Enter The Matrix
Boasting unmatched collaboration between developer and directors, can this film tie-in dodge the bullet of mediocrity?
Tags: Enter the Matrix Categories: Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Ludwig on Aug 1st, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Enter the Matrix (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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The tale of man vs. machine within the confines of a digital world is certainly a fitting premise for a videogame. Mix in some lethal weaponry, improbable stunts and a smidgen of philosophy to obtain The Matrix, the innovative sci-fi film that many believed to be prime material for a great game. Coinciding with the release of the second chapter in the Wachowskis’ trilogy, Enter the Matrix is not that game. While they undoubtedly went through a rigorous checklist of facets to incorporate from the Matrix universe, Shiny Entertainment clearly forgot to include any elements from good game design. This 3rd person misfire will have you reaching for a handful of blue pills long before the sprawling green text reaches the bottom of the screen.
Intersecting with The Matrix Reloaded’s plot, the game gives you the chance to follow in the slow-motion steps of either Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) or Ghost (Anthony Wong) as they struggle for the survival of the last human city, Zion. The much lauded live-action sequences push along the adventure and fill in the gaps of the film, though only the most obsessive of Matrix fans will truly enjoy them.
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The clips consist mainly of rehashed scenes from the film, including a kiss from Persephone and a fight with an apologetic Seraph. Adding this to poorly written banter (“Thaddeus was my friend. I knew him.”) and stilted acting, results in a distinct feeling that these scenes have arrived courtesy of the Warner Bros. cutting room floor. The clumsily directed in-engine cutscenes don’t fare much better, a fact that is by and large to blame on the game’s utterly inept graphics.
Apparently, the penny-pinching machines deemed that a PSOne should form the core of the Matrix. Surely, insipid textures, inadequate lighting and an anemic color palette would be enough to fool those pitiful humans? Even for a multi-platform game, ETM’s minimalist visuals barely qualify as unremarkable. You’ll explore a wide assortment of realistic locations such as airports and office complexes, but the amazingly abrupt loading screen is the only way of telling them apart. The slight salvation that lies in the decent character models is quickly demolished by their motion-captured animations, which oscillate wildly between good and absurd. If the running animation, which perfectly emulates the T-1000 chasing down John Connor, doesn’t plunge you into a fit of laughter, the climbing animations certainly will. You will believe that every fence the character scurries up is an electric one. On the other hand, the combat animations are excellent, with every punch, kick and throw coming straight from the movies.
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Like a certain Mr. Payne, both Niobe and Ghost have a knack of slowing down time via the use of Focus. By activating this ability and slowly draining its gauge, you’re able to dodge pesky bullets by running up walls, doing cartwheels and performing several other moves that no chiropractor could bear to watch. Most of the acrobatics are easy to pull of via the responsive controls, provided you’re able to deal with some questionable button placement. Guns, lots of guns, are at your disposal, though a limited amount of ammo means you’ll be resorting to your fists more often. Using a combination of the controller’s face buttons and the directional pad, it’s possible to execute quite a varied set of combos and counters as you battle the likes of police officers, SWAT teams and devious postal workers. Sidestepping blows and launching kicks from nearby walls quickly become second nature. In conjunction with your character’s ability to focus, this particular aspect of ETM is the most refined and enjoyable.
That’s not saying much, since a few serious party-pooping problems crop up. The haphazard camera will often portray the action (perhaps artistically) from behind crates or doors, whichever makes it more difficult for you at the time. The manual lock-on function only appears to work properly during rare planetary alignments, though the automatic targeting is usually enough. Relating to difficulty, your character will steadily regain health if you’re not involved in combat. Strangely, this doesn’t happen during boss battles, obviously a cheap way of making them more difficult. During normal combat, absolutely nothing prevents you from simply running up to an officer of the law, disarming him and promptly pulverizing his defenseless body with a flurry of kicks. Even worse, the other people in the vicinity will immediately cease fire and casually stand around as their fellow officer has his spleen reduced to mush (technical term).
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This pathetic AI makes another appearance in the game’s driving sections, which has Niobe steering and Ghost firing at pursuers (whose cars explode after a few shots, just like the movies). When playing as the latter, the AI-controlled Niobe is in charge of guiding the car through the dull cityscapes. She is a horrendous driver. Unyielding in her desire to plow head-on into every single object that litters the road, dramatic chase scenes are often reduced to painfully slow, bumper-to-bumper crawls. It’s also worth mentioning that the firing animation and sound of Ghost’s gun would often go haywire during these sequences. (Thank you, QA department.) Things aren’t much better when the roles are reversed, as the game will often trap you in an area until a certain amount of time has elapsed and a gate opens or something. The duo really needs to consider investing in a vehicle that doesn’t handle like a broken canoe, or at least one that doesn’t have such an obnoxiously loud engine.
Having been ripped straight from the films, it’s safe to assume that if you liked the soundtrack of the movies, you’ll take a liking to it here. The additional licensed tracks are fine and fit in well with the rest of the tunes. The sound effects do their job well, with particular mention going to the focus effect.
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The unmistakable sound of a bullet flying past is recreated perfectly in the game as are the rest of the trademark Matrix effects. The operator ring tone, feet running across sink roof, an agent taking over the body of some poor sap and dual pistols blazing – all adding immensely to the atmosphere of the game’s levels.
Depending on the character you’ve chosen, you’ll be given a set of objectives to complete during each level. Guiding you through the mission is your operator, Sparks, who communicates via an enormous and obstructive instant messenger window. Tasks range from stealing mail to atrocious snipe and protect situations, none of which are made any more exciting by the boring and linear level design. The game hits a real low point when you reach the sewers, which has you running down a straight tunnel, stopping every now and then to dispatch foes. Since it’s so much fun, you get to repeat said process again and again. Apart from that, there’s even a brief jumping section where a stray leap will have you plunging down a black abyss. Yay, the classic bottomless pit is still alive in well in today’s games.
Making sure that everything identifiable with the Matrix was present in the game was obviously a priority for Shiny.
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They certainly triumphed in this regard, though the price has been much too high. Undeniably rushing development to meet the movie’s release date, the various elements of the game have been slapped together with nary a consideration of whether anything would stick. With none of said elements being refined properly, the game is a mess. Even the DOS-like hacking section, which allows you to enter cheats and alter your save files, feels tacked on. With a little more effort in terms of the graphics, combat mechanics and level design, Enter The Matrix could have been something special. As it stands, it’s especially bad.
To sum up, Enter the Matrix succeeds as a part of the franchise’s universe. The mythology, the atmosphere and the bullet-time – It’s all here. As a game, it falls flat on its face. In slow motion. The game is the sum of its parts, with none of the parts being any good. Filled with unfinished and unrefined concepts, the game could have greatly benefited with some more development time.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
- Retains atmosphere from the films - Combat is mildly enjoyable… |
5.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- But is seriously flawed - Appalling graphics - Uninspired level design - Filler driving sections |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Only compulsive Matrix fans need apply. | |
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Tags: Enter the Matrix
Posted by Ludwig on Aug 1st, 2003 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
