The Matrix: Path of Neo

"Did Neo give a giant ant a dropkick?!"

You know, I so thought Matrix would've been better if Keanu Reeves acted like he did in Bill and Ted. "The world isn't real? No way!" Anyhoo it's the game that many people thought the first Matrix game was gonna be. In the Path of Neo you play...well who do you think? You play as the One himself. People have been wanting this since the disappointing lack of Neo in Enter the Matrix. So how does he fare? Let's check.

STORY
The game sorta just follows the story of the movie, so if you don't want the movie to be spoiled I suggest you skip this one. There is stuff that wasn't in the game however, but none of it is breakthrough storytelling. And for those who don't know what The Matrix is (all 3 of you), Neo becomes aware that the world is in control by machines and he gets recruited by some freedom fighters to take it to them. Oh and he's been prophesied to be "The One". A good title to have believe me.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are not that great...and I'm surprised. Enter the Matrix (the first Matrix game) had great facial textures and locations, and to top it off the game ran at 60 frames per second. The Path of Neo however has lame graphics that not only make Neo look like a confused robot, but makes him slower than Paris Hilton at a spelling bee. The environments are pixel perfect recreations of the sets you saw in the movie, and the clips from the film have nice picture. Other than that the game isn't big on graphics. In fact it got worse.

SOUND
The audio suffers the same fate as the graphics. For some reason the music sucks, and rarely do they have actual orchestral music from the movies. That really made no sense as some of the fight scenes have perfect and epic fighting songs that would've made the game a blast to play. Enter the Matrix had a plethora of celebrities...this game has Lawrence Fishburne. Woot. So again the game seems to have dropped the ball.

GAMEPLAY
And unfortunately the gameplay while okay, fails to make a game worthy of the Matrix title. Some people hated Enter the Matrix because you weren't playing as Neo or Trinity or any of the others. Well you got Neo fanboys, and guess what? He sucks.

His controls are just too awkward. His strikes are all on one button, unlike Enter the Matrix where you had your own separate punch and kick buttons. This not only limits the amount of animations Neo does, but it turns it into a button masher. The game just had horrible controls for me, mainly because I enjoyed Enter the Matrix's a lot more. That game had a reverse button, where you caught the enemy's move and reversed it. This game has the stupidest system ever. The moves often take forever, no matter if you're using the slow motion focus button or not. Some moves just need to be in slow mo, and this makes the gameplay dull and not fast.

The game is repetitive and annoying. All you did in this game was beat the crap out of anything that moved. And shoot guns too, with the most awkward gun controls I've ever had the pleasure of using. The only levels that were different were the first and last levels. I'm serious. First level you're sneaking, and last you're flying. The story also doesn't follow the movie's which results in some stupid missions like where you have to explore a maze in the Merovingian's. And fight giants ants alongside a hooker with a scream of death. I'm not kidding. You literally fight giant ants.

After awhile I just wanted the game to end. Beating up guys is ok, and the game was still more impressive than others, but only technically. The game just lacks fun. The only worthwhile moments in the game are the big battle scenes from the movies. And may I say, fighting the hundreds of Agent Smiths in that park was awesome. The best part that I can recommend definitely for this game is the alternate ending. The Wachowski Brothers (directors of the movie) created an alternate ending for the game, and believe me you will love it. I know I did, though in a different way than you're thinking.

IN THE END...
Anyhoo the game is crap. Enter the Matrix is ten times the game this one is. It's a decent rental if you want to master butt kicking with a metal pole, but as an overall game it's broken. Awkward controls, boring gameplay. The Path of Neo is dark and littered with rakes. Damn rakes.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/06