Tron has a special place in the hearts of us “kids” born in the 1970s and ‘80s. Those late Friday afternoons in the dark arcades, the glowing blue lights, the little sci-fi tune before each match, even the unique feel of that fighter-plane joystick and the rotary dial…. There was something special about that game, and it’s not just because of the movie.
But it wasn’t all nostalgia. The original 1982 Tron video game was a good game. It’s all I play whenever I visit the “oldies” arcade at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Why was it so good? The variety. It had 4 subgames and each one was highly addictive. In order of preference, the subgames were:
1) Light Cycles (use a trail of light-walls to trap the bad guys)
Tron Light Cycles
2) Battle tanks (tanks in maze, destroy enemy tank)
Tron Battle Tanks
3) I/O Tower (kill bugs, get inside)
Tron I/O Tower
4) MCP Cone (destroy cupcake to get to frosting)
Tron MCP
Running was not one of them, but the new Tron game is all about running. In fact, it’s called Tron Run/r.
The game, out on Steam, looks like a typical running game. Whole bunch of running, avoiding objects, and so on. In addition to running, you can surf lights and also ride light cycles, but it ain’t old-school light cycle battles, but just keep on moving forward. No strategy, just keep on moving up.
Run/r is one of several sequels to follow the original, including the Discs of Tron (1983) and Tron: Evolution (2010). Both were okay games but lacked the overall awesomeness of the original.
Discs of Tron (1983) wasn’t as good as the original
Run/r seems like a fun game, though it seems to be simply using the Tron name and not really adding to the franchise and the innovation started with the first game. I mean, we’ve got enough runners already.
Yep, the original was awesome. Not bad at all for a tie-in game.
Tron Run/r is a…running game.
Interested in Tron? Buy stuff here: