E3 Hands-on: TRON Evolution: Battle Grids - Preview

To be a successful video game editor, sometimes you need to play games that don't personally appeal to you, but would appeal to others. For example, I'm not a huge fan of first-person shooters, but there are a ton of people out there who love them. So when reporting on them, I need to be objective, rather than subjective. Just because I don't prefer them does not mean the game is poorly made. Tron Evolution: Battle Grids falls under this category. 

Let's clear some things up first. I'm writing about TRON Evolution: Battle Grids for the Wii, not to be confused with TRON: Evolution (coming out on the HD consoles) and TRON: Legacy (the action movie coming out later this year).

The E3 demo focused on Light Cycle challenges (see image below if you are not familiar with Light Cycles). The first challenge was an arena mode. You and your friends are dropped into an arena with the objective to be the last man standing. At your disposal, your light cycle leaves a streak of light in your wake and any opponent who runs over the streak gets hurt. You also have power-ups scattered throughout the room. 

Control your light cycle by holding the Wiimote sideways and steering as if it was a steering wheel. Hop your opponents light streaks by thrusting the Wiimote up.

The race mode was fairly predictable. You race through a futuristic TRON universe avoiding all obstacles in your way. Jump chasms, run over speed boosts and try to finish without being hit too many times by recognizers, which are out to ruin your day.

As mentioned earlier, the game isn't one I would play today, but I would have probably loved it when I was younger. It seems like a fun game to sit down with your friends and play. Also, the game has been tailored to the Wii with graphics looking a bit more cartoony than the 360 and PS3 TRON games. 

Stay tuned to VGChartz for more information on TRON Evolution: Battle Grids. Pick up the game November 1st, 2010 on the Wii.