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Review:

1st June 2003:
Enter the Matrix
How far does the rabbit hole go? Find out in our review on one of the most anticpated games of 2003.
Posted by John Wasabi - PlayStation 2,Xbox,GameCube,PC - UK and Europe

Enter the Matrix from Shiny and Atari is the first game with the money-spinning Matrix license. The story is not taken directly from the movie Matrix Reloaded so some of you are going to be disappointed that Neo, Morpheus and Trinity will not be playable. Instead, the game follows Niobe (Jada Smith) and Ghost (Erm, I don't know his real name but he is the cool looking oriental that follows Jada Smith around in the movie) as a side story to the movie as you help Neo, Morpheus and Trinity. There are loads of exclusive content used in the game that is not in the film and it all ties in nicely. With legions and legions of die-hard Matrix fans out there is very little to stop this game from selling and as the charts have shown, this is true.

So does the hype live up to expectations? In some respects it does, especially the combat system. The acrobatic kung fu and bullet time effects are all here and boy is it fun. The combat system allows for you to do almost everything you've seen in the Matrix movies from off the wall kicks to disarming enemies by flipping them 900 degrees. The bullet time system is very much like that in Max Payne except that it applies to hand combat as well as gun fights. In fact when you are in bullet time mode, the stunts you pull off become insanely spectacular. Hours into the game and you'll still be enjoying the combat system from pulling cartwheels to running on walls and the best thing is, the moves are easy to pull off allowing even not-so experienced gamers feel like the lead in a Hollywood action movie.

Enter the Matrix allows you to choose Niobe or Ghost as playable characters and depending on who you choose will alter the path of the game slightly but ultimately leading you back to one conclusion. The main differences are that Niobe allows you to take control of a Car and drive it to escape the police and agents at certain points while Ghost allows you to ride shotgun and aim at your pursuers with a machine gun blowing them up to a fiery death. Unfortunately these differences are more of a gimmick than mind blowing gameplay, I found them rather dull and frustrating, and really they could have done better by implementing better physics or designed the car chases to be more interesting.

Another nifty feature that Shiny allowed you to do was add a hacking feature in the main menu. We spent a few hours playing around in its DOS interface and for a short time felt like Neo in the first Matrix movie. With the hack option you can also enter cheats such as Multiplayer fighting (Still haven't figured how it works yet unfortunately) as well as the usual infinite health and bullet time focus. It's a very satisfying feeling as it gives you the sense of uncovering things yourself.

Certain graphical elements of Enter the Matrix are done very well. Character models have great detail on them from faces, hair and clothes that flow rather nicely throughout. Certain textures are alright but the majority is not well defined giving impressions that they rushed it a bit. The colour scheme of the whole game is dull and grey at times but is not too big a deal.

Animations of fight sequences were amazing, an absolute joy to watch and one that you can quite happily sit through watching again and again, however animations of things like running, climbing and walking are by far some of the worst I have seen in a game. I've seen freeware animations that do a better job and I'm not kidding either.

The whole level design of the game is a pretty basic affair, areas feel copied and pasted and for a while will start to look the same. If not for the pointy arrow that directs you to the next waypoint, Enter the Matrix could have been a real disaster in level design and even then I got lost quite a number of times. Some rooms look bland and are left empty which was rather disappointing, surely they could have filled it out with cool secret weapons and bonuses.

Enough said about things that disappoint cause the music and sound of Enter the Matrix is top notch. All the dramatic fight music is here and cues perfectly just like in the movies. It certainly gave me Goosebumps the first time. There is no better feeling than laying the fists of fury on a baddie in slow motion just as the score from the movie cues in to the action. Gunshots and explosions as they are being fired and ricocheted are super crisp and sound absolutely stunning. Differences in sound fx also occur when in real-time and bullet time, everything is slowed down and muffled giving an underwater effect, its all great stuff.

Enter the Matrix has an awesome combat system and one that you will truly enjoy. However, this alone will not make up for some of the other parts of the game that were absolutely atrocious to play and look at but if like me you are a Matrix fan, you may just find it in your heart to forgive some of these elements and play it to the end. If you are still unsure, give it a rental first.

John Wasabi

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Review Summary:

Enter the Matrix has an awesome combat system and one that you will truly enjoy. However, this alone will not make up for some of the other parts of the game that were absolutely atrocious to play and look at but if like me you are a Matrix fan, you may just find it in your heart to forgive some of these elements. If you are still unsure, give it a rental first.

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Enter the Matrix
for Xbox

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