The original Tron movie was
made one year after I was born, and received initially negative reviews. With the
signature neon blue suits and glowing red virtual tanks, Tron helped to pioneer the look
and feel of the techno world back in the 80s. Even today, computer nerds around the
world have fond memories of the movie (I challenge any persons claim to the
"computer nerd" title who hasnt seen it), which is not too shabby
considering its entire fictional world, supposedly running on a mainframe computer,
existed in what wed probably refer to today as a $99 dollar graphing calculator. For
the non-initiated, Trons original storyline centers around a programmer who is
"accidentally" digitized into a computer and finds himself fighting for his life
in the lead roles of his favorite video games (in our terms, think of yourself in a life
or death struggle through the halls of Doom III, in his terms, think pong). There he
discovers that each of the programs on the system are actually little people who have to
fight it out whenever users in the world above pop in another quarter for a round of their
favorite videogame (so feel guilty, very guilty).
It seems somehow fitting that
the game about digitizing reality is finally being digitized into a modern game a
natural place for it to be, considering the premise. After 20 years, Disney gave the
thumbs up for both a new game and a new movie, and they began casting about for a
development team with enough guts to huff, and puff, and blow the socks off the cult fans
of the old classic. Its a wonder that it took as long as it did. It was Monolith,
the makers of No One Lives Forever and Aliens vs. Predator 2, which took up the call.
Though the image of Monolith and combat is one were familiar with, the combination
of Disney and an adult first person shooter may strike people as a step away from
Disneys traditional family friendly heritage. Still, its not completely
unheard of. Disney has been behind some heavy hitting adult endeavors in the past; add in
the fact that they are working with Monolith (developers of No One Lives Forever and Aliens vs. Predator 2 to name a couple)
and using the LithTech Triton System, which offers next-generation PC features, and we've
got reason to believe this title could very well satisfy a wide range of gamers.
"So are they serious?" one of the other GamesFirst! writers asked
when I returned from running the brief demo around the block. "Are they gonna pull it
off?" I had to nod my head and look impressed. The development team seems to be
drawing just enough on the original story to make all of us old romantics (some would say
sentimentalists) happy and satisfied that its all still the world of Tron, while
injecting a solid amount of updated content to keep the universe from growing stagnant.
Tron 2.0 takes place twenty years after the original movie left off
(incidentally, this is almost the exact amount of time that has passed in real life
might make it easy for cameo appearances from the original actors?). Along with that time
shift comes an entirely new set of possibilities that didnt even occur to me until
they were pointed out. How would the original Tron have been different if they had
Firewalls? The Internet? How about the spiders that dig out our search engine content?
Anti-virus software? Hackers? Computer games with better graphics (not that Ive got
anything against pong)? Theres no doubt that Monolith and Disney have a great source
of material to work with. It gives me shivers.
Twenty years have passed since Alan Bradley (Trons programmer) was
involved in the original adventure, and some things have changed. No longer a low level
programmer, hes hot on the trail of re-building the technology that allowed his
friend to be digitized years before. The games new hero, Jet Bradley (Alans
son), proceeds to be "accidentally" digitized himself while trying to find
information on his fathers whereabouts, all while their company is in the midst of a
hostile take over by an evil bad guy (as opposed to the good bad guys) intent on forging
an army of glowing neon terrorists with which to, supposedly, earn a tidy profit or rule
the world (your guess is as good as mine). The catch is that only Alan Bradley has figured
out how to digitize a human without flaws, and so while the Bradleys appear healthy and
full of blue, the minions tracking him have been horribly corrupted by the translation
process. Of course, you couldnt have a Tron game without a variety of other programs
to help out. As he battles across a landscape dominated by primary colors and white
and black Jet will encounter a thriving world full of other sentient programs,
including one or two assistant programs that may serve the same function as the original
Tron from the movie. Theres still no confirmed word on whether or not a polished
version of Tron himself will make an appearance, but we can all hope.
There
will be a spread of basic weapons, the primary being your standard data disc. As the
fellow at the Tron 2.0 booth said, "It didnt take us long to realize that the
disc was the most versatile weapon." Youre data disc has some basic advantages
to it that other weapons just dont have. For one thing, you can block with it, and
bounce it off of walls for tough-to-get angle shots. For another, you maintain control of
the disc even after its thrown. As long as you hold the fire button down, the
glowing spiral of destruction will cut its way through space in relation to what you do
with your mouse. A quick tap with the finger will bring it back at any time. While others
are present, the weapon that players will become the most intimately familiar with will be
the disc.
Of
course, as in the movie, Tron 2.0 will be heavily dependent on the storyline. Combat
aside, Tron 2.0 has a strong adventure element to it. The firewalls, for example, are
going to be obstacles to overcome, not just beat down with a Frisbee. If done right, you
can be sure to expect more than a simple "de-rezz the red guy" type of theme.
Monolith also promises multiplayer and mod support in the form of deathmatch and team
play, and game editors for us to do our own tweaking. So far, the game looks good--good
enough that I found myself with an itch to rent Tron when I got home (an ill-afforded
break from preview writing). Watching it again, I realized that Tron laid the groundwork
for a lot of great gaming, even providing for religious conflict amongst the programs
("You still believe in Users?"). There are enough elements here for ten games.
All that remains to be seen is exactly which elements the Monolith team chose to take
advantage of, and which they didnt. Just one last thought. If little programs really
were being destroyed as we played, wouldnt it be ironic if a citizen of Tron died
while playing the Tron 2.0 game? Hmmmm
maybe its just me.