Enter the Matrix

"Run away...in sloowww moootiooonnn"

There sure has been an abundance of overly-kind reviews for this game here. There has been a lot of claims that this is ''the best game ever'' and things like that, which is absurd, because unless you intend to throw it like a Frisbee, Enter: The Matrix will never get within earshot of an official award without hitting someone in the temple and making them groan like this reviewer.

To allow a near-perfect score of this game baffles me. This is a very flawed game . I have seen cops climb on top of lockers due to bad coding, arms stick out of walls, civilians running in the same wide-legged, open palmed way as the two protagonists do, and the strangest car collision detections this side of the controller. Cop cars will actually pair up, run under your car from behind and with you helplessly on their roof, will plow you into a building. I didn't see the movie. Did that happen? If it did, why in God's name is it in the game?

The right-trigger lock on system is less than satisfying. Look at me, I'm up on a ledge and there are bad guys below shooting at me. I'm ducking behind a pipe...and wait a minute, I can't see the bad guys anymore. Am I targeting them? What's going on now...oops I fell off the ledge. Looks like I wasn't targeting them, seeing as how they blew the air out of me. Seriously tho, any amount of blood wouldn't do a thing for this game (unlike Soldier Of Fortune). The lack of ammunition is frustrating, and even though Ghost and Niobe have had every possible frickin gun-shooting training exercise ever made jacked into their nape and programmed into their brain, they miss even the easiest of targets. Less than ten feet behind a guard and it takes three shots to hit him once? Come on. That's insulting.
As far as controls go; where the heck is my duck button? Why cant I duck underneath the window without wanting to kick my television in? Why the hell am I dying because I can't duck? Why do I have to use the black button to fire? Since when did the Matrix start cloning it's security guards?

The FOCUS aka slow motion button lets you pull off some cool looking tricks in, of course, slow motion. This lets you dive forward, backward, cartwheel to either side, long jump, and, may favorite, kick off of a wall or grounded object to deliver a punishing blow. The way the bullets shift the air is true Matrix-style; but alas, there is no real way to avoid them besides the aforementioned techniques which may not sound like a justifiable gripe, but when your surrounded with enemies and only have a very limited amount of FOCUS energy, you'll see that a little more could have gone a long way.

In fact that would have been my synopsis but I like the one up top better.

There are just as many load times in the Matrix as in Max Payne. That means after five minutes of play time, you'll end up either glancing around idiotically or painfully annoyed, either completely enthralled by this game in a way which eludes me, or discovering that wondering how that crack in the ceiling got there is actually more amusing then playing the game itself.

The AI is pretty dumb. Break a window while a guard is about 10 feet away and not looking at you, and he keeps on walking. Fire at an agent and go retro as they do ''The Twist.'' A little bit softer now, please. Thank you.

Which brings us to music. Not bad at all, but the attention to detail rears its abysmal head again when you're running around an empty warehouse looking for an objective while listening to a loud and dramatic score made to push your pulse will make you grind your teeth harder than you would listening to the new ''American Idol'' record.

The graphics in this game are nothing, I mean nothing, out of the ordinary. They are not terrible, definitely not great, and they only serve to do the job. Nothing more, nothing less. Put it next to Splinter Cell and you have a N64 game with sharper edges. I don't care about square tires when I'm falling asleep at the wheel, anyway. Given the limited number of characters on the screen at any given time and the absurd amount of load times you might expect a lot more, but they're not here. Oh, and there have been reports around the net that the XBOX version locks up sometimes.

The Camera is horrible ('lets make the other analog stick a first person viewer, rendering it completely and utterly useless when in combat- the only time you really need to change the camera!')

Seriously people, don't let the new movie change your opinion on an unfinished, tragically flawed, and uninspired game.

If you’re old enough to drink, save thirty bucks, buy a bottle of Tequila and play with a slinky. It's a lot more fun.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 05/23/03, Updated 05/23/03