Time loop not enough of a catalyst

Otago Daily Times

12 hours ago

TRON: CATALYST For: PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC
TRON: Catalyst is a top down action adventure game where you play as Exo, a program in the TRON setting's computer world, whose last delivery for the night explodes. She's taken prisoner by Core, a sort of authoritarian government of the Grid, as the obvious suspect in a potential bombing. To Exo, the explosive is the least of her concerns as the incident has given her time-looping powers, allowing her to jump backwards by choice ... or on death. Meanwhile, Conn, a Core operative looking to climb the ranks, follows in hot pursuit.
The time loop is a really cool idea. Unfortunately, it is underutilised in the gameplay. The loop mechanic is only used to get the player to continue the story. That's it. You go down one linear path, are told you can't continue, then you reset the loop and follow another linear path. Rinse and repeat. It's a completely linear use of a non-linear ability. I never used it outside of those sections.
This disconnect between the story and the gameplay drags the whole experience down. Just before the first chapter ends, for example, Exo says she's been "here for far too long", and the excellent voice acting brings out her desperation and despair — when in fact you've been in that particular loop for an hour, maybe less. You also unlock a lot of shortcuts somewhat pointlessly, as a lot of them will never be used again, due to how linear everything is. There are times when you as a player know there is a way to the location you have to go to, but the game forces you off on a different path.
As a consequence of the time-looping not being deep, I struggled to connect emotionally to the overall story and was confused by certain sections. Both Exo's and Conn's development needed more time, as they both feel flat as characters. This especially hurts for Exo as the playable character. We learn nothing about her before the whole bombing incident and her arc feels rushed.
The voice acting is really nice. A bit inconsistent, but really good when it counts. By far the standout is Conn, voiced by David Menkin — whom I wish was given more lines and time — but each of the important characters do have their moments to shine.
Another aspect done well is the world building. The concepts behind each of the factions and characters are interesting, though there are a lot of concepts thrown about and if you have no idea who Flynn is or what a user might be, your head will be spinning in the first few hours. Thankfully, there is a glossary where you can read about all the little details of the franchise. The visual style of harsh darkness and vibrant neon in various colours has always been a TRON staple and has been lovingly recreated here.
Combat is pretty easy to pick up and was initially really fun. You have a quick attack combo and a special attack, as well as being able to throw your identity disc at enemies or bounce it off walls to hit them in the back. You can also parry basically every attack and can get upgrades to kick your own thrown disc back at enemies. Later in the game you get the ability to instantly kill dazed enemies and steal their code, giving you a new combat move-set for a short period of time.
Unfortunately, combat is extremely unbalanced, even on the hardest difficulty, leading to probably the worst aspect of the entire game. This stems from the parry and its upgrades. One increases the damage and another makes the timing easier. Combine these two and you have a one-shot ability that kills most enemies in the game in one hit, or does tremendous damage, even against the final boss. I like parrying as much as the next guy, but it just made the combat boring. Why bother with throwing the disc or stealing code when you can just instakill whoever fronts up?
The enemy variety could have saved things here but alas that's not the case. Be it the sword guys, throwing disc guys, hammer guys or others, they are all killed the same way. Parry, one-shot, move on. The most unique are the superiors, who actively parry your attacks, but that's a simple matter of attacking and then parrying the counterattack, and they go down like the rest. The most unique enemies are those that can summon others — they're basically the only enemy in the game you can't directly kill via parry — and they're just annoying time-sinks rather than an actual engaging fight.
On a lighter note, the game ran well, was crash free and almost bug-free. I somehow got stuck in a wall; thankfully movement abilities got me out of that one. There was one rather annoying time when I was unable to interact with an elevator in damage-over-time zone, leading to my unfair death. I was still technically in combat and you can't interact during combat. That's fine, though the enemy I was supposed to kill was over 25,000m away and counting. I suspect they fell through the world.
TRON: Catalys t isn't a bad game by any means, but it's not great either. It performs well and without issue. It controls fine. It's short and doesn't overstay its welcome. It's a game that exists ... and in a crowded market, that's about all it is. The voice acting can't save the so-so story and the cool design of the environments can't escape the linear gameplay and boring combat.
Unless you're a die hard TRON fan, this is one you can skip.
By Michael Robertson