Enter the Matrix
Score: 70% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atari Developer: Shiny Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: Capturing the look, feel and style of The Matrix is a daunting task -- even for the digital wizards at Shiny. So, it only stands to reason that when Shiny took up the task of developing a Matrix game, they had their work cut out for them. Now, nearly four years after development began, gamers finally get a chance to experience Shiny's work with Enter the Matrix. Enter the Matrix is both a triumph and a defeat in nearly every aspect of the game. The look and style is truly worthy of the Matrix brand, but when compared to other games on the system, as well as the potential the Xbox offers, it's easy to become disappointed. Character models and animations are great, except for the occasional snag between animation transitions and the terrible run cycles (think the liquid terminator's run style in Terminator 2). Environments are nice and open, but rather sparse in areas. There is also a major problem with the game's brightness level -- the game is way too dark. This is a problem that can be fixed by adjusting the brightness level in the options, but this makes the game's graphical flaws more apparent, suggesting that things are dark for a reason. Chief among the flaws are the terrible clipping (which is readily apparent during driving scenes) and bland, flat texture work. Dispersed between the game's levels are FMVs that push the story along featuring both clips for The Matrix Reloaded and new scenes filmed for the game. The movie quality is good, but the lack of special effects in some scenes can look a tad cheap. The game sounds exactly how The Matrix should sound. From the minute you pop in the game to the last fleeting moments, the memorable Matrix soundtrack plays in the background to great effect. When the gameplay becomes quiet, a soothing silence or low, neat techno plays in the background. The minute the action picks up, wild, thumping techno beats assail you from every direction, pushing you to shoot, punch and kick your way through legions of enemies. The vocal work, which is provided by both Anthony Wong (Ghost) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe), is spot on.
Gameplay: Enter the Matrix takes an interesting take on the movie tie-in phenomenon that plagues most games. Instead of simply retelling the events portrayed in the movie, the game plays something of a sidestory to the events in the movie. The game also acts as a bridge between Final Flight of the Osiris (which can be seen on The Animatrix DVD) and The Matrix Reloaded and serves to explain a few parts of the movie a little better. Although you can't play as Neo, Trinity or Morpheus, all three make appearances at one time or another as do other notable characters from the movie such as Agent Smith, the Keymaker, the Merovingian and Persephone. The game opens with Niobe and Ghost intercepting a message from the Osirus, which tells them to recover a package from a drop in the 'real world' that contains vital information regarding the machine's push to destroy Zion. >From here, players can choose to play as either Niobe or Ghost through the rest of the game. Though both characters essentially play the same, their adventures are different. Missions take place at the same site most of the time, although which path you follow through a mission depends on whom you're playing as. For example, if you're playing as Ghost through the first mission, it's your job to collect the package. If you're playing as Niobe, you have to find a different way into the complex and aid in Ghost's escape. For the most part, these segments play rather well -- although there are a few segments where you're liable to either get lost, or just have a flat out hard time with a boss. Though most of the game is a 3rd person adventure game, there are also driving segments. Depending on whom you're playing as, these missions will be different. If you're Niobe, you'll play the role of the wheelman while playing as Ghost has you hanging out the side of the car with a gun taking pot shots at pursuing cops (and, at times, Agents). These are among the game's worse areas and will have you wishing you could skip levels. First of all, the driving physics are way off and reminiscent of rolling a plastic toy truck down a bumpy sidewalk. Cars bounce all over the place with the slightest nudge and at times run right through walls. A number of the missions also take place at night, which means the levels take on the game's trademark 'darkness', making tunnels, turns and other obstacles hard to see. The default camera angle for these segments is also annoying, since it shows all the action over your character's shoulder.
Difficulty: One of the screwier aspects of the game is the always-regenerating health meter. Sure, it may sound cool, but it ends up cheapening the game experience. This takes some of the thrill out of running from room to room and dodging bullets since you can run into a room, get roughed up shooting a few enemies, then backtrack into a cleared room to rest and heal. This is an advantage you won't be able to enjoy during boss fights, since your health doesn't regenerate at these points of the game, bringing cheap to a whole new level. Boss fights are tough and require a massive amount of concentration and forethought to beat. Most can be defeated by following a pattern, but finding this pattern may take a few deaths.
Game Mechanics: Mention The Matrix, and the first thing that comes to mind is the bullet time and slow-motion wire-acrobatics. To be perfectly blunt, this was the one aspect the developers had to get right, otherwise the game would be a failure. All of your punches and kicks are handled by pressing the four face buttons and look rather bland - until you activate the Focus meter, which causes the screen to adapt a 'Matrix green' tint as everything slows down. At this point your moves become super-enhanced as you punch enemies though walls, and perform nearly every feat seen in the movies. In addition, the Focus meter also allows you to leap between buildings and allows for better accuracy with your firearms. Overall, I was rather impressed with how well the game was able to capture the speed of the movies. For the computer guys out there, Enter the Matrix offers a unique hacking mode to unlock hidden extras in the game. After entering a basic DOS prompt, players can go through a series of commands. Successfully hacking into the system rewards players with sound clips from the movies, in-game training modes and cheat codes. This is a fun aspect of the game and could entertain some fans for hours -- perhaps even longer if there was a keyboard for the Xbox. All the cool technical advances aside, the sad fact of the matter is that Enter the Matrix is a rather buggy game. There were a number of times that the game crashed on me, which did lead to a few frustrating moments. Despite this, I was happy with Enter the Matrix since it's just a fun game to play. It's certainly not the shiniest gem in the mine, and you could certainly find better, but whether you're a fan of the movies, or are just looking for a fun action game, Enter the Matrix offers something a little different than your typical movie licensed game.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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