Fat Ninja

It�s strange, really, that it took this long for the Matrix film series to make its way into the gaming world. Given that the films are steeped in the sub-culture of gaming and that the movies have already exerted a pretty hefty influence on the landscape of gaming, it was really only a matter of time before gamers were given the opportunity to Enter the Matrix for themselves in the battle for mankind�s future. Fortunately, with the release of the most recent installment to the film series, The Matrix Reloaded, the creators of the Matrix Universe, the Wachowski brothers, have teamed up with Atari and Shiny to bring the experience to the Xbox.

Features

• Fantastic use of The Matrix license
• Incredible motion capture brings you all of the moves from the films
• The ability to play as Niobe or Ghost gives you two games in one
• A deep storyline that moves parallel to that of The Matrix Reloaded
• Voice-acting and motion-capture acting performed by the film�s cast
• Bonus film footage
• Hack the Matrix to unlock cheats

Gameplay

Some parts of the rabbit hole are deeper than others…

Starting with the best and brightest aspects of Enter the Matrix, the crown jewel of the game is, in all honesty, the fighting engine: It is the game�s chief virtue. In order to grasp the complexity of Enter the Matrix�s fighting engine, you really have to understand the levels of time and energy that went into making it possible. Calling upon the fight choreographer and stunt team from the film series, the development team at Shiny has gone to painstaking lengths to ensure that no method of ass kicking has been excluded.

As stated, the fight engine in Enter the Matrix is very deep, offering up a great variety of punches, kicks, grapples, and disarming moves. In addition to these moves, you have the ability to use your environment to a degree. You can run along walls, leap off of them, and then unleash a dizzying disarm move; or you can run headlong at a guard who�s ducked behind shipping crate, vault off of the corner of the crate, and send him spiraling through the air after you�ve dealt him a wicked spinning round-house kick. And while most of your standard opposition is fairly easy to dispatch, you will face Agents and other more challenging opponents that require the use of carefully timed counters.

But not all of Enter the Matrix�s combat will be close-quarter, hand-to-hand melee. You will also need to rely on your trigger finger as well as a wide variety of weapons, ranging from pistols to sniper rifles to grenade launchers. In this area of gameplay, aside from a weird default button-placement for firing, Enter the Matrix does a commendable job of allowing you to recreate scenes from the film. From the Neo-style-one-handed-cartwheel-while-firing-a-large-automatic-rifle, to the spinning dive-and-fire, there�s very little that you cannot do as you battle your way through the Matrix.

Facilitating all of these moves is the Focus ability. Focus is basically Enter the Matrix�s version of bullet-time. You have a Focus-meter, which tells you how much Focus is available, and by pulling the L-trigger, time will slow, allowing you to dodge bullets, avoid lunging opponents, run faster, and the like. Aside from Focus� functionality, it also just makes for some incredibly cinematic moments, allowing you to speed up and slow down the action at your whim.

So, What�s The Story?

Another driving force in Enter the Matrix is the game�s storyline. Like its film-based counterparts, Enter the Matrix relies on story just as heavily as it does on action, and with some brilliant tie-ins to plot elements from The Matrix Reloaded, Enter the Matrix�s storyline elaborates on many of the film�s story points. Thankfully the Wachowski brothers, creators of the Matrix, have taken the reins in this department, ensuring that the quality of the game�s storyline and dialogue is on par with that of the film. Best of all, they�ve actually incorporated unseen film footage, acted out by the cast members, to really draw some substantial parallels between the film and the game.

That�s When Things Started To Go Wrong

Sounds brilliant thus far, doesn�t it? Dynamic storytelling, a great blend of hand-to-hand combat and gunfights, tons of moves, and the ability to slow down time: Sounds fantastic, right? Well, unfortunately Enter the Matrix�s gameplay does have some pitfalls. Chief among these is the game�s attempts at incorporating driving/piloting levels into the gameplay. In game situations that have you driving a car or piloting the Logos (Niobe�s ship in the real world), you�ll find that the experience is really very shallow. Whether the driving levels were a last minute addition or that they ended up falling a far second to the game�s fighting engine in terms of priorities is unclear, but regardless, it�s a feature that may detract from some gamers� ability to enjoy the game as a whole.

SHOTGUN!

Now, if you�re playing as Ghost, you will be riding shotgun, which means you�ll be in charge of taking out police cars in the Matrix, or shooting sentinels from the gunnery of the Logos. But even this take on the driving/piloting levels falls well short of the mark set by the rest of the action in Enter the Matrix. In the case of gunning down squad cars from the passenger seat in the Matrix, you�ll find the crosshairs a bit twitchy and just plain awkward. On the other hand, as you blast sentinels from the gun pod of the logos, you�ll find that it�s simply a matter of button mashing. The ship turns and moves so abruptly and the enemies come in such swarms that aiming isn�t really a necessity. In the end the experience just comes off as poorly executed and makes admiring the gameplay as a whole that much more difficult.

While It May Have Sounded Like A Good Idea At The Time�.

Another area that also suffers from poor execution is in the game�s implementation of a first-person mode. While it sounds like a great idea, the developers kind of dropped the ball on this one. Like the crosshairs found when shooting from the car, you�ll find those in the first-person mode to be a little twitchy, and unless you�re using a sniper rifle, the use of the first-person perspective is pretty much useless, though it does help when you�re looking for that hidden ledge that will lead you to the end of the map. Still, even those benefits don�t quite make up for the perspective�s issues.

To Hell With The Red Or Blue Pills�.Give Me Some Aspirin

Finally, the other area of gameplay that can be incredibly frustrating and headache inducing is the game�s camera system. Unlike games like Splinter Cell, where the right analog allows you to rotate 360-degrees, Enter the Matrix�s camera locks onto the back of the character you�re controlling, unless you�re locked in hand-to-hand combat. When engaged in fisticuffs with an opponent, the camera will roam a bit more freely based on your characters position, but it�s really just not consistent enough to provide a solid experience. Also, this rotating camera only takes affect when you�ve come within a specific proximity of you opponent. Because of this, you�ll often find your self with your back to your opponent, because you backed away a bit too much. And, as a whole, the camera just performs terribly in some of the game�s more tight-quartered levels. However, it seems the developers have chosen to combat this issue by making larger, more open environments a bit more prevalent than the smaller ones, but this causes problems of its own in the visuals department.

Graphics

First, The Good News

The best thing that Enter the Matrix has going on graphically lies in the character models and their animations. Using highly detailed facial maps and some pretty intensive motion capture technology, the game�s developers obviously invested a pretty hefty chunk of their resources into delivering some very intricate character models for the title characters, Ghost and Niobe, as well as realistic and awe-inspiring movements; many of which you�ll recognize from the films. Truly, the level of detail found in the many punches, kicks, grapples, and disarm moves are peerless.

Aw, Man, What The Hell Happened Here?!?!

Unfortunately, your ability to enjoy the positives will be diminished due to the game�s many visual failings. Environmental texturing in Enter the Matrix is very poorly done, resulting in some very bland and washed-out visuals. Couple that with some incredibly empty, lifeless maps, and you�ll find that Enter the Matrix has a very bleak, desolate look in terms of the game�s environments.

Enter the Matrix visual presentation is also plagued by issues of clipping, poor collision detection, and some very odd lighting effects. In the clipping area, bullets and bodies will pass through walls, which, aside from its visual detractions, can just be plain frustrating when you�re getting shot by a guy who�s behind a pillar while you�re standing behind a wall. The spotty collision detection, while not nearly as bad as some of the game�s clipping issues, just cheapens the overall visual effect that the game�s sophisticated animations strive to achieve. Finally, the lighting effects in Enter the Matrix just cast some funky shadows. For example you�ll see shadows cast on ceilings, or appear out of nowhere. While each of these issues is minor on the individual level, when you add them all up, you�re looking at some fairly major visual deficiencies that do little justice for the painstaking efforts taken in the character animations department.

Like the gameplay category, Enter the Matrix is a rather mixed bag in terms of its graphical accomplishment. It has moments of brilliance that may go unnoticed due to some of the game�s visual shortcomings.

Sound

Sound�s Good To Me

Fortunately, Enter the Matrix has a pretty solid audio presentation. Utilizing a great deal of sound effects directly from the films, fans will be right at home as they pummel opponents and kick them across the floor. And while many of the guns sound uncannily similar, they still manage to pack a pretty effective aural punch. Also, when using Focus, sounds become a bit muted and slowed-down, much as they did in the film. Presented in a 5.1 Surround environment, Enter the Matrix has some pretty great things going on in the sound effects department.

As for the game�s musical score, it�s great for the most part. With a solid mix of techno tracks, and looped snippets from the films� scores, Enter the Matrix is fairly easy on the ears, though some of the music will grate on you, especially if you�re stuck in the sewer levels. Other than that, there�s really not much to complain about in the audio department.

Replay Value

A Lot For Some, Less For Others

With the advent of Xbox Live, this is a category that single-player games really can get the short end of the stick. Enter the Matrix fares pretty well, but it really comes down to how much you enjoy the game and its few strengths, as well as its many weaknesses. With the two title characters, Ghost and Niobe, comes the ability to pursue two different storylines. However, the two storylines really aren�t all that different. In the driving/piloting levels, you�ll either drive/pilot or shoot, and with the exception of a few levels that are unique to each character, they�re really not that diverse from one another. The only thing that really would have been great, and would have added immeasurable life to the title, would have been the addition of one-on-one, multiplayer fighting game. There would be no better way to do the fighting engine justice than to allow gamers to go toe-to-toe against each other. Still, Enter the Matrix is an entertaining game despite its faults, and it�s sure to keep some gamers revisiting it.

Overall

As an avid fan of The Matrix I have to say that I do enjoy Enter the Matrix as a game. But, as a reviewer, I have to try and be a little more discerning in my appraisal of a game. So, this is a tough situation for me, because despite my liking the game, I simply cannot allow myself to overlook its failings.

I just feel like the game�s publishers pushed too hard to have this title ready to release alongside the film, The Matrix Reloaded. I think they tried too hard to cash in on an all-out, all-fronts marketing blitz. And I think that the end product is a testament to these facts.

Needless to say, Enter the Matrix showed a great deal of promise. You can tell that the development team really strove to create something that captured the feel and action of the films. But the obvious deadlines that the marketing campaign demanded of them, I think, really left them without that most valuable of resources: time. As a whole, it just comes across as a noble-minded attempt that began with a great deal of enthusiasm on the parts of those involved in its creation, but they just weren�t given the kind of time they needed to fully realize their vision, and the end result is game that is just plain buggy in general.

There�s simply no consistency to be found in Enter the Matrix. It delivers an incredible fight engine that is brought to life through some very impressive motion-captured character animations, but it is plagued by a poor camera system and clipping issues and sub-par texturing and a number of other minor concerns that amount to an overall lack of polish: It�s a game that offers glimpses of sheer perfection amidst a myriad of failures.

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