When we came up with XBLA in Brief, it was never our intention that it would be this brief, but here we go. We spent a little time with the trial version of Discs of Tron today, and we do mean a little time. The demo offers up two levels of play, and that's it. Of course, there are only twelve levels, so it's not like Disney Interactive could give away much more.
Getting down to brass tacks, the game is pretty simple. It's a one-on-one duel between Tron and the evil Sark in a Frisbee battle to the death. Aiming with the right stick, you can fling your disk directly at the enemy, or you can utilize the walls in the hopes of foiling your foe with a tricky ricochet. With the ability to chuck three discs at the same time, the air can become crowded very quickly. Throw in the fact that Sark also has weapons called Seekers -- guess what they do -- and it gets even more hectic. Honestly, that's about all there is to it. The game controls well and it's actually reasonably fun. The trial version is a bit lacking though. For instance, it's beyond us why the developers decided to force players to use the original graphics instead of the new high definition graphics. It's hard to consider high definition graphics an incentive to purchase the game if you have no idea what they look like.
The question remains, is Discs of Tron worth 400 MS Points? The full version offers new gameplay modes (co-op and versus) as well as the aforementioned high definition graphics and new music. Whether or not that's worth it to you is relative to your fondness of Discs of Tron. For many the game marks a nostalgic treat, but for others it will be simply another retro seat-filler. Honestly, the price seems hard to justify when there are plenty of other 400 point games that offer better gameplay and more content.
