
The newest version of LithTech's Triton engine is used in Tron 2.0, and the game looks just plain wonderful. Much of this, of course, is due to the excellent design and art done by Monolith. Still, the frame rates are very consistent even with full screen antialiasing turned up, and many of the levels are large and open.
Since the game's art is made up of many straight lines in what in some area looks almost cel-shaded, FSAA really makes it look great. For this reason, it's probably worth it to turn it on for this game, even if there is a significant performance hit on your video card. This is one of those games that, in my opinion, would look better at 800x600 with 4X FSAA than it does at 1280x1024 with FSAA off.
For those running closer to the minimum specs than they would like, Tron 2.0 offers quite a few options for turning down the detail. The art style is quite forgiving of this as well; any one texture may not look so hot, but it's the overlapping of them and the overall effect that are what really impressed me.
Note that even though the game's system requirements show "Nvidia GeForce FX" as a recommended video card, the game works and plays perfectly on my Radeon 9500 Pro. The game also has one of those "Nvidia / The Way It's Meant to Be Played" logos upon the game's startup. Coincidence? - probably not. I can't really say I like it when the marketing actually leaks into the official system requirements, especially when the game runs great at 1280x1024 on a $130 ATI video card.
Tron 2.0 includes several very unique additions to its standard gameplay, all of which are controlled by a very intuitive, rounded interface. The controls are just fine; they basically feel like most Lithtech-engine games. As before, turning down the mouse smoothing will make the game feel more like's running on the more familiar Quake engine.
Weapon switching is a bit tricky in Tron 2.0; as you might expect, your disc is your primary weapon, but if you throw it and then decide to switch weapons, you're out of luck - you are pretty much helpless (save dodging enemy attacks) until the disc returns.
Monolith has done an admirable job in taking the classic Tron visuals, updating them for the modern day, and then presenting it all with such an authentic feel. This really feels like a great extension to the movie, complete with the black-and-white faces and that overglow that bleeds into other things onscreen.
I can't really say that there are a whole lot of different enemies to fight; the game does rotate them out every level or two, but you'll have seen most of the game's enemies (in one form or another) after only a few hours of play. Weapon effects are particularly cool to check out, as some weapons actually construct themselves when you select them. Others have some decent effects when you fire them; overall, they fit in very well with the rest of the game's atmosphere.
It's the levels that are the most visually impressive in Tron 2.0; they're large, very imaginative, and span the whole range of colors. Of course, many of these levels will focus around one specific color, but Monolith still managed to make it a very unique experience for gamers.
Visually, Tron 2.0 delivers an excellent, unique style, but the gameplay is very similar to other FPS games you've likely already played. Aside from the disc, you get a selection of weapons that usually translate to the usual shotgun / machinegun / grenade / sniper repertoire seen in so many other action titles.
