Enter the Matrix

"Are you red or blue on this?"

Introduction:
This is the first game based on the Matrix and parallels the second movie The Matrix: Reloaded. The game is based on what happens to the crew of The Logos in the movie.

Gameplay: (9/10)
Gameplay is the most important aspect of a game for me and I was not disappointed in this. The gameplay is absolutely amazing. You can enter bullet-time and run up walls, do flips, and actually see bullets from enemies flying past you. Also, the game does not decide when you get to use bullet-time. Whenever you feel the urge to slow down time or to run up a wall, you can by pressing the L1 button. At the beginning of the game you get to choose if you want to be Niobe or if you want to be Ghost. Depending on who you choose you will have a different set of missions. One of my favorite part of the game was the driving missions. There is nothing more fun than driving as fast as you can in a SWAT SUV racing an Agent or dodging concrete pillars while albino twins are chasing you. One thing I didn't like about the gameplay is the missions where you are driving The Logos. As I was flying through the tunnels of the real I would constantly be hitting walls and feeling like I was going nowhere. I also didn't like the Helicopter Boss Battles with Ghost. All of Niobe's boss battles, especially the ones in The Chateau where you couldn't use guns, were great but I found Ghost's two helicopter boss battles hard for the difficulty I chose, easy. One of the best features of the game was that they had an arrow on top of the screen that tells you which way to go. This ensures that you're not stuck on one part of a level for an hour and keeps the action coming. Another feature of the game that I highly enjoyed was the Hacking mini-game. When you choose Hacking from the Menu you choose which save game you wish to hack. Once you do that you will have to use your controller to type different words and passwords to unlock movies, bio's, enable cheats, create weapon drops, unlock multi-player, and open a training construct created by Sparks, the Logos' operator. If another Matrix game comes out I really hope they keep this feature of the game because it was a load of fun after finishing the actual game.

Story: (10/10)
The story in Enter the Matrix was great. I loved how the Wachowski Brothers took a parallel path through the story instead of following Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus and making a copy of the movie. It was a disappointment finding out you couldn't play as Neo but I liked how they used the video game to enhance the story behind the movie. I would've liked it if the developers had made Neo a hidden character that you could unlock by finishing the game or by hacking. I also liked how there were two characters you could choose from and depending on which character you chose you would get a different experience. You could play through the game as Niobe then play through as Ghost and find out what he was doing when he went off somewhere else. I really liked the fact that you got to see a preview of The Matrix: Revolutions when you completed the game.

Graphics/Sound: (6/10)
The graphics in Enter the Matrix were fairly okay. I've seen better but I've also seen worse. The car graphics however are not very good. I did not like how there was hardly any detail in the cars. I also did not like the sound of the cars, specifically the Firebird. It sounded like it was seconds away from blowing up. The sound on foot wasn't much better. It's set up so the music sets the mood of the game but you don't notice it until you stop and listen. Also, there were times when the music would build up tension by slowly getting louder and louder when i wasn't fighting anyone. The music was not linked into the gameplay at all.

Play Time/Replayability: (5/10)
The game was surprisingly short. I completed Niobe's missions in under 5 hours and have not completed Ghost's missions. Even though the difficulty was set on Easy even finishing a game is an accomplishment for me. I do not finish many games and I was surprised how easy I had finished the game. As for replayability, I do not think this game scores very high. I hardly play the game anymore and when I do I mostly just play the Hacking mini-game.

Buy or Rent:
Rent first because you might be able to finish the game in a couple of days. If you are a hard-core Matrix fan then you will definetely want to buy the game even if it's just for the extra cutscenes included in the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/03, Updated 06/29/03