N-Philes

Enter the Matrix

Posted by Archived.

Licensed games are nothing new. They are one of the major sources for games and account for a good deal of games sold. While most games released alongside movies just let you relive the movie experience, the Wachowski brothers, directors of the Matrix films, had a grander plot in mind. When the idea for the Matrix was first envisioned the story was going to be laid out across multiple mediums, including video games. Atari along with Shiny Entertainment have teamed up with the Wachowskis to help bring their vision to fruition in one of the most lucrative movie tie-ins ever, Enter The Matrix.

Story

To fully comprehend the story in Enter The Matrix requires first having seen The Matrix Reloaded. While this more than likely is not a problem for anybody who will play this game, as they almost certainly will have seen the movie it is still a nuisance. The game revolves around two minor characters in the film, Niobe and Ghost (played by Jada Pinkett-Smith and Anthony Wong), telling their chapter as the plot of the second movie unfolds. The game kicks off with the Logos, the ship that Niobe is captain to, being given orders to pick up a package from inside the matrix. This package tells of the impending doom of the human colony in Zion and the war, which is upcoming. The plot continues on as Niobe and Ghost do what they can to help their side in this upcoming war.

The story itself is woven by the Wachowski brothers and relates to each other piece of Matrix information out there. The package that starts off the game is a direct reference to the short animated film Final Flight of the Osiris found on the Animatrix DVD. Most of the rest of the story is told through directed cinemas. They are just like a part of the movies with Pinkett-Smith, Wong, and others acting out their parts. It is just unfortunate that the game didn't create a story which could stand on its own without having to see the movie first.

Gameplay

Upon first starting up the game there is a short video aboard the Logos with Niobe and Ghost as they are plugged into the matrix. Once this video ends players can choose to play as either Ghost or Niobe. Unlike most games where choosing a character doesn't drastically change the way the game plays, Shiny set out to make playing as each character a separate experience. To this end portions of the game are unique to one character or the other. Many times during the game players will watch videos where Ghost and Niobe split up and depending on who was chosen the game will follow that character. Even in some instances where Ghost and Niobe would go through the same path, some of the routes to get to the goal would be different. Even some of the videos involving actual actors are different depending on if Ghost or Niobe was chosen. Ultimately, though, most of the game is still the same regardless of which character was chosen.

The game itself takes what was coolest about the movies and makes it playable. Almost anything that was seen in the movies can be done in this game. The hand-to-hand combat system is easily accessible for the fighting but extremely clumsy to engage. To enter hand to hand combat mode a punch, kick, or throw must be landed. Sounds easy enough except for this being a game using all three dimensions and things are never as easy as they seem. If you miss your punch there is a good chance the guy you were trying to punch will get a cheap shot in from another angle. Then you've got to turn around and try again. Turning wouldn't be such a big deal if you could just hit back and turn around but instead pushing back will make you run backwards. This bucks every other video game out there, but to be fair is needed for some of the moves you can pull off in the game. Once you enter hand to hand combat mode fighting is fairly straightforward but a blast. Punching is done with the A button, kicks with the X, and throws by pressing both simultaneously. You can do combos by just mercilessly hacking on the two buttons and watching all the cool moves that can be done. Blocks can also be done by hitting the Z button and if timed right will do counters, which also look extremely cool.

More is available to be done still if there is more than one guy trying to beat on you. You can take on multiple enemies just by hitting punch, kick, or throw and aiming in the direction of the second guy. While these don't look nearly as cool as attacks against your primary opponent it is still cool to take on two people at once. Then there are also weapons that can be used by hitting the Y button which will draw a weapon, ranging from pistols to shotguns to machine guns. Hitting Y again will fire off some bullets, while pressing Z will holster the weapon. This is slightly confusing at first as it's natural to press the same button to draw and holster, but is easy to adjust to. Strafing is also available with the R button.

The coolest part of the fighting interface is initiated by holding down the L button. By doing this you will enter focus mode, which is basically like bullet time from Max Payne. This allows you to do literally anything seen in the movie. Sure, fighting without focus looks like it would fit right into the movies, with all the punches and kicks flowing, but once you hit focus and slow down time is when the game really ramps up. You can land multiple punches, which would otherwise be countered or blocked. You can throw enemies who can't normally be thrown. When in focus you can use walls to your advantage, jumping off them, flipping upside down and landing a vicious kick. More moves are added for guns also. Doing cartwheels while shooting is possible and is one of the coolest moves ever in a game. You can dive forwards or backwards while shooting and avoiding bullets. There are many moments while playing this game where a Keanu Reeves "Whoa" is very appropriate.

There is more to the game then just the fighting aspects, and this was perhaps a great misstep by the developers. At other times while on foot but not fighting there is a sense of emptiness and just moving forwards with nowhere to really explore or look around. The game even discourages looking around as on the easier setting there is constantly an arrow directing you which direction to go in. On the harder difficulties if you linger too long the game will instruct you in the guise of Sparks, your operator back on the Logos, of where to proceed to. The last few levels of the game seem to be just constantly running forwards away from agents who you can't kill anyway. The control is even a bit loose with running around as turns aren't as tight as they could be and some pieces of environment getting in the way where they shouldn't. Focus can still be used in these levels and even here make for a cool experience. Hitting Z will make your character dodge bullets and pressing B will make for a super long jump. While running by pressing L you can run on walls, though this will happen all too often where you didn't want to run on walls but accidentally did. In normal circumstances B will be a jump, and while standing still it is the most pathetic jump I have ever seen by a video game character. It looks like a person attempting to jump for the first time ever and perhaps getting 3 inches off the ground. The Z button is also used in general as the action button or for disarming guards.

When not on foot Niobe is putting her skills as a driver to use while Ghost rides shotgun, literally. Driving around isn't so bad as it can be a bit of fun to put the pedal to the metal with the R button then slamming on the emergency brake to hit a tight turn. You also have to avoid police cars and try to help line up shots for Ghost. To use Ghost while driving as Niobe is a huge pain, however. You must hold down the Y button to keep Ghost out and for him to shoot. There were too many times I'd just tap Y and watch Ghost pop out for a millisecond as my car got shot up. Riding as Ghost isn't much fun at all, as the levels are simply rail shooters, with simple targets to aim at and blow up. This is totally ignoring the levels where you fly the Logos. In these Niobe seems to have no control over this huge ship, and Ghost auto aims so shooting down sentinels is boring.

While there's not a whole lot to come back to the game for, the two characters add some incentive to play twice especially for hardcore Matrix fans. Otherwise, it might be interesting to return at some point later on when going through the whole plot across all mediums, but not for much other purpose. The only added bonus is the hacking mode. This mode is supposed to be a small mini-game where you can uncover secrets including art, stills, FMV, bios, and more. What it really boils down to is some simple puzzles with the ability to drop some weapons into the game. It isn't all that special, but if completed there is a secret mode as reward.

Visuals

Production values on the Matrix movies are high, and nothing less should be expected of the game. Unfortunately these high expectations weren't met, most likely due to time constraints. Watching some of the in-game videos, noticing details which were left out is frequent. When Ghost or Niobe leave the Matrix via a phone, early on in the game they do some weird shiver and slump to the ground, while later they break down to a 3D model and disappear. Agents who dodge bullets don't have the same attention to effects as they do in the movies. This was very disappointing. The videos involving actual footage shots are a little better, but even here it's disappointing. Again using the phone example, Niobe and Ghost are in a subway station. Instead of the effects used in the movies, the lights simply flicker off when one of them disappears. Other parts involving sentinels aren't re-created as realistically as for the movies. Overall it was very disappointing with the Wachowskis directing.

While actually playing the game usually looks fairly good. Most characters and levels are recreated well, especially Niobe and Ghost. Their animations also flow very smoothly while fighting, though connecting animation to and from hand to hand combat are somewhat stilted. Using focus is conveyed through an effect where the whole screen turns green, and all the animations look extremely impressive. Dodging bullets look especially good as you watch their trails fly by. Levels look varied and different, though the texturing varies. Some levels are textured quite nicely and have plenty of detail. Other areas will be drab grays, and totally flat and lifeless.

Audio

The music in the game is a definite high point. The soundtrack from the movie is nicely used to complement the game. It is low key in all the right places and shoots up when the action gets heavy. Driving music was nice and hard and was one of my favourite bits of music in the game. There are only a few times where the music gets overly heavy but not too often. Sound effects all fit, sound good and are varied. What you walk on makes a difference to the sound, and all the guns sound great. Hits sound like they hurt and throwing makes nice whooshing sounds. On top of that the voice acting is fantastic, with the actors going full out for both the live and virtual bits.

This game gets an N-Philes score of B-.

This game had unrealistically high expectations to start out with. People who are expecting the Wachowskis to revolutionize the gaming industry will be disappointed. On the other hand big fans of the Matrix will enjoy the added background story given by the game. As a stand alone game it has a few interesting bits. The hand to hand is enjoyable if somewhat simple. Using focus is nothing new for video games but some of the moves you can do are and are very cool to do. The game could be better if the control were tighter and some of those driving missions were more fun, but for what it is Enter The Matrix is enjoyable for all the right reasons.

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