Enter the Matrix

With the hype surrounding the Matrix trilogy, it was inevitable that the concept would eventually make its way into games format. Enter the Matrix has the distinction of being written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, who created the Matrix trilogy.

Watch the film before playing the game — it gives away much of the plot. Events in the game will also make a lot more sense and be easier to follow if you’ve seen the film beforehand. The game is interspersed with scenes from the Matrix Reloaded and extra footage was filmed especially for it. This gives a movie feel to it — you will become as engrossed in the new elements of the story as you would the film.

The extra footage is filmed around events in the Matrix Reloaded, filling in some of the bits you never got to see onscreen, such as how it was first discovered that the machines were digging to Zion.

 

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There are also some animated cut scenes that add to the story as you progress through the game.

Many of the characters from the film make an appearance in some form or another — Commander Lock, the Merolvingian and his wife Persephone, the Twins, Seraph, the Keymaker and the Oracle, although a different actress takes on the role of The Oracle for the cinematic cut scenes.

The first surprise in this game is the choice of lead characters; rather than use Neo or Trinity, users can play as either Ghost or Niobe. Both have separate stories to follow, although they converge on some levels.

As you begin to play, you will notice your screen has four main features: Your health bar, which can be seen at the bottom lefthand corner; the focus bar, at the bottom right of the screen; the weapon you are currently using at the top right; and at the centre top of the screen, there is a guidance arrow which shows you where you should be going and conveniently turns red when you are going in the wrong direction. This is invaluable at times, especially when you are trying to make your way out of the rabbit warren to escape Agent Smith in later levels.

Instant messages from the Logos’s operator, Sparks, scroll across the bottom of the screen, giving you valuable information on where you are heading, your new objectives, etc.

The game also gives you a tutorial as you go along, flashing up tip bulletins onscreen; the tips can be accessed in the Pause menu, along with the game’s objectives.

There are plenty of fancy of fancy fighting moves to keep you entertained. They don’t vary much between Ghost and Niobe — it’s your standard punch, kick, block, throw set of moves. However, where Enter the Matrix comes into its own is with the ‘focus’ function. This move allows you to perform the best Matrix manoeuvres, such as running up walls, moving faster than bullets and leaping huge distances. However, your focus will only last a set amount of time before it depletes completely; you have to let it build back up, which it does quite quickly.

Your health bar also regenerates itself — provided you aren’t being beaten up at the time — and before you know it, you’re back to full health. But be warned — this won’t work on boss levels.

There are a couple of driving levels included in the game; Niobe drives, Ghost fires at the enemy. Playing as Niobe in these levels is one of the game’s bad points. Put quite simply, they’re dull. The ‘Y’ button controls Ghost as he hangs out of the car and shoots at your enemies — but like the focus bar, he will only last for so long before you need to recharge him. The default mode is first person, which puts you inside the car with Niobe and Ghost. This is where the main problems occur. The car handles more like it’s on water than land — rocking violently from side to side and just in general being pretty hard to control. In third person mode, the car seems a little less rocky — but it can’t redeem the level completely.

A similar level further into the game has the Twins on your tail. I thought the level would never end; it seemed to stretch on interminably.

However, playing as Ghost in these levels is a little more interesting; you control the gun and it’s your job to make sure that the police keep their distance. The added bonus is that Ghost can shoot at anything that gets in your way; when you play as Niobe, he will only fire at ‘legitimate’ targets, such as police cars and agents.

The same ‘road rage’ rears its head in one of the final levels, when you pilot the Logos through the steam tunnels in the ‘real’ world. Sentinels are on your tail and you have to outrun them. This culminates in Niobe taking the hovercraft down ‘the rabbit hole’ — an uncharted area. Not even outrunning a sentinel bomb can make the level anything but mind-numbingly dull. You are mainly relying on the compass arrow to show you if you are going in the right direction. After a while, the tunnels begin to look the same and you will cease to care what is happening on-screen.

Driving levels aside, the gameplay is excellent; one slight niggle is the lack of agents. Throughout most of the game the agents only make an occasional appearance, that is until the end of the game — suddenly they’re crawling all over you. The agents can’t be defeated; you can merely slow them down by using your weapons or a few well-placed kicks while in focus mode.

The game gives you the option to save your progress as you move through the game. This gets irritating after a while — it stops the game to allow you to save or continue on without doing so, which in itself isn’t a bad thing; it’s the frequency of the autosaves that irritates. You can be just running from one end of the room to another, or around a corner. Then it gives you the option to save and loads the next level.

The parallel stories of Ghost and Niobe mean that the replay value of the game is pretty high. The graphics in this game are certainly impressive, although ordinary movements such as climbing up ladders seem awkward, and the AI isn’t bad either. Sometimes, it can be a bit frustrating, especially when enemies dutifully wait around to attack you, but it doesn’t happen often enough to present a serious irritation.

Specs

• Rating: 88 per cent
• Requirements: Xbox games console
• Price: EUR59.99

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05/08/2003