Video Game Review - Apache: Air Assault (Xbox 360)

Ive been buying cheapo video games again!

Apache: Air Assault is a 2010 action flight simulator game, developed by Russian game developers Gaijin Entertainment and published by Activision.

I picked up my copy for a measly £4 from the Doncaster branch of CEX , and, having immensely enjoyed the "Strike" series of games, I thought it would be a groovy idea to climb into the cockpit of an attack helicopter and rain hellfires, hydras and 30mm cannon ammo down on some assholes once again.

I wasn't disappointed :)

The games story line takes place over a fictionalised modern day setting, following the adventures of "Taskforce-191"; a multinational (mainly US and UK) anti-terrorism taskforce that uses attack helicopters in conjunction with air cavalry to combat terrorists and drug cartels in the Middle East, South America and former Soviet states.

As the games title suggests, your main vehicle of aerial pwnage is the Apache attack helicopter, you get to use various different versions of it, ranging from the "standard" US issue AH-64D "Longbow", to the UK version, the Westland AH-1 Apache (although in practice, the differences between the two are purely cosmetic).

The campaign missions have a series of objectives to be completed, such as destroying an enemy stronghold, destroying transport columns, protecting friendly buildings or providing air cover to ground forces while they clear out buildings.
In this respect, the game becomes a little repetitive, with many of the missions seemingly being more difficult versions of ones you've already done.

The games controls are difficult to master, being as they operate in pretty much the same way as a real helicopters controls would do, with one stick performing double duty by controlling altitude/air speed and direction, and the other stick controlling pitch and yaw.
The game has two distinct flight modes, "Training" keeps your chopper within "safe" pitch/yaw limits (one of the games achievements rewards you for performing a barrel roll, which can't be done in training mode), whereas "Realistic" sees your chopper performing some extremely unsafe/suicidal maneuvers with no safety margins. For novice players, "Realistic" mode, coupled with the difficult to handle control system, will see them crashing whenever they try to fly, however, the flight sim experience is one of the best I've seen for a helicopter game on a home console.

As this is an action game, there is, of course, combat to be done. The Apaches main armaments consist of a 30mm cannon for anti personnel work, Hydra "dumb fire" rockets for explosive ground support against lightly armoured vehicles,  Hellfire ATGMs for anti armour work and Stinger Air-to-Air missiles for use against nay aircraft you come across.

Your copilot can use the cannon independently, but control of the missiles comes down to you. Now, whereas the Hellfires and Hydras generally hit what you aim them at, the Stingers are another story.
You see, the problem is is that the AA combat portions of the game are frustrating as hell, being as 99.99% of the time, your Stingers will fail to hit, much less destroy whatever you use them on, and you spend a hell of a lot of time jockeying for position with Mi-35 Hinds (the export version of the Soviet era Mi-24 Hind) in the hopes that you can catch them with a "ripple fire" of Hydras or a good couple of hits from your 30mm, which is made harder by the odd fact that you cant seem to climb fast enough to get above them into the best position to fire. (It should be noted that Air-to-Air combat between helicopters in real life is extremely rare, with less than a hand full of reported incidences of it actually happening)

The other thing is that although you are given a certain number of "lives" to allow you to continue if you get shot down, the games AI likes to respawn you in rather odd places, which, I have found quite often leads to the bad guys "spawn killing" you in a hail of RPG fire before you have chance to maneuver away from the respawn point...cue a lot of me shouting "oh for fucks sakes!" after I get spawn camped into oblivion.

Outside of the campaign mode, there is "Free flight" mode, which allows you to pilot other choppers featured in the game, such as the Hind and the MQ-8 "Fire Scout" drone in mock battles.
There is also an online portion of the game, as well as a co-op mode.

All in all, Apache: Air Assault is one of the better combat flight sims available for home consoles, although its not perfect, it is still pretty good, and worth picking up for the cheapo.

Final score: - 8/10

Medieval Mayhem! - Ironclad (2011) & Black Death (2010) - SPOILER ALERT

Oh look, I watched some films that were made within the past 5 years...that doesn't happen much!.

So, having watched Lindybeige's videos, where he takes a look at these films and critiques them for their appalling historical accuracy (The phrase "Useless floppy apron" had me pissing myself laughing for a considerable amount of time), I decided to watch these films myself, seeing as how i am not adverse to a bit of good old blood and guts action.

Ironclad

So, the opening blurb tells us that in the year 1215, King John I signed the Magna Carta, which is generally thought of as being a good thing, however almost immediately afterwards, Pope Innocent III declared the document null and void and ordered King John to reclaim his country from the rule of the Barons, thus sparking the "First Barons War".
The film itself deals with a heavily fictionalised and somewhat anachronistic version of the siege of Rochester castle, which did actually happen, although the film would have us believe that a mere 20 defenders held off a horde of over a thousand "Danish mercenaries" (the film basically depicts them as being Vikings, even though by 1215 there were no Vikings, but at least it doesn't go down the route of having them with big horns on their helmets), and makes out that King Johns forces had access to some substance similar to napalm to use in their attempted assaults...oh, and for some reason, the river Medway seems to have the power to appear and disappear at will, or at least, at the convenience of the films director.

So to start with, the title of the film seems to have been chosen in order to evoke mental images of fearless knights fighting the good fight etc etc, however throughout the film, only the main "good guy" character, the Templar "Thomas Marshall" is the only one to don a suit of armour, and even then its not until over half way through the film, and even then its just a helmet and quilted overcoat he puts on anyway, which he then wears for all of about 2 minutes as he rides his horse out of the castles stable towards the keep (a distance of about 50 feet) whilst swinging a flail/morning star type mace at the horde of not-vikings who have managed to get in through the gates, seemingly to little effect (they gang up on him and pull him off his horse in the end, because charging a single horse into a mob of blood crazed enemies is a bit stupid, and if this weren't a film, he would have been unhorsed and killed within seconds of hitting the mob).

Another familiar trope common to this sort of film is the "religious person breaking their vows" trope, which the chaste Thomas Marshall manages to do about two-thirds of the way in by having the sexy intercourse with the lady of the manor, the inevitability of which had been set up right from the moment they walked in through the castle gates.

One major bit of "artistic licence" in the film is the slow torture and death of William D'Aubigny (Played by Brian Cox) on orders of the King towards the end of the film, which is a right bugger being as that  the real life D'Aubigny survived the siege and died in 1236 after playing a big part in the second battle of Lincoln after King Johns death and the subsequent crowning of his son Henry III in 1216...a mere year after the time in which this film is set (I presume that after having his hands and feet cut off, then having his corpse fired from a trebuchet and splattering on the castle walls, he "got better").

So, is Ironclad a good film?, well, as a medieval sword swinging blood splatterfest goes, I'd have to say yes, despite it being riddled with historical inaccuracies, ridiculous plot developments, its a good example of one of those films you can put on and expect to get some level of entertainment out of without being bogged down with a ton of "talky" bits getting in the way of drawn out scenes of people getting limbs chopped off by improbably large swords and axes, and the inevitable blood splatter that follows.
As a film giving an accurate depiction of a recorded historical event and the world it took place in, then I'd have to say no.

Black Death

It is the year 1348 and the Black Death is sweeping the British isles, well, except that it isn't, and didn't reach full on epidemic levels until about 2 years later, but, despite this glaring historical error, that doesn't stop the heroic knight "Ulric" (Sean Bean) from going to a monastery and demanding that the Abbott (David Warner) furnish him with a guide so they can find a village that rumour has it has not been afflicted by the plague....er, ok.

Enter Brother Osmund, a novice/monk/friar (the film cant make its mind up exactly what he is, as he is referred to as being all three, even though this would both be impossible and somewhat stupid), who is a bit naughty in the fact that he has a secret girlfriend who he earlier sent to find this village so she would be safe from the plague...Ulric turning up gives him an excuse to leave the monastery and meet up with his bit on the side for sexy times etc etc, so he volunteers because apparently thats where he comes from and knows the way quite well, or something.

Nah, as it turns out, Ulric and his band of unkempt, smelly mercenaries are really looking for the village because apparently it contains a necromancer who is bringing the dead back to life, and God might not like that so they are going to hunt down and kill the necromancer because fuck you that's why.
In order to complete their mission, they have brought along a torturer and his highly anachronistic "iron maiden" like torture contraption, which is conveniently attached to a rickety looking wagon, so they can capture the necromancer and deliver him to the local bishop..I presume that will occur after they have killed him and he has then brought himself back to life or something...er, yeah.

So they travel across the countryside, via a forest which consists of nothing more than some very nice modern looking conifer trees which grow in perfectly straight lines, and have a few sword fights along the way before they finally find the village they were looking for...which turns out to be a haven for pagan heathens who don't believe in God.
Also along the way, Osmund finds out that his secret girlfriend seems to have been killed by the forest bandits, he blames himself and gets all dead guilty and shit, innit.



Ulric and his remaining men enter the village and are welcomed with open arms by the villages head man, "Hob", aka "The Lord Percy Percy", aka "Captain Darling", however despite being offered sanctuary and washing facilities (you know the villagers must be evil because they break the cliche of daring to wash both themselves and their clothing whilst living in medieval times) Ulric warns his men that evil is afoot so they must be on their guard.

So, the "necromancer" turns out to be a woman who is a skilled herbalist, and just uses the trappings of ritual and witchcraft to keep the yokels in awe of her super powers, plus also it helps that the village is miles away from anywhere else so the plague hasn't shown up there because they don't generally mix with outsiders.
Its at this point that the standard "religious person breaking their vows" cliche is used to get Osmund to not only kill his secret girlfriend (as it turns out, she wasn't killed in the forest, she just got beaten up a bit and the villagers found her and nursed her back to health, then the witch used her to try and get Osmund to come over to their side) , but to also turn him into an angry vengeance fueled killing machine.

Only Osmund and Ulrics right hand man Wolfstan manage to survive the inevitable bloodbath that occurs (once again, Sean Bean ends up getting killed in a film, surprise surprise) , Osmund returns home to the monastery, where Wolfstan, in voice over, states that although he never saw Osmund again, he heard stories that he had set himself up as something akin to a witch hunter and spent the remainde rof his days hunting down the woman who had bewitched him, killing lots of other women who had some resemblance to her in the process, but this was a good thing as he did it all in the name of God...oh, and God punished the evil pagan heathens by bringing the plague to the village, which promptly killed off anyone who was still living there (just before he dies, it is revealed that Ulric is suffering from the plague, thus bringing the disease there)

Yeahhhhhhh...again, this film is little more than an excuse to have people getting body parts cut off by big swords and axes, but, unlike Ironclad, it doesn't pretend to depict real events, or be a dramatic adaptation of events of historical note.
Also unlike Ironclad, the story is a rather poorly written  mish mash of plot holes sandwiched in between fighting and torture scenes, which ends on a rather dark note of having the young hero of the piece become Darth Vader and set about revenging himself on women via the excuse of being a witch hunter.

Good film?...no, not even as a bit of mindless flighting and bloodsplatter entertainment.

Review - Drawn Together (2004-2007, 2010)

Drawn Together was an animated adult satirical sitcom which aired on Comedy Central between 2004 and 2007, with a feature length direct to DVD movie following in 2010.

The premise of the show was simple, 8 cartoon characters of various types were taking part in a reality TV show for some unspecified purpose, and each episode showed the wacky goings off behind closed doors (or, as the opening credits described it "1 House, 8 Cartoon Characters, 1,000,000 Cameras!").

 Each of the characters involved was a specific archetype, both of the genre of animation, and of the "reality TV star".

Main Characters:-



Captain Hero - A Caricature of "American style" caped superheros, particularly Superman.
Captain Hero, or "Leslie" to his friends is the typical all American straight laced macho type, except that in reality he is a misogynistic, chauvinist, homophobic, hypocritical and sometimes violent bigot. Numerous times during the series he is seen to indulge in many and varied sexual perversions, as well as being something of a closeted homosexual. He is also very childish and prone to temper tantrums and periods of sulking when he doesn't get his own way, he also seems to be completely oblivious the the world around him on occasions, usually whenever he uses (or abuses) any of his super powers. Oddly, Captain Hero is one of the best developed characters in the series, receiving a full and coherent back story as well as proper character development. As a reality TV star, he falls cleanly into the "Macho frat boy" archetype.

Wooldoor Sockbat - A caricature of "wacky" cartoon characters, mostly modelled on Spongebob Squarepants (described in one episode as an "ill conceived Spongebob parody") but also incorporating elements of Looney Toons and Tex Avery type characters (Wooldoor can ignore all natural laws at will etc). Wooldoor is an extremely weird and somewhat childish character who usually ends up being the butt of many jokes, or is generally bullied due to his naivety. However Wooldoor also has the ability to be extremely intelligent on occasion, showing he has abilities as a psychiatrist, a surgeon, a doctor and a scientist (as well as an unwilling lab experiment from time to time). As a reality TV star, he is the "Weird guy".


Princess Clara - An obvious caricature of fairy tale princesses, notably "Disney" princess types.
Outwardly kind and charming, Clara is actually a fundamentalist christian, an anti-semite, a homophobe, a racist and an idiot. Although these traits stem from her sheltered upbringing, it is also implied that she has an incestuous relationship with her father the King. Most of the shows humour from Clara comes from her being blatantly offensive without realising it, but also from how hypocritical she is, usually because she realises she can benefit herself in some way by doing something she condemns others for. As a reality TV star, she fits into the "Sheltered rich girl" archetype.

Foxxy Love - A caricature of "blaxsploitation" type characters, Foxxy is a "mystery solving musician" who was formerly a member of the band "Foxxy 5", who had 1 hit single in the mid 1980s (all other members of the band are also blaxsploitation characters). Foxxy, being black, is frequently on the receiving end of Claras racist outbursts, however Foxxy is also hypersensitive towards anything which could remotely be considered racist (for example she deliberately mishears the word "knickers" as "niggers" during a spelling bee and uses it as an excuse to assault the judges). Other than that, Foxxy typically behaves in a stereotypical "ghetto" manner, speaking in Ebonics and/or jive talk, being sexually promiscuous, stealing anything she can get her hands on etc, however out of all the housemates, Foxxy ends up usually being the most level headed (or as Wooldoor describes her "the least retarded"). As a reality TV star, she is the "Sassy Black Girl".

Xandir - Xandir (full name - Xandir P. Whifflebottom) is a caricature of one dimensional video game characters, most notably "Link" from the "Zelda" series of games. Extremely effete, Xandir says he is "on a never ending quest to save his girlfriend", however in the 3rd episode of series 1, he admits that he is gay and breaks up with her. Xandir is the most placid of the housemates however he does have a tendency to freak out over the most trivial of things. As a reality TV star, Xandir is the "Token gay guy", although in one episode he does admit that he finds Toot attractive (she then forces him to have sex with her numerous times)

Ling-Ling - Ling-Ling is a caricature of Japanese anime characters, mainly pokemon/digimon type creatures, but is also a stereotype of Asians in general. As a "Japanese trading card battle monster" (that bears a strong resemblance to Pikachu) , all Ling-Ling seems to care about is battling other creatures, however when the opportunity to battle does not present itself, he goes about other tasks as though he was in an anime style battle, with accompanying theme tunes and stock backgrounds etc. Ling-Ling, with the exception of one episode, spends the entire series speaking a faux Japanese-esque language, and fulfils other Asian stereotypes such as being unable to drive safely, being good at standardised tests and being a disappointment to his father. As a realty TV star, he is the "Clueless foreigner" who struggles with culture shock.

Toot Braunstein - Toot is a caricature of 1920s era black and white cartoon characters such as Betty Boop. She appears to be a chubby flapper girl in her early 20s, however when seen in close up she is actually hairy, spotty and extremely unattractive to most people. Her "cute" personality masks her true personality, which is that of an extremely unpleasant, attention seeking, foul mouthed, alcoholic, gluttonous antagonist. Toot spends most of her time causing trouble, over eating, drinking and indulging in self harm if things don't go her way. She is also extremely sexually frustrated, being as no one will willingly have intercourse with her, however when they do the experience is usually terrifying for them. As a reality TV star, she is the "attention seeking trouble causer".

Spanky Ham - A caricature of Flash animation characters, Spanky Ham is a poorly drawn anthropomorphic pig who has a foul mouth and an obsession with toilet humour and sex. He has a somewhat abrasive and cynical personality, however he demonstrates numerous times that he has a head for money making making schemes of various legalities. As a reality TV star, he is the "loud mouthed slob".

Although the series uses set characters in an established setting, almost none of the episodes follow any kind of coherent story arc, characters are killed off or delivered a life changing plot line one week, for it all to be completely forgotten the following week. Many episodes also include various non-sequitr scenes as well, usually, but not always, featuring a cameo appearance by a "real" cartoon character (although most of these characters are usually not named or obscured in some way to avoid copyright infringement).
The show also features several running gags, such as the shows poor reviews, Foxxys dislike of the foster care system (its said that she has had several of her own children placed in foster care), Toot being mistaken for a cow/whale/bear etc because of her weight and appearance and so on.

Speaking of the shows reviews, many reviews slated the show for its overuse of stereotypes, obsession with crude humour and bodily functions and for the amount of swearing, nudity and depictions of sex acts (on a strange note, during one episode, Wooldoor explains to the viewer that due to FCC regulations, the viewers may not see Princess Claras vagina, but throughout the show it is permitted for the viewers to see nearly all of the main male characters penises, both flaccid and erect, as well as being able to show the male members masturbating and ejaculating). One review branded the show as being "unfit for children"...which proves that they probably didn't get the fact that the show was intended as an adult satire program simply because it was a cartoon.

Much as I have seen people slate the show for its racist, misogynistic, anti-religious and other general offensive content, what they don't tend to realise is that Drawn together is a wonderfully crafted piece of social satire, having a pop at many different issues per episode and doing them in an extremely entertaining way.
Unfortunately though, the series was cancelled after its 3rd season began airing, which seemed to come unexpectedly to the production team as they admitted via an on screen caption during the final episode of series 3 that this was "the most crappy series finale ever" and that "several lines of dialogue had already been written and recorded and it was too late to change them".
The series ended with all 8 main characters receiving their contract termination notices and walking as a group through a door marked "Unemployment", bringing the series to an end.

In 2010 however, a 65 minute movie, imaginatively titled "The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!" was released to finish off the series proper with one last attempt by the characters to get the show back on the air.

I really liked this series because the quick witted and deep cutting dark humour is brilliant, but it is also the reason why the show wasn't too popular with the mainstream people, simply because it was "different".

Dystopiarama:- Life After People (TV series 2009-2010)

"Life After People" is a History Channel documentary series produced between 2009 and 2010, and thus far has had two complete series plus its initial 90 minute "special" episode.

The series postulates what would happen to the Earth should mankind suddenly vanish, and also explores what would mankinds legacy to the universe be should this happen.

The series' tagline is "Welcome to Earth, population: Zero".

The initial 90 minute episode takes a look at various subjects, mostly concentrating on the subjects of how animals would cope without humans, and also the matter of urban decay.
The series version, which runs at approx 50 minutes per episode, expands on these concepts, with each episode having a particular theme, such as the fate of various building types, the long term effects of human mechanisation and technology, and the effect that pollution would have after we have gone and are not around to stop it.

The series makes no attempt to explain why humans have gone, they just have, and all the episodes show time from "today" (i.e, early 21st century) and extends forward, up to 1 million years into the future in the case of one episode.

The series can make for rather depressing viewing at times, for example, all those fluffy little pet animals would not fare so well without their owners to look after them, and many farm animals such as dairy cows would die from starvation, whereas other creatures, such as house cats, horses, raccoons and rats would do very well freed from the constraints of human intervention. A special mention also goes to head lice, who would become extinct within two weeks due to the complete loss of their only available food source.
One episode concentrates on the legacy of pollution left behind, showing how nuclear waste and hazardous chemicals would cause horrendous environmental damage after their containment systems begin to break down within the first 50 years or so, and the incredible amount of time it would take for nature to recover from the mass chemical or radioactive poisoning that would result.
Another bizarre twist is an episode which looks at what would happen to buried or preserved human corpses in the years that followed, where, due to lack of maintenance, human corpses would not only provide a feast for the animals that remain, but would also end up becoming something akin to the crude oil that we use by the gallon now.

On a plus note, the series takes a fairly in depth look at the way nature would quickly reassert its dominance over the Earth one we have gone, with cities quickly giving way to the regrowth of plants and trees and natural water flows sweeping away concrete dams.
Glimpses into the far future show cities such as London, Washington D.C and Seattle becoming marshlands or even being completely covered by water, and even show that in the far, far future, bacteria from Earth my spread life from Earth to other planets both in and outside of Earths solar system due to them stowing away on the various space probes launched during mans time on Earth.

The series itself is quite enjoyable, albeit very dry in some places, and should you wish to view it, you can do so, click HERE

Tron: Evolution (Xbox 360)

 Greetings Programs!

I picked this game up the other week from Thats Entertainment! for the princely sum of £5. I'd been looking for it for a while but for some odd reason none of the usual video games places had it, even the various market stalls hadn't got one either, so I was quite happy to pick one up for the price I paid for it.


Having read one or two reviews of this game beforehand, and noting my own observations that games based on films are generally crap, I wasn't really expecting too much from this one, but thought id give it a try anyways being as I rather enjoyed Tron 2.0 on the PC and was expecting something along similar lines....couldn't have been more wrong though, but not for any bad reason really.

Unlike the first person shooter Tron 2.0, Tron: Evolution (hereafter referred to as TE) is a third person platform/adventure/action type game, similar I suppose to a fusion between Grand theft auto and Batman: Arkham city, albeit without the freedom of movement (more on that later).

As it stands, TE officially forms the bridge between the original Tron film from 1982, the comic/graphic novel "Tron: Betrayal" and the 2010 film "Tron: Legacy" (unfortunately, Tron 2.0 is completely ignored from the Tron "canon", which is a shame because they used some of the new stuff introduced in 2.0 in "Legacy" and the storyline of 2.0 fits in sort of nicely with the canon storyline, ah well).

The storyline begins with a video clip of Kevin Flynn (voiced by Fred Tatasciore , as he is in Tron: Uprising)  waxing lyrical about the things he has discovered since he built "The Grid", including the amazing spontaneous evolution of the ISOs which he cannot explain as anything other than a serendipitous event, but one that will have profound ramifications on science, philosophy and theology once he has fully come to understand them.

The action jumps to the world of the Grid, where Flynn, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and CLU (Tatasciore again)discuss the ISOs and their integration into the Grids system framework. At first, the ISOs are generally accepted, as many of the programs (referred to in games as "Basics") created by Flynn share his vision of creativity and making the perfect world, however a faction within Flynns system does not see the ISOs as anything other than a menace to be derezzed.
Following the apparent "murder" of one of the ISO leaders, whom Flynn had planned to make a joint system admin alongside CLU, Flynn prepares for the official inauguration of another ISO in his place, this is where the game starts proper..

As a system monitor program named "Anon.exe", working directly under Tron, you are tasked with monitoring the proceedings for the inauguration ceremony, when suddenly Tron spots a mysterious ISO female (Quorra - Olivia Wilde ) attempting to gain unauthorised entry to the ceremony. Tron orders you to follow her, and thus a chain of events begins which leads up to the film "Tron: Legacy".

The first level is, as expected, basically a training level, as you follow Quorra around as she attempts to sneak in and disrupt the ceremony for reasons that become clear later. You really do need to pay attention to this first level though, as this games movement controls are simple but also somewhat complicated at the same time, this is because throughout the game, Anon.exe will move about the levels using various "Parkour/free running" techniques including running up walls, acrobatics, multiple gravity defying jumps etc, all of which are somewhat tricky to get the hang of and WILL lead to you getting derezzed quite a few times until you get the hang of some of the more complicated manoeuvres.

As this is the world of Tron, Disc combat features heavily as your primary means of dispatching corrupted and re purposed programs.
Your two basic attacks are ranged combat, in which you throw your disc, and close combat, in which you use your disc as a melee weapon.
The combat system is based aesthetically on Capoeira, as it involves a lot of stylised , free flowing moves with no fixed stances and lots of acrobatics, and as you progress through the game you will learn different combos incorperating ranged, melee and jumping attacks, as well as "special" moves which unlock as you upgrade your discs functions.

Speaking of upgrades, you gain XP from finding various hidden items, completing objectives and from combat. Combat XP is awarded based on how difficult the enemy (or enemies) is to defeat, but also how "showy" your combat is, for example simply standing back and spamming a group of bad guys with basic ranged attacks will earn you far less XP than wading in and finishing them all of with a nice long freeflow combo. When you level up you will be awarded with some additional memory, which can be traded at various disc upgrade stations for things such as weapon upgrades, health and energy reserve upgrades, as well as buffs which can be used in multiplayer games.

The game world itself is what you'd expect to see, large pseudo futuristic neon lit cities within the digital world, the only real problem is that there is absolutely NO room for you to explore, as the game is a linear adventure, which is somewhat disappointing, and also makes it a little difficult to find the hidden items such as the Tron date files and pieces of Arbraxis's ( John Glover) disc to get extra XP and unlock new items.
As well as the Parkour inspired city based missions, there are one or two Lightcycle based missions, as well as a couple of opportunities to drive a game tank.
The Lightcycle bits play reasonably well, although the lightcycle can become a little difficult to control at high speeds, but the game tank sections are fairly boring, simply consisting of driving around shooting at programs, other tanks and sometimes the odd Recogniser, all while struggling to figure out how to keep the tank driving in the direction you want it to go in.

Now, while i have enjoyed this game thus far, it does have its flaws:-

#1 - Dynamic camera
The right stick controls your direction of facing and/or the camera angle when appropriate, which is fine and an expected part of this type of game. The downfall comes though when the bloody camera angle suddenly changes without warning, often when its most inconvenient, such as in the middle of a jump or even when you are stood with your back against a wall surrounded by bad guys. In the case of it changing during a jump, players should note that this is one of those games where the angle the camera is facing also can affect the direction of movement, you may start your jump holding the left stick "forward", but when that angle changes so that you're looking at yourself from the right side, "forward" on your stick becomes "left" in the game.
As for it switching during combat, this generally means the you wont be able to aim your disc properly, and will not be able to block/parry correctly, and thus you get derezzed....frustrating.

#2 - Unresponsive/over responsive controls
You're in the middle of handing out a whuppin' to a gang of bad guys and you've got a badass 50 hit combo in the making, when suddenly for no apparent reason, Anon decides to mag-lift instead of block, or instead of doing a disc throw followed by a melee smash, he instead does a 3 disc ranged attack, 2 of which hit nothing and waste time while he recovers from being left open. The worst one is when you are trying to climb up a wall, only to find yourself springing off it instead, and all of this is caused by a very, very unforgiving control system which takes a hell of a lot of getting used to.

#3 - Intrusive cut scenes
Although the storyline for TE is pretty good, some of the cut scenes which advance the plot come at really odd times, but the worst offenders by far are the cut scenes which dont advance the plot but instead give you hints at what to do in certain situations, or show you that pressing a switch has had soem sort of effect.
Case in point, there is a section mid game where you and another ISO program are trapped in a room which is falling apart around you. The game tells you you have 80 seconds to flick 3 switches hidden in various locations about the area to open the exit and escape, all around you, large sections of the floor and walls have become corrupted and will damage you when touched, so the last thing you need is for a cut scene to waste 5 seconds of your 80 showing you that when you flick one of the switches, a platform drops down at the other end of the room for you to grab hold of when you finally make your escape.

#4 - "Knock-back"
Back in the 80s, games developers had a thing for making it that when the hero character takes damage, they were knocked back slightly. It was realised by the mid 90s that in platform games this was rather silly as it led to players getting killed a lot more often than they should have due to falling to their deaths, and it quietly went away.....BUT SOMEONE FORGOT TO TELL THAT TO THE DEVELOPERS BEHIND TRON: EVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!  I can understand your guy being stunned after taking a hit, but the "knock-back" is completely unnecessary and just fucking annoying, especially in this type of game.

#5 - "JAFO"
Although Anon.exe takes part in the events which will eventually lead up to Tron:Legacy, for the most part, he is simply a silent observer who simply does as he is told to by the other "named" characters. His silence is also remarked upon by the ISO called "Gibson". I know that for TE they weren't really planning on making it a series of games requiring extensive character development etc, but it would be nice for Anon to do something other than just stand there like a spare wheel while the other characters pontificate.


So, all in all id say that Tron: Evolution is more one for the fans than for consumption by general gamers, it does have its problems, but overall it is an enjoyable enough little game.

Final Score - 7/10

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