Enter the Matrix

"The Matrix has you..."

Synopsis Restatement: The Matrix has you...

Best Features: Captures the lighting style and flash that is The Matrix into a game. Has the backing of the genius duo of the Wachowski Bros.

Worst Features: Graphics a bit dead a times. A bit of choppiness. Some missions can kill you many times before you figure out what to do.

The Matrix. The legendary movie of time. High-flying wire-fu combat, John Gaeta's incredible Bullet-Time concept, and a sci-fi plot that has so many ins-and-outs you could watch the movie every day for a week and still find stuff to learn. The Matrix: Reloaded may break opening day records. Obviously, with all this surrounding one movie, gamers expect to be able to do the stuff they saw. Well, this is it. On with the review.

Graphics: 8
The graphics in this game are clean and sharp. Lighting is good and the game moves at a good 30fps clip. The characters are well animated and the Focus effects (explained later) are well done. There are some times where there isn't too much scenery (a good example of this is on the runway, which completely deadens the bullet-time effect used there) so it takes away from the aesthetics of the game. The surroundings can be too dark to see sometimes so you need to jack up the brightness level. Sometimes the game also skips a few frames of animation here and there but otherwise, its a well done effort.

Sound/Music: 8
The music sounds perfect for a dingy game such as this. It cues major happenings with full dramatic flourish and alerts the player to their surroundings. The sound effects are also excellent. Gunshots ricochet off walls with accurately and reflect the surface they hit. On the downside, there aren't that many music tracks so most are recycled. However, its not a big deal really. Either way, it still adds to the overall effect.

Control: 10
The game's best feature (as it should be), the control in this game is silky-smooth. There are 5 major functions: punch, kick, shoot, action (a multi-function button), and Focus. Action allows you to do various things. You can open doors or disarm your adversaries using it. Focus is an essential part of the game (I'll explain what it actually does in the ''Gameplay'' section), so its placed on a convenient place and is easy to access. The game's controls are pretty much flawless.

Gameplay: 10
This game's gameplay falls into the THPS category: easy to learn, hard to master. This all comes down to one thing: the Focus button. If you've ever played Max Payne, you'll understand how this works. You hit the button and you can slow down the on-screen action. However, unlike Payne, Focus does far more. Focus is sort of a ''shift'' function if you will. When you tap the button, some moves take on different properties. You can run faster, do different hand-to-hand moves, and have other new abilities you can't access normally. You can run up a wall all Trinity-style or do a Neo cartwheel while pumping the lead. You can even infinite combo if you're good enough. Its all up to you. The Focus concept is basically up to your own discovery. Fool around with it and with a little trial-and-error, you can do some incredible fight scenes. True masters of Focus will try to figure out the most creative combinations of moves you can possibly do that are both flashy and effective. With Focus, you can go for the practicality of it, or the most outrageous tricks possible.

Replay Value: 7
This game has an interesting cheat function. The game comes equipped with a simplified DOS Prompt. With this, you can either open up hidden Easter Eggs or do some other fun things. Some of the functions you can do actually allow you to do some things to your system directly (what you'll have to find out). In terms of the game itself, it comes with 2 single-player campaigns. Also, I've heard that once you beat the game, you can go back into the game and find new scenarios you didn't do the first time. I'm not sure of the credibility of it all but you can play and find out yourself. But in terms of new features or extra endings, I don't think you'll find much of that. Of course, you could just go into levels and try to create the best fight sequences possible using the magic of Focus.

Overall: 9 (actually, I'd say about 9.5 but I like keeping my numbers whole)
This is the first movie-based game that hasn't led to disappointment. Its a thrill ride to the very end. Its story even intertwines with Reloaded so there are some things you won't see in the movie that are here. There's a lot I haven't told you since The Matrix is all about discovery. To quote Morpheus: ''I have shown you the door, you must walk through it...''

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03