Enter the Matrix

"Enter the matrix, a great film conversion"

First things first, Enter the Matrix plays along side its film counter part, the Matrix Reloaded. For the first time ever in a game, you'll see film style footage. That's right, the game was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers who are responsible for the Matrix, therefore an hours worth of special footage has been made purposely for the game alone.

There have been many different opinions to whether this game is good or not, therefore here’s a run down of the good and bad points in the game.

- - Good - -

1) The storyline within the game is amazing, with both the live-action film footage as well as the ever so impressive 'cineractives' as they call them.

2) You can control either Niobe or Ghost (Your Choice) as Sparks directs you through the Matrix.

3) The hand-to-hand combat is heaps of fun. Picture this: running up a wall, flipping off it into a high flying kick into an officers head causing him to fly into another officer, taking them both down. Well, it happens. You can also throw, counter and disarm opponents as well as doing all the fancy show-off slow motion moves. To do the moves you simply hold L to go into Focus mode; press B to dive forward while running, run into a wall and it flips up it and many more.

4) The game has realistic AI. In most games you come across the AI seems dumb, however in the Matrix, the guards hide behind walls whilst being shot at and gradually sneak up on you while your not looking.

5) Scenery can be destroyed, pillars crumble, boxes get knocked off tables, pictures get knocked of walls and fully operational vending machines get destroyed.

6) You can listen in on guard’s conversations, so you know what they plan to do next.

7) One of the modes I particularly like is the Hacking mode. It can be used to view stats about weapons and cars etc and can also be used to enter cheats. You can even get a multiplayer cheat that lets you fight close combat with a friend.

- - Bad - -

1) The control system is very awkward at first, because the characters run in a robotic kind of way, however after half an hour or so they feel fine.

2) The in game graphics aren't the best ever, but they are certainly not the worst. However, the screen does tend to appear slightly blurry in the Focus mode.

3) Whereas the hand-to-hand combat is impressive the armed combat is less so. It just feels slightly tacky when using some of the weapons, and the firing sounds are poor.

4) To some people the game is too short, however you can do it with two characters and it also has quite a good replay value. You'll be looking at about 15 - 20 hours game play, however this is normal for many games now.

- - My Opinion - -

I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this game so far and I think that if you have the extra cash lying around, this is just the game to get.

In my own personal opinion I'd have to give this game 8/10, however it's up to you to decide. I hope this review has helped. Thankyou

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03