Enter the Matrix (2003) (VG)

Directors:

Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski

Writers:

Andy Wachowski (written by) &
Larry Wachowski (written by)

Release Date:

15 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Battle alongside the original motion picture cast on the mission that comes down to one question. In the war to save Zion, what part will you play?

Plot:

The game's story picks up just before The Matrix Reloaded and runs parallel to that of the film. Play...

Plot Keywords:

Good Versus Evil | Crate | Telephone | Part Live Action | Teahouse

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Mary Alice	...	The Oracle (voice)
Christine Anu	...	Kali (voice)
Steve Bastoni	...	Soren (voice) (as Stephen Bastoni)
Don Battee	...	Vector (voice) (as Don Batte)
Francine Bell	...	Councillor Tuchman (voice)
Monica Bellucci	...	Persephone (voice)
Gunther Berghofer	...	Elevator Security Guard (voice)
Daniel Bernhardt	...	Agent Johnson (voice)
Ian Bliss	...	Bane (voice)
Michael Budd	...	Zion Controller (voice)
Kelly Butler	...	Ice (voice)
Josephine Byrnes	...	Zion Operator (voice)
Zeke Castelli	...	Operations Manager Mattis (voice)
Collin Chou	...	Seraph (voice)
Essie Davis	...	Maggie (voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Xbox version)

Certification:

Germany:16 | USA:T | Australia:M | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Alameda, California, USA

Company:

EON Digital Entertainment

Trivia:

An hour of movie footage from The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was shot to tie in with the game.

Quotes:

[Niobe, Ghost and Axel are at the subway]
Ghost: All right, Axel. That's your dust-off.
Axel: You know, there's a lot of guys that wouldn't have done what you did. I thank you for it.
Niobe: You would have.
Ghost: It was that, or kill you.
Axel: I'm just glad fate brought you to the airport.
Niobe: I'm not sure you'll agree with that tomorrow. Just tell Soren midnight. He'll know the place.
Axel: Okay.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Spike TV VGA Video Game Awards (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Clubbed to Death

A real treat for Matrix fans

This game has pretty much everything you'd expect from a game about the Matrix; the cool kung-fu moves, the kick-ass gun-play, a multitude of cool weapons and, of course, the entire Matrix "feel" over it. The weapons are plentiful, though they could offer more diversity. If I had to guess, I'd say there were 15-20 different weapons, and most fall in the half a dozen or so main categories of guns in the game(pistol, submachine-gun, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper, heavy weapon). The kung-fu is surprisingly easy to control, and there is a huge amount of different moves. The graphics are very good, but they could have been better, had the game not been rushed to meet with the same deadline as Reloaded. Some of the animations don't blend too well with the others, and it's sometimes a little annoying to look at. Nothing major though. The "Focus Mode" allows you to do some gnarly stunts and moves, akin to those from the films, making for some incredibly entertaining game-play. The soundtrack is excellent, some tracks were slightly edited from the Reloaded soundtrack, others were taken directly from it, but most of the tracks were entirely new, and fit with the atmosphere and game-play perfectly. The game-play is also great, though it can get slightly repetitive at times, as most of the game consists of either fighting or shooting the enemies, which of the two you do being somewhat up to each individual player. The level design is pretty good, though also slightly repetitive. That was obviously a bit rushed, too. The driving portions are good, but could have been a little better. The control is reasonable, but inferior to all-out car games(even I can say that, and I hardly play any car games at all), and the computer-controlled car of the Ghost driving portion can be almost frustrating at times. A wicked cool feature would have been two-player, with one player driving and the other shooting, instead of just letting you do one, depending on which character you're playing as, since both have shortcomings(which is not at all to say that they aren't both very entertaining). One of the main problems with the driving portions, as well as the regular game, is the lack of freedom, freedom of movement, first of all. At the end of the game, you get to fly the hovercraft, which is very entertaining, and something most of us fans have, more or less secretly, hoped to be able to do some day, since we first saw the original movie(along with, well, just about everything else this game lets you do). The game changes pretty seamlessly between the driving and the regular levels, which can be annoying, but you quickly get used to it. The game can also be a bit hard to get used to, control-wise, but there are little "tips" that appear, every time you need to learn something new, and then you can read and re-read it whenever you want to. You play as either Ghost or Niobe, both of which appeared in the second two Matrix films, and their paths intertwine well with the second movie(if some of the places you get to visit do have a sense of "hey, this was cool to watch in the film, let's put the player in a similar situation!"). Something I thought could have been better is how different the two paths are... there are parts where one character goes one route whilst the other takes a different one, and I think this could have been more prominent in the game. I would still say that both are worth completing. Both have their pros and cons. There is also a neat little hacking game, which, like the hovercraft levels, is something that most fans have wanted to try. It's built up like a DOS command prompt, which makes it reasonably easy to play. The game also has some built-in tips for that, in case you get completely lost. If you master the hacking game, which isn't too hard for the average computer user, you can even activate a Katana sword, like the one Morpheus uses in Reloaded. There's also a cool bonus level, that makes for some great practice. The game takes approximately 2-4 hours per character, depending on how quickly you get good at it. That doesn't sound like much, but it's an intense couple of hours. Plus, you'll probably be going back to it. I've played the game through 8 times now, 4 times per character. And I'm not tired of it yet. Some of the levels do change a little from one of the two characters to the other, and I recommend that if you want the full story, and the full experience, you should beat both. This game is invaluable to play if you're wondering what happened to Ghost and Niobe when they weren't on-screen in Reloaded. It also explains a few more details, even some about Revolutions. The plot is fairly good, and has moments where it's *really* good. It starts before Reloaded, and ends not long after where and when the movie did(and tells the player how Niobe and Ghost wound up where we first see them in Revolutions). The hours worth of DVD quality cut-scenes offer some background and character development for the two leads of the game, both of which are qualities that the two Matrix sequels suffer from a lack of. For as good as this is, there is definitely potential for more... once again, had the game not been rushed, it could easily have been the perfect interactive Matrix experience. As it is, it's just a good contemporary Matrix game. A darned good one at that, but nothing more. I recommend this game to any fans of the Matrix trilogy, especially those who felt that Reloaded didn't explain enough, and those who've been wanting to immerse themselves completely in the universe the Wachowskis created, and pull of the fighting moves and so forth. Highly entertaining. 7/10