Tron 2.0 Light Cycles

Scint · 2003-10-26T10:09:08

A case when high tech graphics are a bad thing: I got the chance to play Tron 2.0 the other day, and I was looking forward to playing the light cycles since I like those snaking wall games. But I think the game''s 3D graphics make it much less fun than the 2D version of the game. 1) The walls are paper thin, so it is incredibly difficult to see some walls coming from certain angles. Plus, the floor is a grid with even more lines to make the walls hard to see. 2) The camera angle is behind the bike at an angle, which gives a nice-looking perspective for a 3D environment, but it deters the main focus of the gameplay. A camera directly overhead would be much more beneficial because it would be easier to plan your route. Of course, since the walls are paper thin you wouldn''t be able to see any of them from overhead... (The game does let you change the camera angle, but its max value is less than overhead.) The camera is also slightly to the side, which doesn''t help any. 3) The levels have pillars and other walls in them, which can and will block your vision of where you are driving at times. If the camera were overhead, this wouldn''t be a problem. 4) The grid on the playing field has no real meaning. Your path is not restricted to the green grid lines. The only reason it is in there is for a Tron-ish art look. If the lines were removed, things would be easier to see. In conclusion, I had more fun playing Nibbles on my graphing calculator. I posted this here in the Game Design forum because I wanted to make a point that fancy graphics should not take priority over gameplay. Unfortunately, the makers of Tron 2.0 probably felt that it had to look "professional" and hide the fact that the core gameplay elements haven''t changed in more than 20 years.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Scint October 15, 2003 09:49 PM

20 comments, last by Scint 20 years, 5 months ago

Anonymous

October 17, 2003 10:11 AM

Tron arcade game had 4 mini-games:

1. Lightcycles... gameplay is obvious
2. Enter the MCP (Master Control Program) Cone: Shoot the rotating blocks before they crush you.
3. Enter the Communications Circle while avoiding/shooting grid bugs.
4. Take maze: shoot all tanks (recognizers every 5th level)

MSW

151

October 26, 2003 10:09 AM

sorry to dig this up again...just got the Tron 2.0 game and had to respond

First...about Clue in the movie...Flynn made Clue inorder to get to the piece of data that shows that Space Paranoids (Flynn''s tank game with the recognizers) was stolen by the head of the company...which explains why the MPC uses them as they are considered it''s "property" (while Flynn is looking for the proof that the tanks and such are his property)

second...there were two Tron arcade video games...the 4 mini-games in one verson most are familure with...and a second game (Disks of Tron) which featured the player throwing disks against three opponets (disks could bounce off of walls and such)

Third...Tron 2.0 sucks...However I like the graphics...but everything also pretty much sucks. It was a stupid move to make it FPS basied...it should have been third person as this would allow you to have better spatinal awareness of enemy disks being thrown at you...Tron is and always was about raw gameplay...not some klunky RPG/FPS hybred crap...raw strait forward game mechanics over pointlessly ajustable user settings...Tron 2.0 should have been like some sort of 3D version of Metroid (classic 2D versions) crossed with Gunstar Heros, Robotron and other "old school" gameplay focused classics...as it stands the light cycles only help make my purchase palatteable...but even that largely sucks too...they really dropped the ball on this game

My deviantART: http://msw.deviantart.com/

Tron 2.0 Light Cycles

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Tron 2.0 Light Cycles

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