Reviewed: May 5, 2008
Reviewed by: David Hillyer

Publisher
Disney Interactive

Developer
Backbone Entertainment

Released: February 13, 2008
Genre: Arcade
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone

3
4
4
2
3.2

Supported Features:

Then a shiver went up my spine.

A memory rushed back into my consciousness.

A memory of pain… loss… and emptiness.

I remembered “Discs of TRON”.

I remember in the 80’s when the movie TRON was just amazing with all it’s supercomputer powered graphics. I used to hang out at the Malibu Grand Prix go-kart track and enjoyed playing the TRON game almost as much as I enjoyed racing. Then I noticed another TRON game.

There was Discs of TRON. I saw someone play Discs of TRON and I couldn’t figure out why anyone would waste a good token on it. But I thought there just had to be something more to this game. There must be a secret level or tanks or light cycles or something. So I plunked a couple tokens into the machine.

I left the arcade feeling cheap and used.

Discs of TRON came out in 1983 from Bally Midway. Basically the premise of the game is a variation of a scene in the movie where combatants throw electronic Frisbees at each other and they can also use them to deflect things. The object is to hit the opposing player (derez him). It’s basically a ripoff of Pong and Breakout with TRON graphics.

In this version you use the left stick to move TRON (the blue guy) around, the right stick to aim your shots, the left trigger to deflect discs, and the right trigger to throw your discs at Sark (the red guy). There are 4 control variations to pick from if you have a preference. You hit Sark twice to advance to the next level.

It doesn’t take long to figure out how to aim your shots to hit Sark (or your live opponent). The next thing you know, you have all the achievement points unlocked and… well, that’s about it. There are some variants thrown in like multiple platforms for you to stand on and boy does it ever get exciting when those platforms start moving up and down… .

The only real variation in gameplay is the addition of playing against someone on Xbox Live. But with a game like this you’ll have to call a friend to play with because finding some other poor soul playing Discs of TRON is a long and sad affair.

Well, I’ll give them an extra point since they put “enhanced graphics” as an option – but those only amount to a background that looks like the movie. Overall it looks like a typical 1983 arcade game. It’s not horrible, but it’s nothing anyone would want to play now either.

The sounds are authentic to both TRON games. It’s kind of nostalgic but I would think with the Disney license they would be able to throw in some sound samples from the movie such as Sark taunting you.

If you want to get 12 easy achievements, this is your game… if you can find someone to play online.

There is absolutely no shelf life to this game. I would be shocked if anyone played Discs of TRON more than 20 minutes. That’s about how long it will take you to realize that you just lost 800 Microsoft Points and 20 minutes of your life. Neither of which you will ever get back.

The only value this game has is you have the chance to redeem your self esteem. You may have a tragically suppressed memory of spending tokens playing Discs of TRON in the arcade. Perhaps you can heal that wound and show the world how much you have grown by spending your Microsoft Points on something else. Sometimes the past is best left buried.

This is not a “classic” arcade game. It’s just an old game that never should have seen the light of day… not only did I have to relive the tragic memory of spending tokens on this thing, but I had to write about the experience playing it all over again. I hope you learn from my mistakes. I took this one for the team.