Bonnie & Glyde: Tron's Legacy
Mega Man Legends: The Pre-Sequel!
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, released for PlayStation twenty years ago this week, is a spin-off of a spin-off, its source material being the venerated corpse that is the Mega Man Legends series. It's a prequel to the first game in that beloved sub-franchise, demonstrating the antics of the titular antihero Tron Bonne and her army of iconic Servbots - you know, the little blokes who look a bit like Lego men.
It's such a strange little game that I'm honestly surprised (and delighted) that it was ever localised. It's a bizarre, delightful mixture of exploration, puzzle-solving, action and management, with traditional Legends third-person action giving way to Sokoban-ish block puzzles and semi-roguelike digging missions, first-person segments that call to mind the likes of Descent. Interspersed with all this is a responsibility to your crew of Servbots, each of whom have stats you can raise in further minigames – and a Sloth stat you can lower through spending some time with them in the Torture Room. Oo-er!
The story is as charming as you’d expect from the franchise, with a marvellous Saturday morning anime feel matching its colourful and distinctive graphics telling the story of Tron Bonne’s rescue of her family via the medium of “making mad cash”. The difficulty curve is well-designed enough that almost anyone will be able to complete the game, but there’s plenty of scope for improvement to keep you coming back. Ordering your Servbots around is pleasingly Pikmin-esque in places, and there’s plenty of character to go around.
It’s another gem in a doozy of a series, and it’s available for staggeringly little money on the PlayStation store (PS3, PSP, Vita). And now I’m sad again that they cancelled Legends 3.
