No matter how much I learn about the workings of computers, it will always be Tron in there. Little programs, running around on the Grid, trying to keep the whole system from falling apart. So, Tron: Catalyst felt right up my street. It does a great job of visually replicating that digital world and there is a great idea at its core. Unfortunately, the gameplay didn’t quite live up to the premise. By the end, I was left feeling like the program needed more time to compile.
Tron: Catalyst starts strong – we are introduced to a courier program named Exo who, due to a package exploding in her hands, begins glitching. Her glitches cause her to relive loops of time over and over, a power she uses to escape from prison and uncover a conspiracy surrounding the approaching reset of the Grid. There are competing factions trying to preserve or destroy the Grid; Core seeks to control the Grid with brute force while Automata seek to impart free will to all programs.
It’s a great set up and it immediately got me hooked on the story Tron: Catalyst was telling, with perhaps the best implementation of time travel mechanics I’ve seen (and you’re talking to a guy with a Chrono Trigger tattoo), with Exo able to relive loops over and over to get the right outcome. It isn’t just a case of “you ran out of hit points so you restart the loop” either – there are points where it is necessary to restart a loop of your own free will to get a new outcome after you’ve gotten new information.
There are some fun characters to interact with throughout. Most have voice acting and their cutscenes play out through static images with text beneath them. It all feels a bit basic and some of the dialogue is a bit stiff, but it does the job of moving the plot forward. In the second half of the game, when the timeline opens up and you can do more to manipulate outcomes to your advantage, you get to not just interact with these people but truly help them, which is where Tron: Catalyst finally comes to life. Because they let me get to know everyone in the first half of the game, I was extra motivated to help them when I finally got the chance.
The problem comes down to the gameplay. Unlike Tron: Identity, Catalyst is a top-down isometric action game, so you’ll spend a lot of time fighting other programs to get where you need to go. Combat is relatively tame. You can attack, block, or dodge. Eventually, you get the ability to replicate the code of other programs, which can give you stronger attacks or greater speed. It isn’t exactly necessary – you can get through the whole game just by hitting everything in your base form – so it doesn’t really inject much depth into an already shallow system.
Combat is never terribly difficult, but it becomes significantly easier once you unlock the ability to inflict massive damage on a parry, to the point where even some bosses go down in one hit. The rest of the skill tree feels unnecessary once you’ve powered up your parry ability. It feels unbalanced and highlights my biggest complaint about the game – outside of the story, everything feels unfinished and half-baked. You really shouldn’t be able to hit one button to win most fights.
This is especially true of the vehicle sections in Tron: Catalyst. Early on you get access to a light cycle, the iconic vehicle from the Tron films. This should have been a highlight, but it never handles well. It floats in a way that doesn’t make sense, especially given that light cycles in the films travel in straight lines and handle with sharp, 90-degree turns. It is even worse during the light jet segment, where the controls will suddenly reverse if you turn too far in one direction. This part of the game was the one that took me the most time to finish. It left me shouting in frustration. This is Tron, after all. I should be loving the light cycle, not dreading every time I load it up.
Visually, I found myself unimpressed with Tron: Catalyst. Even with the bright neon lights replicating the feel of the original Tron movie, there were points where the visuals were too dark to see where I was going, causing me to get stuck behind walls or by stairs. The problem was worse in handheld mode, but it didn’t happen enough to be anything other than a minor annoyance. Just another example where Tron: Catalyst felt unpolished. The true sin the developers committed was not letting me adjust the camera angle. It gave the game a static feeling that I wanted to rebel against.
So, the combat is lackluster and the vehicle portions just feel wrong. Yet, I can’t bring myself to pan this game completely. This is a case of a developer not finding the right genre for the game they want to make. If Tron: Catalyst had been a visual novel with the ability to flip between chapters as you restart loops, it could have been great because there is greatness in here. The narrative is good and the time-travel concept is honestly one of the best I’ve seen, but neither gets the chance to shine. Instead, they are wrapped up in a shallow combat system, frustrating vehicle sections, and bland visuals.
Conclusion
Tron: Catalyst isn’t a terrible game, but it is definitely in the wrong genre. Its engaging setting and excellent time-travel mechanics carried me far beyond the point where I got bored of the shallow combat system and frustrating vehicle sections. Despite the visuals and story feeling very Tron, it doesn’t capture the same feel of the movies. Honestly, if you can’t make a light cycle fun to ride, you have no place making a Tron game.
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