"Warning: Do Not Enter"

What happens when you take several years of development, throw it down the drain, and ruin yet another movie franchise game? Minority Report. Enter the Matrix is close to it, though. While it isn't a horrible game at first, or at all, it kind of sucks to pay $50 to not see Neo.

Graphics: C+ (6)
Imagine a double frappuccino without any sweetener. You're wired, sure, but it leaves that horrible taste in your mouth. The graphics are slick and come with Matrix-y goodness, but it doesn't look like much effort was put into designing the character models and levels. You frequently see pass-throughs and enemy spawn points when you pay attention, and the originality of the areas dissipates slowly until the end. In essence, the visuals are gorgeous for one half of the game, and too dark to notice in the other. When using Focus (or Bullet Time for MP players), the few well-designed details are actually noticable, such as bullets passing-by and death-defying stunts. The graphics are actually decent for the Gamecube, but have so many tiny flaws. In a sense, the graphics get the job done well enough for you to know what you're doing, but hardly look well enough to qualify for that big-city(or world) experience that was seen in the movies. In a sense, it just feels like the Matrix is a bunch of secluded areas where you're teleported; in essence, that's exactly what the design calls for. Grandeur is absent from the ambiance.

Gameplay: B- (6.7)
When you start the game, you're hooked. Hundreds of move combos and plenty of security guards to try them on. The camera stays faithfully behind the character in classic 3PS perspective, and the moves follow each other in combos fluidly most of the time. The only time you will see the character model ''trip'' is when doing a counter-move (Z). Difficulty settings are implemented so you can change the game to better suit a challenging experience. There are scores of guns to pick up and use, each with their specific uses and advantages. Thing is, by the end they'll all be useless since your enemies are ''immune'' to bullets (which, by the way, doesn't mean they're always Agents). The moves are exciting, sure, but the best easter eggs only happen in special circumstances (such as when three people are surrounding you in a certain fashion) and usually by luck. Besides that, the gameplay itself is excellent and faithfully reproduces the action of the first movie. As for the second, don't count on stopping bullets any time in the game. I guarantee you'll see it in Re-Enter the Matrix, though.

Storyline: A (9.3)
You wonder, what's a Storyline caption doing in a third-person shooter? Well, pretty much all of the game is storyline. There could have been no storyline in EtM and a myriad of fans would have still bought it simply because of its name, but the plot is simply satisfying. Aside from fitting in perfectly to the movies' plots, EtM does an excellent job of following not Neo, but his lesser-powered allies in various missions vital to his survival. You take the role of either Niobe (Morpheus' ex-hunny-bunny) or Ghost (Asian gunman extraordinaire), fighting your way through police, SWAT, Agents, and the like. The only disappointing aspect of the storyline is in the Chateau, which I can't leak at the risk that you'd actually buy the game and have the plot spoiled. Let's just say the developers ran out of ideas in that department. Kudos to Atari for not ruining the whole biblical/sleek-techno feel of the movies' plots by just putting in testosterone-inducing images (which, actually, wouldn't be a bad thing at all).

Replayability: D (3.3)
Horrible. Simply horrible. You'd expect from any shooter game, multiplayer or not, that you'd at least be able to have loads of fun playing it over. This Matrix game sadly disappoints, as once you've played through the game once you've most likely figured out all of the hand-to-hand moves save two, and all of the visuals and goals seem tiring. Even the hacking portion and multiplayer are a waste of time to exploit, since you've either tried them two seconds into the game or are already sick of the game. Why would you be sick? Aside from having your arsenal of guns to be nearly useless in the second disc, the driving missions (both car and Logos) and multiple Agent pursuits are such a hassle to get through that the results won't be the least rewarding. The only true fun you can have after you've completed the game on both characters (which actually have very similar missions) is in the training construct, where you can hone your mass-killing spree, sniping, stealth, strategic, or combat skills in different areas. This is alone the best-designed level in the entire game, even if it has nothing to do with the storyline.

Overview
A good game? Yes. Far from the best, though, and it's pretty much half a game that costs full-price. Rent it, not to see if you like it, but just to play it for an hour or two. That's all you'll need. The movie game formula is getting old, and Atari hasn't broken out of the shell. Here's to hoping for a good game-translation/rendition of Starsky and Hutch. I know, I know. Not likely.6.325/10 (By Custom Rubric)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/04