When The Matrix was released a few years ago many people rated it as one of the best science fiction movies ever made.
However, like so many other box-office hits, The Matrix spawned a plethora of copycats. The bullet-time technique was copied in everything from movies to games and has since even appeared in television advertisements.
Of course, most of us know that The Matrix was not as groundbreaking as it was made out to be. Several ideas integral to the plot and some fight scenes were taken from well-known anime movies. What made the movie stand out was the way in which it combined these different elements with modern special effects and narrative techniques.
This year, fans have already been treated to the release of the second movie, The Matrix: Reloaded, with the third, The Matrix: Revolutions, scheduled for release in October. Recently, the Animatrix DVD comprising several short stories has also been released.
To cap this, Atari has published the Enter the Matrix video game. Released simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube and the Xbox, the game has been billed as the most expensive ever made with a reported budget of $30 million.
It ties in with the events of Matrix: Reloaded and shows players how their actions in the game influence the events of the movie. The game includes an hour of extra movie footage and was written and directed by the creators of The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers.
In it, you get to play as either Niobe or Ghost. Niobe is the captain and pilot of the Logos hovercraft and is adept at hand-to-hand combat. She is also a skilled driver when inside the Matrix. Ghost is the first mate of the Logos and a martial arts warrior.
It would not be amiss to say that the game was released amid a flurry of publicity and high expectations from the developers, Shiny Entertainment, and an eager gaming public.
I purposely did not want to write this review earlier to avoid falling prey to the hype (both positive and negative). Publishing something that either unnecessarily condemns or praises the title is never an option.
So it was with muted enthusiasm that I slotted the first of two CDs into my GameCube and started playing. The first thing a player notices when playing any game is the graphics.
I have to admit that it does not appear like the developers went all out on this front as some older titles like Metroid Prime still have much better graphics than Enter the Matrix. There are even levels in the game where the corpses tend to stick through walls.
I know the Matrix is not supposed to exist, but certain rules of science should still probably be obeyed.
On a positive side, the title uses the movie tie-in licence to perfection. The storyline makes the player understand how everything fits together and how important Niobe and Ghost are to the greater scheme of things.
Additionally, the fight sequences (and there are many of them) are truly amazing. While the controls do take getting used to, it is probably a necessary evil to have a range of attack keys for a title such as this.
One thing I found a bit disappointing was the use of the focus ability. It is almost as if you do not need to use the ability at all to progress in the game, while in the movies, Neo`s abilities was an essential ingredient in him beating the machines.
Enter the Matrix is a title that should be approached with caution. Expect too much and you will be left disappointed. Expect too little and you will probably experience the game the way it was meant to be.
I might just be a jaded and cynical games review writer, but then again, I might just be right. As the saying goes: "Caveat emptor!"
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