Tron: Evolution - Before you ask, I received this game as a gift from a co-worker, since he bought the game when it came out and he received a PS3 copy of the game for Christmas. Thus, I felt obligated to put the time and effort into this game to play it through, and I even got my 29th Platinum (I don't know what's more surprising: that the Tron multiplayer servers are still up, or that there are people online actually playing it.
). Having played through it 3 times for that lovely little task, I have to say overall the game is just below average. I've seen far worse movie-based games like Enter the Matrix and Terminator Salvation, as well as far worse games in general like Dark Void. The game suffers from all the usual movie tie-in-game problems: lackluster visuals, a relatively nonsensical plot that is very poorly told, an extremely short running time, an uninspiring multiplayer mode, and gameplay that's utterly bland.
In fact, I would have loved to be in the boardroom where some rather-brave soul had the sheer nerve to pitch a half-assed Prince of Persia game with a Tron Legacy skin. The "programs" in the Tron world must be ridiculously athletic, because apparently the only way to get
anywhere in this generic and empty world is by wall-running, ledge shimmying, and platform-springing. The on-foot gameplay isn't terrible, but it isn't the least bit exciting either (it's basically 6-8 hours of throwing discs at different varieties of
guards "programs") and makes little sense for this game world. Considering that everything in the game glows a neon color at some point, it can also be strangely easy to lose track of where the game wants you to go, and cheap deaths from the poorly-designed platforming (particularly at the end of the game) are common. The vehicle sections fare much better, especially the sections of the game where you control a Light Tank and cruise through highways blowing up everything in and above your path. The Light Cycle sections aren't what you think they would be from watching the original Tron, but they work alright though they are rather fond of springing obstacles and disintegrating roadways on the player before they can possibly react to them.
As you might have guessed, my biggest problem with this game is that as bland as the gameplay is, this game just doesn't feel like a Tron game. I haven't seen Tron Legacy yet so I don't know how the world has changed since the original Tron, but I don't get the sense playing this game that this world and these characters exist as programs inside a computer. It just feels like a generic action game with a slightly retro-80s vibe, and I've played far worse action games. Hey, at least it isn't a crash-factory like the games I've mentioned. For all its problems, I never had a single game-killing bug. Mass Effect 2 on PS3 sure as hell can't say the same.
Speaking of which...
Mass Effect 2 (PS3) - It's Mass Effect 2...on PS3! Yeah, I already played through the 360 version and loved it, but I could get this version for cheap and hey I could always do with more trophies so I picked this one up as well. Overall, the 360 version is still the definitively better version. The PS3 version tries valiantly to replicate the Mass Effect 1 import with a decent (if poorly placed) interactive comic that lets you import 6 key choices from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2...with no context whatsoever (seriously, why
would I choose to kill
Wrex if you're not going to give me any insight into his character and the context for the scene?). The comic needed to be longer to flesh out the story, but at least the essentials are covered. However, as decently as the comic works, importing 6 choices can't replace importing the hundreds from the original Mass Effect on 360. There's a noticeable emptiness in the experience on PS3, though the game doesn't suffer too badly for it and you do get all the DLC 360 owners had to pay for. What does kill the experience, though, is the totally
inexcusable level of sloppiness in the port job. The Overlord DLC is especially atrocious, with textures constantly corrupting around the Hammerhead as it moves through the overworld and the Hammerhead
often sinking right through solid ground. And the game frequently crashes when the game stops to auto-save or load textures as the user moves through environments. Until Bioware issues a patch that fixes these problems, stay away from this version if you have any interest in it. Otherwise, stick with the superior 360 version.