Enter the Matrix

"Not up to expectations"

Whereas people might believe in Free Will out of an emotional need for self-control, the logical arguments of Hard Determinism have their own appeal. As such, the center position of Soft Determinism initially looks like a moderate philosophy in between the two extremes. Therefore, I was disappointed that the theory’s distinctions between “internal and external factors” were not clarified.

What type of game is Enter the Matrix? Well, imagine Dead to Rights with a very bad tacked-on GTA minigame. Except the hand-to-hand is MUCH better and but the shooting controls suffer from port-to-PC. Still, for anyone who loves the Matrix (and I think I speak for all of us everywhere), this is still a must-play, just like the Animatrix Dvd.

PRESENTATION - 8

GRAPHICS - 6

The biggest problem with the graphics is that the game (being ported to all 3 consoles) was obviously designed to tolerate for the weaknesses of both the PS2 (low texture resolution) and Gamecube (low disk space) hardwares. As such, texture resolution is either quite low, or Metal-Gear-Solid 2-style single-colored. Also, poly count is PS2-qualtiy, which is not good when compared to other visual powerhouses like Unreal 2 and Splinter Cell.
However, everything still manages to look great, primarily because all the characters are carbon-copies of their real-life counterparts. Even though the agents are all supposed to look alike, you can tell just by looking that the main agent pursuing you for most of the game is not Smith, and that’s a compliment. Niobe’s hair (man, the actress must be in make-up for HOURS) looks stunning in 3D, colors are well-chosen, the world of the Matrix is appropriately dingy, etc. The bullettime effects of supersonic air-warping that appear when you focus also look good.
Plus, the animations are superb, given they were all motion-captured with Yuen Woo Ping’s help. Watching someone play is like watching a kung fu movie, and only the guy pressing the buttons knows when one attack has ended and another has begun; the moves flow nicely. Also, things such as wallflips, running on walls, throws, disarms, and the cartwheel shootdodge are great.
However, there are problems here; collision detection is often bad, leading to annoying deaths when the guy you SHOULD be throwing across the room just crouches there and keeps firing. Also, a couple bugs like walking through walls exist. But all in all, the game is mesmerizing to watch.

AUDIO - 8
Superb! Not only does everything sound crystal-clear and cinema-perfect, it’s all in glorious 3D! Those of you with surround sound, rejoice, but I noticed this feature even using the built-in laptop speakers! The voice acting is wonderful, and the sound of bullets and clips flying (when in slo-mo) is ripped straight from the Matrix movies. Best of all, the background music is also the licensed Matrix score, which is perfect for those tense moments when you’re running from unstoppable Agents.

STORY -2
This should have gotten a 10. Problem is, the story’s not nearly as good as that of either of the two movies. I expected more when I read about the collaboration between the Wachowskis and Atari. It’s like a rehash of the second movie, only without the Philosophical issues or surprises; characters Neo interacts with in The Matrix: Reloaded often repeat their lines for Niobe or Ghost in the game. Also, you barely see the main characters of the movie, ever, and if you’ve never seen the first movie, this game will all be gibberish to you. Still, the full-motion video is nice, and the production values are obviously there.
I'd just like to comment here that the ''story'' in this game is totally incomprehensible unless you have already seen the second movie; you won't know what's going on AT ALL. And the whole thing where they didn't let reviewers of game mags get their hands on this early because it would ''spoil'' the story for the masses is BS. Nothing in this game is remotely plot related except for the ''machines are digging'' part, which was revealed months earlier by the ''Final Flight of the Osiris'' CGI Animatrix short. So excuse my cynicism.

CONTROLS - 4

CAMERA - 4
A lot of the time, the camera does its job, staying behind you in 3rd person. But when you go into hand-to-hand mode, the camera locks you in a sort of 2-person fighting game camera (not that you can’t still move in 3D). This is fine when you’re fighting hand-to-hand, but some stages where you’re running form the unstoppable Agents cause you to die undeserving deaths because the game goes into fighting mode (where you know you can’t win) when you just want to run away and beat the level.

FEEL - 3
With a 3-button control scheme (punch, kick, and block/disarm, punch+kick = throw), it’s easy to play the game with the mouse. WASD is just for running and strafing. Plus, I like the fact that the characters run pretty fast, and CAN”T walk.
Hand-to-hand combat is very free-flowing. It’s easy to set up throws after combos and kick people when they’re down.
Pressing Shift engages the Focus meter, allowing you to run faster (and see bullet paths more clearly), punch kick and throw harder, shoot more accurately, shootdodge, and perform special attacks, all in glorious slow-motion.
What I don’t like is the mouse-based shooting system. The problem is the game’s overemphasis on auto-targeting. I can understand why the consoles needed this feature, but I’ve got a mouse, BLAST IT! It’s pretty frustrating to try and aim upward, only to have your character shoot in a totally different direction at another enemy. Plus, all the weapons’ accuracy (minus the sniper rifle–except you CAN’T MOVE IN 1st-person!?!?!) is terrible, requiring you to get close enough to your targets that disarms and throws are a better idea, ANYWAY. It’s like Dead to Rights all over again, except with a better hand-to-hand system. Not that I didn’t enjoy DtR, but it had its problems, and some of them are repeated here.
Finally, while the shootdodging is cool (shooting while running across walls, cartwheeling, popping and rollling out from corners), it lacks the adjustability of Max Payne, which still holds the title of Best Third-Person Shooter.
As for the other two game types, they can’t compare: The GTA-clone lacks the perfect vehicle-physics that made GTA and GTA:VC so much fun. It’s still good, but why eat bread if there’s cake available? Trust me, the Freeway scene from Matrix: Reloaded is about a billion times cooler than when you’re participating it by driving to Morpheus as Niobe. The other minigame, driving the hovership through the tunnels of the Real world, is somewhat poorly programmed. It’s kinda fun, but I can’t tell if you’re supposed to avoid crashing into walls, since the level encourages you to crash into walls to shake off the pursuing Sentinels; shooting them doesn’t seem to do anything. So you end up sliding across the ground, unable to see where you need to go 1/4 of the time.

GAMEPLAY - 5

MECHANICS - 5
You have a Focus meter (ie, Bullettime) and a Health meter, and the good news is, they both regenerate automatically. So your real source of death is when Agents or swarms of Police make it impossible for you to wait it out until you’re back to full. Unlike in The Getaway, regenerating health is actually justified, given the mind-powered-physics of the Matrix.
Most levels are the third-person shooting/fighting levels, which rock to a good degree. It’s nice that you usually have a choice between guns or kung fu. Or gun fu. Also, the slow-mo jump (my favorite move in the game) is used as an occasional platforming task.
There is some attempt to make you use a little stealth, but it’s not required, and the game isn’t programmed for it.
The game is generally pretty easy, mainly due to the regenerating health, and the constant save points. Still, I had a lot of fun with it. I will say this, it’s a tough call between Enter the Matrix combat, and throwing enemies through a million glass panes and breakable objects with full Rag Doll Physics in the game Minority Report.

ENEMIES - 3
Tolerable. Only one thing raises them above average: police will often go for dropped guns after you disarm them, and Swat teams will pull out a pistol if you take away their rifles.
The Agents are awesome. They appear at scripted points and shoot at you, or just fight until you die. The only way to “beat” an agent is to throw him to his doom, which is a) not easy and b) only possible in certain parts of some levels.
There are also “monster programs” in the Morrivingian’s Chatteau level, which is seen in Matrix: Reloaded.

LEVEL DESIGN - 4
It’s ok, a little uninspired. I like the fact that all levels are linear, and there’s often a 3D arrow pointing the way. Some of the levels recall the whole run-for-the-phone-Agents-are-everywhere! feeling from the first movie, and those are awesome.
What I didn’t like is that whole sections of the game won’t be seen unless you complete certain tasks. The most fun I had in the game was the only appearance of Agent Smith with the feeling described above, but these are 4 levels that I skipped the first time. I dislike branching systems in video games (just let me play through it all!).

VALUE - 2
I beat the game as Niobe in...hrmm....4-5 hours, but Ghost’s levels are almost all different, so that’s around 8 hours of gameplay total. Still, that’s partially because of the constant checkpoints and easy gameplay (I played it on Normal, Hard and Easy are available), so...replay? I dunno...I wish there were a survival minigame so I could just fight constantly with the fight engine. Sigh.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 06/25/03