Enter the Matrix

The Good
The hype was monumental, the idea ambitious and the anticipation high but as it screams out of the gate on all major gaming platforms on the same day as the Matrix: Reloaded hits cinemas, Enter the Matrix manages to trip on as many hurdles as it clears. Although the game treads the potentially dangerous path of tying in with the 2nd film, it takes the rather smarter approach of treading largely unfamiliar ground as the action is played out from the perspective of one of two of the films minor protaganists, Ghost or Niobe. The games story actually fills in a lot of the holes the movie leaves open and was written by series creators and directors, the Wachowski brothers. In fact a big selling point is that most of the games cinemas are actually additional film footage specifically shot for the game that is not seen in any of the Matrix movies. This isn't cheaply done in a Star Wars fashion either. The films cast are present and the footage was shot alongside the two sequel films so what's on offer is of a high quality. All well and good but it's the game itself that will really decide whether all was for naught or not and here it's a decidedly mixed bag. On every count there is an upside and an anitclimactic downside so since this is the good section we'll look at the upside first. Visuals (on the GC version at least) are pretty good for the most part with some beautiful combat animation in parts that mimmicks the films trademark action scenes. Music is all taken from the films score so it's fits the bill perfectly and the sound is dead on with all the thwacks and bangs you'd expect to hear. Gameplay consists largely of Max Payne style run and gun but with liberal amounts of very kick ass hand to hand combat that really works well, allowing for a punch kick and defend/grab button. Use of these buttons in various combos along with directional pad use allows for loads of different moves and when the fire button is involved that arsenal is only expanded upon, eg: Punch a guy hard in the stomach and then pull out your gun, lift him up with it and shoot him. Of course there is bullet time presented here as focus which allows you to do the slo-mo thing as well as run up and along walls, perform stunts and elongated jumps as well as the most potent and interesting combat moves such as the ever popular 'off the wall' kicks. There are also driving stages in which you either steer or shoot from the window of a moving vechile depending on which character you choose to play as which brings us to our next point. Playing the game as Niobe is substantially different to playing as Ghost. Even though the story and scenario is the same the stages are often totally unique to each character and when they're not they are often played in a different fashion. Coupled with some different cinemas and plot points unique to each scenario and the game is well worth going through with each of them.

The Bad
visuals can sway from very good to atrociously average in a heartbeat as some areas seem like they weren't finished, indicating a rushed development. In one cutscene, the character models seem to be older versions and look dangerously worse than the regular ones. Animation is also patchy with some truly appaling work and speaking as an animator myself, some of the dodgy looking animations could have easily been fixed in no time to look better which makes them seem all the more inexcusable. Driving missions are poorly thought out with Ghosts shooting stages particularly average. In one scene the enemy pursuing your car cannot be destroyed and so it becomes more luck whether or not you escape than anything since the computer often makes some terrible driving decisions that can easily cost you the game. As for the final ship flying section in the real world it's so much worse than anything else in the game it comes as a truly horrible anti-climax. Cues that link the music together are poorly realised and result in some tracks repeating so often it becomes annoying... and then there's the bugs. ETM has some of the worst bugs I've seen in a console game. On the GC at least these bugs won't make the game unwinnable or anything (see ps2 version) but they do most definately detract. In one cutscene the entire building that the characters were in disappears so they're left talking in the sky over a black box. Characters can get stuck in tight spots, becoming immobile and although this is very uncommon it still can happen. Visual glitches also appear on occasion and agents can often get you into corners where you can't move or do anything except die.

The Bottom Line
It's not that ETM is a bad game. It's a great companion to the films and it has it's moments when it's actually a lot of fun, it's just that the game can sway from wonderful to awful a little too fast and often. Fans of the films and Max Payne would do well to take a look but try before you buy. Everyone else may as well give it a miss as there are better examples of the genre on offer.

The Good
First off, lemme get this out of the bag first - I'm a HUGE Matrix fan. I love all 3 movies, and The AniMatrix. I think the movie/anime concept of the Matrix universe is one of the most compelling we've seen since Star Wars and Blade Runner.

That being said, "Enter the Matrix" (ETM) could have been a thousand times better if it hadn't been for the time constrains placed on Shiny Entertainment. I figure if it were given an extra 3 months to work out the bugs and improve the game's engine, it would have done much better.

But I digress. There are some good points to the game.

First off - the concept. Shiny had a huge amount of support from the producers of "The Matrix" and had access to virtually every piece of audio, visual, and the actors. The fact that you play from the end of "Final Flight of the Osiris" (from "The AniMatrix"), through the events of "The Matrix Reloaded" is cool. Video footage was shot specifically for the game, including the majority of the actors from the movie. And since the game runs parallel to the movie, it's part of the canon and continuity of the films. Plus, you don't get the Whole Story of what happens unless you play through the game and watch all the FMV cutscenes. I've noticed that Hollywood is taking a much more active role in co-operating with Game designers/producers in making sure what you see on your computer is as good as what you see on the big screen, and ETM is sorta on the right track with the blending of Hollywood and the PC entertainment industry.

The Graphics - if you have a PC fast enough (more on that later), are top-notch. Again, Shiny used photos and digital sources from the movie itself (first-generation Sound and Visual FX, along with high quality photos of props, sets, etc.) So the graphics quality (production-wise) is astounding. The use of Motion Capture is extensive. The Wachowski Brothers insisted that each actor wear the mo-cap suit. Normally one actor will perform all the mo-cap for ALL the characters in a game, mostly to save time and money. The difference is that The Brothers wanted to make sure that when you see a character walk on the Big Screen, that same character walks the same way in the game. Talk about a stickler for details.

The Sound/Music is top-notch as well. Don Davis' score is used extensively in the game, along with the familiar sound effects from the movies.

And one other part of the game that is really neat is the "Hacking" mode. Basically to unlock levels, cheat codes, messages from the characters, models, and other fun things are done by hacking a save file (within the game, of course). It's a fairly intuitive system, but it looks like it was designed for a console system, and not the PC game. You move around using pseudo-DOS commands, and you can gain access to a lot of behind-the-scenes, and background info. The one quirk I don't like is the fact that it DOESN'T quite operate the same was as DOS does. So it's a bit difficult if you grew up typing directory names, and it doesn't quite work the same way in the game itself.

The Bad
Wow. Where to start.

I think the failure of ETM cannot be blamed on any one department, person or entity. There are many factors that busted this game, but I'll list a few of the main ones. One of the MAJOR factors, I believe, is the fact that the game HAD to launch on the day of "The Matrix Reloaded" film debut. Time constraints are never good for programmers (for comparison, look at Blizzard for excellent examples of the "It'll release when it's done" motto), especially when trying to program a game that is trying very hard to break the "Movie-tie in: curse.

Gameplay - The game doesn't play very well on a PC. I believe it was designed for consoles, and perhaps it should have stayed that way. Frame rates were atrocious (even with all the graphics options turned down or OFF), glitches in the camera abound (especially when hand-to-hand fighting), basic button mashing (fighting - although it looks cool - is a joke), and the first-person shooting mode (due to the frame rate) is near impossible to play.

Control - It's not there. I've played a few Third person shooters, and the majority of them are very easy to play. ETM isn't. The controls swtich between over-the-shoulder third-person (i.e. Tomb Raider, MDK2), and side-scrolling style (i.e. Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat views). A neat transition, but nearly impossible to controll you character. And if you are fighting more that one enemy at a time, the game might not do what you want it to.

Graphics - the downside. This game is a system hog. I'm running the bare minimum to play game, and it's virutally unplayable. Clipping issues, control issues, pop-up (during chase scenes), and collision detection are the major issues in the game.

And there is a nasty bug (at least while I was playing), while playing Ghost - I finally made it through Concourse 2 (after defeating the helicopter). I go to exit the game, and it dumps me to Windows. EVERY DAMN TIME. I haven't even got through that level, and if the bug continues to exist (the game is "fully patched" on the DVD release), I'm gonna give up.

The Bottom Line
Now I've heard that the game plays very well on the console side of the gaming world, and perhaps it does. If that's the case, I might have enjoyed the game much more. I believe that the fact that Shiny pushed this game out on Mulitple platform all at the same time (with the same release date) really hindered their efforts. Perhaps they should have worked on one version of the game (a la GTA3), and after working the bugs out of ONE version of the game, they could port the game over to multiple platforms.

ETM tried to be a ground-breaking game. I think that between Shiny Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow Pictures, the PC industry is taking the right steps to making movie video game the best that the can be. It's been done right (take a look at "The Lord of the Rings" games by EA), but unfortunately, ETM wasn't done right at all - at least for the PC.

If you have a very (I'm talking at LEAST a 3.0gz) high-end system, you might be able to enjoy ETM the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Those of you with low-end systems should pass on ETM until you upgrade. And even then, I'd play it ONLY to get the story behind the game, not the game itself.

The Good
The only thing that made this game worth renting is the fact that you can use focus which allows you to slow down time, see and dodge bullets, run on walls, boost your shot accuracy, and do aerobatics. It has plenty of weapons and action but thats it.

The Bad
The bad was that no one spent time to make the characters walk, run, climb, or jump right. After a while the music gets repetitive and you'll have to mute it to play. Also most of the missions are not meant to be played again.

The Bottom Line
Overall this game just couldn't cut it. While focus made it fun, most everything else was horrobile. If your desperate to play it then go to a gamestore or rent it, but don't waste your money buying it.