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Metro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Tron: Catalyst review - I'm sorry I haven't a CLU
As a new movie prepares for launch, the latest attempt to adapt Tron into video game form comes with a very interesting and purposeful glitch. Tron has always seemed like a franchise on the edge of greatness. The original 1982 movie was a hugely important milestone in the evolution of computer-generated imagery, but it wasn't really that great a film. Likewise, Tron: Legacy is most fondly remembered for its amazing soundtrack, rather than anything that actually happened in it. Naturally, there's been many video game adaptations over the year, with two separate waves around the time of the two movies and an unconnected 2003 first person shooter from the now sadly deceased Monolith Productions. The most recent tie-in was low-key visual novel Tron: Identity in 2023, from Thomas Was Alone developer Bithell Games. Despite being a small indie studio, the team was also responsible for the only John Wick game so far – which we loved but nobody else seemed to. Tron: Catalyst takes an equally daring approach to its subject matter, but this time the gamble hasn't paid off. The unavoidable problem for all the modern Tron games is that Legacy was a much less visually interesting movie than the original, with an almost monochrome colour scheme and less fantastical costumes and designs. New film Ares, to which this is only nominally connected, is set in the real world and yet still everything looks bleak and dark, which really doesn't seem appropriate for a concept as inherently silly as Tron. Nevertheless, designer Mike Bithell, who we had a good chat to about the game last year, does what he can, with an original story based on a different grid (aka server) than the one seen in the films. The idea is that the grid has been left alone for so long that most programs no longer really believe in humans and those that do have turned the concept into a kind of religion. You play as a courier named Exo, who becomes involved in a plot to reset the server, caught between a dystopian police force and a growing band of resistance fighters. It's a perfectly reasonable set-up and does involve some interesting sci-fi ideas – like the super-evolved programs that have lost all connection with humanity – but the wider plot could be transposed to any other fantasy setting with very few changes needed. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The game is played from a very distant top-down view, which doesn't help with the sense of immersion or your connection to the character, and only makes the drab art design look even more uninteresting. What makes Exo unique is that she has a bug, literally called a glitch, that lets her reset the server whenever she wants. This means starting the current chapter of the story again, while retaining any abilities you unlocked or information you didn't previously have. So, for example, if your need a code for a locked door you can go off and find it, even if that ends up altering all the guards, and then come back later and use it. It's a very neat idea and there's always a shortcut, literally or figuratively, involved that means you don't have to repeat everything a second time. However, it never really feels like the game is making full use of the ability, as there's generally no reason to use it except when the game tells you too and nothing that surprises you with its cleverness. The combat involves melee fighting and using the (relatively) iconic identity disc, which is basically a Frisbee. This works fine in theory but there's very little sense of feedback for your attacks and as you face down armies of respawning enemies it gets old worryingly quickly; especially as the skill tree and the ability to steal enemies' moves make little practical difference. The top-down view really doesn't help either, given how much it distances you from the action. Combat soon becomes a chore, with too many bullet sponge opponents, while minor enemies are easily confused by level furniture. Ironically, the AI is quite glitchy and often you end up taking advantage of its brokenness to get the action over with more quickly. More Trending The other main action element is driving a light cycle, which is fun because of how fast they are, even if there's often little room to manoeuvre. Given the original Tron included a version of what would today be recognised as the game Snake (but actually started out as a coin-op called Blockade in 1976) none of the modern Tron games have done the concept justice and while Catalyst is perhaps the best of the bunch it still feels fiddly and random. Catalyst is quite cheap but it's also very short, at around five hours, and with no real reason to ever play it again. Annoyingly, the ending is filled with hints at a third game (since this is technically a sequel to Identity) and yet there's been no announcement so far that one is happening. The end result is a disappointingly joyless gaming experience, whose story and characters are surprisingly uninteresting, given Bithell's talents. The gameplay doesn't take any particular advantage of the Tron setting and the whole thing is just so ugly and bland to look at. John Wick Hex was much the same, but we easily forgave that because of the fun and original gameplay, but unfortunately Tron: Catalyst doesn't have that same advantage. In Short: A disappointingly drab Tron tie-in that wastes some interesting ideas on dull and repetitive combat and an unequally unengaging story. Pros: The glitch concept has lots of potential, even if it's not fully realised here. For better or worse, it looks like Tron: Legacy. Cons: The storytelling is mostly uninteresting and there's barely any resolution. Combat is dull and repetitive. Glitch gimmick is never used in any particularly clever ways. Bleak and unengaging visuals. Score: 5/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £19.99Publisher: Big FanDeveloper: Bithell GamesRelease Date: 17th June 2025 Age Rating: 7 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 is 15% off if you pre-order now MORE: PS Plus games for July includes one of the best dungeon crawlers ever MORE: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 climbs chart after 'unusual' sales boost
Daily Mirror
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Tron: Catalyst captures the look and vibe of the 2010 movie with a top-down action roguelite spin
Tron gets an isometric action upgrade from Bithell Games, with a new game that smartly plays with the plot using a unique looping mission structure. Mike Bithell's more action-centric take on Disney's Tron universe is shaping up to be a snack-sized adventure worth lighting up the Grid for. On paper, the world of Tron seems like a ripe candidate for the video game adaptation treatment. The neon-drenched look, pulsating techno soundtrack, and a litany of oppressed characters looking to break free of their own societal system. Tron: Catalyst, the upcoming isometric actioner from Bithell Games, has all these elements and more, setting itself up nicely to be an interesting slice of a franchise that Disney seems intent on making a thing. Luckily, despite technically being a sequel to the studio's previous visual novel set in the same Grid, Tron: Catalyst works well as a standalone tale and has nothing to do with the upcoming movie, Tron: Ares – I'd say for the better. After playing the first two chapters, I was delighted to see this emphasis on narrative and cool characters still here, only now with action and a cool roguelite narrative backbone at the forefront. Tron: Catalyst kicks off with a bang, literally, as a job goes wrong for program courier Exo that leads her into the clutches of one of the Arq Grid's shadowy factions. This sets off a series of events that require her to become combat-ready, wipe her identity disc, and try to escape the city by playing off all its various factions against one another. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've watched the original 1982 movie, or indeed its shinier 2010 sequel that Catalyst takes cues from, at least aesthetically. Bithell Games hasn't assumed players will have seen these either, fortunately, instead looking to craft a competent top-down actioner that pulls from the Disney universe's most recognisable iconography but weaves a tale most people should be able to get on board with. If I were brushing with the broadest of strokes, I'd categorise Tron: Catalyst as a futuristic old-school style GTA with just a splash of Hades thrown in, but that really does a disservice to the other inventive ideas it's trying to embed. Some of which were quickly made evident in my short, hour-or-so long demo. After getting caught up to speed with playing as Exo and her awkward situation, it wasn't long before exploring the Arq Grid felt natural. This is a neon-soaked cityscape that is constantly raining and full of atmosphere, which Bithell Games has wisely chosen to harness from a far-off perspective to both manage production scope (one imagines) yet also does well to show off the true grandeur of this unique world. World of light Progressing through the Grid and surviving its forces means getting to grips with a standard hack-and-slash combat system. Exo has a standard melee attack, dodge, and a pretty superfluous parry ability. Taking down enemy programs is made a tad more exciting, though, thanks to her throwable identity disc, which can pack a punch when aimed correctly. I particularly enjoyed how you don't even need to throw the disc at the target to deal decent damage, as throwing it against a nearby wall can often see it bounce off and then further hit around surrounding enemy groups. The catch is that, much like the case with enemies, leaving yourself free of the disc for too long makes Exo vulnerable to extra damage, so it doesn't always pay well to spam ranged hits. As perfectly enjoyable as it was, I came away from my Tron: Catalyst preview hoping that combat opens up further. Mention of new upgrades such as the ability to call back your identity discs and the introduction of certain bulkier enemies certainly suggests as much. For now, however, far more exciting is how the story progresses, since Exo is one of the few programs able to make use of what's called the Glitch, which essentially allows her to reset events back to the start of the chapter or 'loop' as Catalyst calls it, utilising any previously unlocked traversal shortcut or any gained knowledge to her advantage. Rather than act as a simple reset, the Glitch is built into the fabric of Tron: Catalyst's narrative, with Exo herself aware of any time she's looped back to the beginning of the chapter. An example of how this roguelite system could be exploited came early in my demo, when Exo missed her appointment with a program in the Grid games' viewing stand due to her being busy elsewhere. Not to worry, though, because rather than stay as a missed opportunity, holding down the thumb stick allowed me to reset the cycle, catching up with said meeting after being able to get there quicker due to a newly accessible route I'd unlocked the last time around. It's a cool way to approach a narrative, and I'm excited to see it built upon. Tron: Catalyst is the type of licensed video game clearly attempting to punch above its weight, and mostly doing a good job of it. The more action-oriented approach is totally new for developer Bithell Games compared to its past titles, while the concept of a narrative roguelite mixed in with a hack-and-slasher seems new for Tron. So far, however, from what I played, Tron: Catalyst has a lot of potential to be a solid video game adaptation of what is undoubtedly a great-looking and sounding universe, one that could appeal to newbies and veteran franchise fans alike.
The Guardian
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Maximum points: what is the most influential video game ever?
Ahead of the 21st Bafta games awards this April, the institution is running a public survey asking people to nominate the most influential video game of all time. As the survey points out, this is an open-ended question: early, groundbreaking titles such as Space Invaders and Pong regularly crop up as answers because they helped write the rules of the form, but on a personal level, the right game at the right time can be exceptionally influential, too. For players, it's often the games that made us feel differently about what games could do that feel the most influential. For a game designer, a film director, a writer or a musician, one particular game might inspire a whole creative era. Inspired by Bafta's survey, we asked people from across games and culture for their most influential game – and not one name cropped up twice. Mike Bithell, game designer and head of Bithell Games Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001) hit me at the perfect moment. I was trying to power through my GCSEs, and here came this perfect thing that pointed to a future of games that took me seriously as a player. (I nearly failed my last maths test after staying up for those final few cutscenes.) It engaged with sci-fi tropes and stylish storytelling in a way that felt generations ahead of its peers. Shenmue was the game that convinced me I wanted to make games, but MGS2 showed me the kind of games I wanted to make. One day I'll get there. Louise Blain, creative lead at Blumhouse Games Helpfully, the constantly evolving nature of the horror genre means that a new game can arrive and instantly unlock a fresh fear. Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's shortform horror game PT (2014) holds a special place in my heart, and it's all the more bittersweet for the fact that it is now unavailable and its full-length successor, Silent Hills, never saw the light of (foggy) day. Taking the lead from Amnesia: The Dark Descent's oppressive first person experience, the simplicity of PT's looping corridor is its masterstroke. All you really need to do is push forward and peer into its darkest corners, making this a frankly agonising haunted house taken entirely at your own pace. The game has spawned an infinite number of spiritual successors in atmospheric horror over the last decade, but even the recent trend for anomaly horror has a distinct PT flavour, as we enter the same spaces over and over again, on edge for the frightening differences. Keza MacDonald, Guardian video games editor As Grand Theft Auto's Dan Houser once said: 'Anyone who makes 3D games who says they've not borrowed something from Mario or Zelda is lying.' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) set an example for explorable 3D game worlds that is still followed today – everything, from Link's movement to the sword combat to the little fairy who acts as a guide to what was then a new way of controlling games, was designed from scratch and with little precedent. But it's the mood of this game that I think was especially influential, not just on me but a generation of children who played it. Ocarina of Time is exciting, but also scary and a little sad. With its child hero, who hurtles forward in time against his will, it depicts a loss of innocence; it trusted young players to overcome their nervousness and get to grips not just with a new type of video game, but with all the threatening creatures, malevolent forces and hidden secrets that might be out there in its world. I think it's the first video game I played that felt like it wasn't just for fun. Ellie Gibson, comedian The obvious and only correct answer is Tomb Raider (1996). It introduced the idea that a female video game character could be the star, rather than sidekick or hostage. It was the first game I played that wasn't just about collecting shiny things or killing baddies (and it's a great shame the series lost its way down these rabbit holes in later years). It was about adventure, exploration and clever puzzles that made you feel like a genius when you finally solved them. Tomb Raider went on to inspire a raft of successful action adventure titles, such as the Uncharted games, and its influence is still present in the Assassin's Creed series. It's a shame this influence didn't extend to inspiring a raft of strong female characters, but patriarchy gonna patriarchy, innit. On a personal note, Lara Croft was such a huge influence on me personally that in 2002 I visited Angkor Wat wearing a tight vest and attempted to climb up a temple via some overhanging vines. I got shouted at by a security guard and ran away. Nina Freeman, game designer The most influential game for me must be QWOP (2008), by Bennett Foddy. It sort of brings me back to my roots when I play it. I've always been drawn to small, experimental games, and QWOP is a timeless example of that. At one of the first game jams I ever did, my friends and I made how do you Do It?, which was heavily inspired by the physical humour of QWOP. Bennett, whom I hadn't yet met, was a judge at the jam! We showed him the game, chatted a bunch, and kept in touch after that. Bennett ended up becoming one of my biggest mentors at this early stage of my career, so his work in general has had a big impact on me. Brenda Romero, game designer Look, I admit a bias here, but even if I were not married to John [Romero], my answer would still be the same: Doom (1993). I actually tried to think of something else, but nothing compared to its impact. Doom defined the first person shooter and set the stage for what is gaming's most popular genre. At the same time, it introduced deathmatch and online multiplayer to a wide audience. All FPS games truly owe their DNA to Doom. Doom was created to be moddable, and that decision is part of the reason why the community is still active almost 32 years later. I don't know of a single game developer who was not taken aback when Doom hit. It was mind blowing and a cultural shift for both games and game culture. At the time, consoles really dominated, and Doom sold the PC hard. From a design perspective, Doom introduced the abstract level design philosophy, the style for which John Romero is still known. As a designer, the non-linear and non-standard level design was a big break from the way things were done at the time. I have heard others say that everything about those early levels was a masterclass in game design. Not a week goes by where a well-known game developer doesn't credit Doom for inspiring them and starting their career. And it's still going, now playable on everything from pianos to ATMs and pregnancy tests. Iain Cook, musician, producer and composer I had mostly kicked my video game addiction for the only period in my life between 1997 and 1999, but fell off the wagon hard when the PlayStation 2 was released. The next-gen allure of Metal Gear Solid 2, Silent Hill 2 and Gran Turismo 3 convinced me that I was missing out on something revolutionary. But in 2001 I was suddenly in the recording studio and on tour in Europe and America with my first proper band, Aereogramme, and there was a lot of downtime to fill. Eight-hour driving days in the back of a smokey van; endless post-soundcheck afternoons, waiting anxiously to go on stage. Not that I didn't succumb to other vices, but video games made the hours melt away. Advance Wars was a huge hit with me and my bandmates; the pass-and-play turn-based strategy really worked to engage the brain in between service station piss stops and weed-induced naps. But it was Mario Kart (1992-present) that really got the heart pounding. In time trials on 2001's Super Circuit I would spend an hour or more trying to shave a tenth of a second off the previous best three laps laid down by the fastest racer in the band. Once we'd dialled in on a new course, identified the shortcuts and mapped out the best racing line, you had to stitch all of those things perfectly together in a single run. Mess up and there's no point in continuing. Restart. Deep breath. Palms sweating. You needed total focus as well as muscle memory. The mounting anxiety explodes in expletive-filled euphoria when you cross the line. This game has brought me together with some amazing people. I'm now part of a WhatsApp group where my friends and I compete with other bands and video game industry people, setting a new course every couple of weeks, posting screenshots to validate authenticity. I know for sure that when Mario Kart 9 drops, my productivity is going to drop sharply again. Sam Barlow, game designer and founder of Half Mermaid Super Mario Bros (1985). What more to say? You move a character – he looks like a human, and a characterful human. There is a world: the one in the background, evocative landscapes and skies; and the one in the foreground that you run and jump over. The imagery! Natural landscapes mashed up with Alice in Wonderland. The physics and the controls allow expression – you can go fast, slow, cautious, bold … it's the way in which we exist as a primal level as a biped that walks through the world, condensed down into a game. Challenge, exploration, expression. We go left to right, and there are levels and goals and bosses … and secrets! This game laid down the structures and the ideas that we've been using ever since – but also showed that masterful execution is the heart of a video game. Shuhei Yoshida, former head of PlayStation Studios My most influential game of all time is Journey (2012). Journey moved players deeply; they had tears in their eyes at the end. It was proof that a game, like movies and novels, could affect people emotionally. This game, which was developed by a small team of 18 people and could be played in three to four hours, swept most of the industry's highest game of the year honours, competing against AAA blockbuster titles. I believe it was the first time that had happened in the industry. Meghna Jayanth, writer and narrative designer The Princess Maker series (1991-2007). You are tasked with raising a fairy princess disguised as an ordinary human girl, managing her time between learning important skills, pursuing her interests, adventuring and dating. This early social simulation game is surprisingly crunchy and punishing; it's extremely possible for your 'daughter' to die or be exiled during the various social and political trials that mark her coming-of-age. Each instalment varies, but it's not uncommon to have 50+ endings as well as branching dialogue and narrative events conditional on your princess's particular stats and attributes. As a narrative designer this game was a revelation, and apart from in my own work, I think you can see its influence in everything from the wildly successful Persona games to last year's intriguing indie meditation on capitalism Final Profit to any of Hanako Games' niche but satisfying offerings. In fact, I see a genre through-line all the way to the ambitious and genuinely brilliant design of indie game Closer the Distance, one of this year's Independent games festival narrative nominees. Oh, and it was unashamedly marketed to and interested in girls. I wish more publishers and executives would pay attention. This is a game that I wish was even more influential. Keith Stuart, Guardian video game correspondent In the early 1980s, most of the games I played were extremely abstract: you were a space ship fighting aliens, or you were a hungry yellow circle being chased by ghosts. But in 1985 Atari released Paperboy, a game in which you were a boy delivering papers. Not only was this arcade classic revolutionary in that it featured a real-life job, it also presented a world that was absolutely full of detail and experimentation, in which players were actively rewarded for messing about. What if you threw a paper at a window or a passerby? You got feedback. You got feedback whatever you did. As a schoolboy with an actual paper round it felt weirdly therapeutic to do the job badly, but in game design terms it also taught a generation of designers that the everyday world is an exciting, amusing and challenging place to set a video game. It was also a game that let you mess about, it rewarded mischief. It was GTA a dozen years early.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
One of 2014's Best Games Is Just $0.99 on PS Store
Another day, another great deal on the . There are literally hundreds of awesome games available at pretty steep discounts right this second. This includes a very cheeky that launched for the PS4 in 2014. Developed by Bithell Games' Mike Bithell, the critically acclaimed Thomas Was Alone is currently just 99 cents on the PS Store. That is a whole 90% discount off its typical $9.99 price point. It's also cheaper than many things you'd find at a dollar store, which don't really seem to sell anything less than a dollar nowadays, but maybe that's a story for another time (or another website related to grocery news). Anyways, players will want to act fast on this one as the offer ends on March 6. 'Thomas Was Alone is the critically acclaimed indie platformer about friendship and jumping,' reads the official description. 'Guide a group of sentient rectangles through a series of environments, combining their skills to reach the end of the level.' 'Discover the story of the world's first sentient AIs, and how they worked together to, well… 'escape' is a strong word. 'Emerge' might be better. 'Emerge' has an air of importance about it, while keeping a plethora of plot twists and origin stories under wraps. We didn't even mention the bouncing. That'd be overkill,' continues the description. When Thomas Was Alone launched for the PS3 back in 2013, it received favorable reviews. According to the review aggregate site Metacritic, it garnered an average score of 80 across 21 reviews. The game's narrator Danny Wallace received a BAFTA Games Award for his performance in the platformer. Thomas Was Alone for PS4 is actually a cross-buy product. So anyone who still owns a PS3, or the PS Vita could also play the award-winning game on those devices if they really wanted to. Anyone who finds themselves enjoying Thomas Was Alone can grab the Benjamin's Flight level pack. This just costs 34 cents, a 90% discount off its $3.49 list price. The post One of 2014's Best Games Is Just $0.99 on PS Store appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
