In the past, developers have tried their hand at creating a game from a movie but sadly, every game has yielded a ghastly result. Publishing companies saw the process of creating a game from a movie as a quick and effortless way of making some easy money with little or no effort put into the development and so on. Back then, the fans didn’t know about the whole process and there was basically a lack of mediums for us to oversee the production of the games which really made us vulnerable to the whole thing. But now, there is a vast array of knowledge on the internet with the growth of the ability to be online all the time, there is huge pressure put on developers to make games miraculous and to inexorably prevent hard core gamers from harassing them over the faults of their titles. I think Shiny Entertainment has done well overall but there are some downsides to this much awaited title.

    The presentation of Enter the Matrix was done very well. From the menu buttons to loading screens it is unmistakably palpable that this game was done in the popular Matrix style, but the game itself is a bit of a graphic disappointment. Enter the Matrix doesn’t look terrible, but unlike the movie there is a lack of visual grandeur. I would have to say that the characters are the most impressive features of the game. The character voicing matches the lip movement quite well and the character animation within the cinematics is superior, unlike the in game movement. I’ve found the characters to move a bit like stone people when running which looks a bit odd. The environment matches the movie quite well but it is a bit insipid at times due to the boring grey and green color schemes within the game. The film sequences are of superb quality and are roughly of DVD quality.

    Enter the Matrix comes out at the same time as Matrix Reloaded so instead of duplicating the events of the movie all over again in a game, Enter the Matrix focuses on Niobe and Ghost (2 supporting cast members). The scheme of this game is vastly dependant on Matrix Reloaded and if you haven’t seen the film yet then you most likely will be missing the bigger picture of it all. Because of this the plot feels a lot less captivating and it’s also reinforced by the fact that the game does not cover the third installment of the Matrix trilogy leaving the story feel relatively open ended. You can choose to play as either Niobe or Ghost and the most attention-grabbing part to this decision is that it essentially affects the game. Even though the 2 in game lead characters are on the same assignment, they are both fulfilling different tasks and in the end of the game, replaying the game with a different character pretty much gives you a dissimilar storyline through the game.

    The controls within this game are very akin to the controls of most other third person shooters with your basic controls in which you have your jump, shoot and strike buttons. When approaching an enemy, the camera routinely moves into combat mode to show the player the action from the side, which can be very bothersome at times and leads to tribulations in small spaces. Another downside is that the camera cannot be adjusted so in some cases you will be fighting an enemy with your perspective being behind a pillar, wall or any other obstructive object. The overall physics of the game are primarily realistic and can alternatively be adjusted by using the focus technique and in turn giving the player special abilities. When utilizing the focus technique, not only are the attacks additionally potent, but the player will also be able to perform special techniques as running on walls, leaping over enemies, jumping great distances, etc. Fortunately, using the same button combinations over and over again do not lead to the same moves because many of them are dependant on the verity of your character carrying guns or having an enemy close by and for a small amount of players, this could lead to frustration and awkwardness in the controls. The Gameplay is clear-cut so most of the time you’re following directions from the operator of the ship, combating agents and slaughtering policemen but I’m sad to say that the game doesn’t really offer anything that would make a hard core gamer drool on their controllers.

    The soundtrack is exceptional. It is reasonably similar to that of the film so it adds to the game’s overall ambience, in the case that it fits the game’s situations very well. The sound effects are first-rate and they fit the various weapon attacks, texture types and so on. Surprisingly, the voice acting is done by the actors from the film itself. On a sad note, the overall sound only offers mono or stereo encoding and no surround effects, which is a shame because the soundtrack is truly superior and I think if a game has a sound set like the one in Enter the Matrix it should absolutely be heard theatre style.

    The game takes up two discs and even though that is so, it seems like there have been some things left out and overall, the game does not take that long to conclude. There is also a hacking option available within the game from the title screen that lets you spawn objects in the Matrix, read random text files, play cinematics, and even see image files all from the game’s disc. This feature can come in handy during the game for obvious reasons and I commend Shiny entertainment for putting the work in to add something as creative as a “hacking” option but I don’t necessarily believe that this option completely negates the fact that there seems something has been left out. In my experience I believe most of the disc space is taken up by cinematics and most of the time, you watch a cinematic, do one or two things then cut to another one. Sadly, there is no multiplayer option available from the start of the game (you have to unlock the option) and no practice sessions to help the player get habituated to the game’s sometimes odd controls. There is a bit of replay value (as you go along and unlock extras) and as an extra completion bonus, after completing the game with the characters, there is an option to beat the game with cheats and such to decrease the overall uniformity, plus you can also utilize the “hacking” system to play as Neo, Trinity and Morpheus.

    I would say that this game would be for a player who wanted to play something reminiscent of Matrix Reloaded but I wasn’t really seeing any groundbreaking Gameplay but I have to say that the in-game “hacking” system is innovative in this one. There will be not too much disappointment in Enter the Matrix but as I said before, it does get a tad boring essentially trying to unlock extras that in fact have a higher fun factor than the game without them. The movie title has effectively been used well, but not as well as any die hard gamer/ Matrix fan would be expecting. I think Shiny has done a great job on this game but there is a bit more room for improvement.