If you don't know what a Walkman is or how to properly use one, odds are Tron doesn't mean all that much to you. That's fine. Tron represented the future almost 30 years ago, making it as outdated as it is iconic. Even the best games keeping the franchise alive never quite hit the film's high watermark for fresh ideas and visuals. Nevertheless, the idea of recapturing the pure thrill of a high-speed light cycle race or an instantly lethal disc duel -- and updating them for contemporary gamers -- has long fueled geek dreams.

Tron: Evolution makes a grab for that glory and misses by a mile.

Yeah, I'd be dubious, too.

Credit where credit's due, at least it makes the attempt. Evolution stands well above the standard movie game in its ambitions, but make no mistake, this isn't a Tron game. It's a movie game based on the new Tron film, and by law movie games suck. Even when they reach for greatness, they always seem to go horribly astray.

Or, to put it another way: In the three-decade history of Tron, when has parkour ever been important? Because it's really important in Evolution.

All the PR talks up parkour as a great method to traverse this sleek, digitized world like so much buzz-speak. Parkour is in, so now it's in the game. Much of Tron: Evolution acts like a platformer where you wall run over chasms and bound off objects for a big jumping boost, but nobody really addresses what this has to do with Tron. Answer: nothing.

Mark that down as a typical movie game trope...gameplay that's totally inconsistent with the source material. Tron: Evolution nails several others as well:

• It's a prequel that clumsily attempts to crowbar itself into the franchise continuity.
• You play as a friend of the film's hero to ensure nothing of real consequence happens.
• The repetition beats you over the head with the constant repetition of repeating things.

Even discounting those missteps, I should still get a thrill out of nailing programs with my disc of death, right? I should still love my light cycle, right?

Yeah, I should, but here’s the biggest movie game cliché of all: little or no attention to detail.

Behold! The Frisbee of Doom!

Discs zip around so fast you might as well be firing a gun. None of the throw/return mechanics you find in Discs of Tron or Tron 2.0...no biting your lip, hoping your identity disc returns in time to pull off a last-ditch block. Evolution makes it straightforward to the point of draining the uniqueness out of arguably the most unique weapon/shields in film history.

And sure, I got a tickle up my spine when I jumped into a light cycle and took off at full speed...in multiplayer. In campaign, light cycle sequences are practically on rails, with the camera set so low you can’t see where the road drops into the abyss until you drop into the abyss. Not that it matters, because in any mode, light cycles handle like mud slugs. No 90 degree turns here, pal, even with air brakes. Yep...air brakes. In an environment, I feel compelled to point out, that technically has no air.

But still, there’s that ambition. Tron: Evolution has an online multiplayer mode -- rare for a mere tie-in product -- and for the moment at least, it’s pretty decently populated. I popped around in a few Versus and Team Versus matches, but it wasn’t until I rezzed up in one of the bigger maps that I got to ram a few programs into my light cycle’s jet wall.

For those brief seconds, Evolution felt like a Tron game.

My other car's a Recognizer, bitch!

I want to play a Tron game. I honestly wish developer Propaganda Games had made one. Tron: Evolution’s failings are a movie game’s failings. The small, derivative priorities of a merchandizing tie-in took over from what should be every game's core mission...fresh ideas and visuals. Give players the experience they want in ways they don't always expect.

That's how Tron's endured for so many years. And maybe it’s why the best movie games don't rely on the big screen at all.