Video game movies suck, games about movies suck, it's an all too well known fact with few exceptions, but TRON is the exception. When the original film was released in 1982, its effects and views of a dystopian virtual world of the future were way ahead of its time. Now, with the long awaited sequel TRON: Legacy hitting theatres this month, the franchise finally has the chance to live up its potential.

Sadly, TRON: Evolution is not a good first step. Disney Interactive and Propaganda Games deliver a paint by numbers third person action adventure game with little heart and inspiration. It's messy and frustrating but the worst part is the flashes of ingenuity that you'll see as you play through. Sadly though, even TRON diehards are sure to be disappointed by Evolution.

At first glance, the world of TRON: Evolution looks fantastic, but diving deeper and looking closer, you'll realize that things aren't all that pretty. The world is dotted with the series' trademarked ultra-violet blues and grays, which get tiresome when you're looking at them level after level. There are a few variations, but these are mainly in color alone, so they offer little change. Characters animate stiffly, making even the coolest looking maneuvers come off robotically and the character models can be quite terrifying at times.

"...most may have trouble following some of less than fleshed out plot twists."

Interestingly enough, TRON: Evolution is an integral part of the franchise's story. Serving as both a quasi sequel to the original TRON and a prequel to the upcoming Legacy, the game attempts to explain exactly what happened to Kevin Flynn, and how he became imprisoned. Oh but you won't be playing as Flynn, instead you'll take on the persona of Anon (short for anonymous), a program written by Flynn to investigate trouble in the TRON world. Dedicated fans are sure to enjoy watching exactly what leads to the events from the upcoming film, but most may have trouble following some of less than fleshed out plot twists. Characters are frustratingly introduced, never to be heard from again and you may be left scratching your head in some points.

In theory, TRON: Evolution is a third-person adventure title, just -- you know, a lot more shallow. Mission structure is almost non-existent as more often than not you'll either be sent to find something, destroy something or fight someone. It's not like these sequences are challenging either; take the fetch quests for instance, go in and either find the one glowing object, or the one non glowing object in a room, get out and repeat. Thrilling. Though on the harder difficulties you're going to have to find some form of strategy, combat more often than not turns into a button-mash fest. There's some cool moves sprinkled throughout, but even these require you to press the attack button as much as possible.

"Undoubtedly, the one area that makes TRON: Evolution playable is the light cycle sequences."

Undoubtedly, the one area that makes TRON: Evolution playable is the light cycle sequences. They're fast, they're fun and most importantly - they feel an awful lot like TRON should. In the single player campaign, these moments are sprinkled in far too lightly, and repeat themselves way too often, but it's in the game's multiplayer modes that these mechanics really stand out. Tthis is the way you've always wanted to play the light cycle races, and its tons of fun.

TRON: Evolution isn't the TRON game you've been waiting for - hell, it's not even really a TRON game at all. Instead, we get a subpar third-person action game with a TRON themed skin. It's a game that fails to deliver on pretty much every front, save for the cool light cycle races, but even those aren't enough to save this lackluster movie tie-in.