Gamertell

In Microsoft’s quest to bring more classic games to the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA), one of the most recent additions, Tron, would seem a true treat for arcade fans.

Costing only 400 Microsoft Points (US$5), the XBLA version of Tron includes the four original levels, an enhanced graphics version of the same game and a multiplayer mode.

The four levels of the original 1982 arcade game are I/O Tower, MCP Cone, Battle Tanks and Lightcycle Race (overhead view).

In I/O tower, you shoot bugs to clear a path to the side entrance to the Tower. For MCP Cone, you shoot a descending and rotating mass of blocks to clear a path into the MCP Cone. The Lightcycle game, clearly the game’s classic, is an overhead, 2D view of the Lightcycle race from the move - block in your opponent with colored lines before you crash into a wall. In the Battle Tanks level you control a tank and must shoot computer-controlled tanks three times each before they shoot you once. In each level, you get one shot at a time, but your bullets bounce. As you progress the levels increase in difficulty (in speed, number of opponents or both).

Although I was nostalgically pleased this game was being released, it clearly demonstrates that not all arcade games translate well onto modern game controllers. The original Tron arcade game used a rotating dial to move your firing arm and a joystick with a trigger.

Without the wheel the game is…

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Check out the gallery: Tron for Xbox Live Arcade2