It’s time to jack again in and re-experience the film tie-in recreation that attempted to be greater than only a slick commercial. There was a time when the try and safe a pipeline straight from blockbuster movies to online game releases was large, however few reached the bold stage of Enter the Matrix. This simulation is way from good, however as Cypher so potently mentioned, “Ignorance is bliss.”
It was the primary recreation primarily based on the iconic films, however that was solely as a result of a nasty choice had been made. The Wachowskis knew they needed a recreation for his or her visionary undertaking set to launch in 1999 and approached Shiny Leisure, however founder David Perry believed The Matrix can be “one other hacker flick.” One thing that Perry would later tell Polygon was one among his worst profession errors. Fortunately, the corporate would obtain a second probability and one other alternative to play on this computerized world.
As a substitute of merely performing out scenes from The Matrix Reloaded in an overblown gamified kind, there was an authentic story written by the Wachowskis, who have been closely concerned within the growth of video games utilizing their world. The creators have been hands-on when it got here to overseeing a majority of these tasks and needed these followers that have been deep into their lore to not solely see the movie, however watch The Animatrix, learn the comics, and play the sport, all in an effort to get as many particulars concerning the story as they might. It was cross-promotional synergy at its most interesting, and The Matrix franchise might stay unbeaten in that regard.
Enter the Matrix put gamers within the function of two characters exterior of the principle motion, however in an task that also felt very important to the heroes’ success. Deciding on between Niobe (Jada Pinkett) or Ghost (Anthony Wong) provided a set of levels with completely different paths. The duo fights the identical enemies, however in numerous elements, the main points change, and deciding on one over the opposite does decide whether or not the participant handles extra driving or capturing. Some followers have been upset they didn’t get to play as Neo, however there’s one thing cool about being in on the bottom stage and seeing how different events have been serving to behind the scenes.
There’s a considerable amount of live-action footage, and over an hour of it’s new to the sport, shot whereas they have been engaged on the movies and utilizing a number of the identical actors and crew, which makes the sport extra attractive. With all of this being canon, nonetheless, it might make the story really feel a tad extra convoluted, and it undoubtedly means new gamers must have seen the films to actually profit from the plot. Everyone seems to be welcome to enter The Matrix, however for diehard followers, the sport does add some important story additions value noting.
It is a recreation that received a little bit wild, in a great way, loosening the belt from the films and permitting gamers to discover a number of the dirtier work from what they’d beforehand seen. The second movie noticed a very good little bit of the ghost twins, whereas the sport allowed followers to play with the vampires and werewolves extra, in addition to discover motion sequences that Reloaded didn’t take the time to indicate.
Enter the Matrix tried to lift the bar for film video games
Enter the Matrix was attempting to start out a pattern, set a brand new bar for the place motion pictures and video video games could possibly be married, a minimum of inside the realms of character, story, and expertise. Gamers use martial arts, weapons, and the Focus potential to decelerate time and watch bullets fly by, all whereas wearing trendy hacker apparel. The world mimics the films whereas Brokers really feel like an actual risk (at first anyway), and the drive to see extra of the story and cutscenes strikes us ahead. Essentially the most memorable characteristic although will be the hacking-based cheat system, the place customers can entry the mostly-forgotten multiplayer and make the most of DOS instructions for numerous results.
It doesn’t matter what caught out probably the most, the sport was extremely welcomed upon launch, selling quite well and making manner for an additional installment afterward. Enter the Matrix can be rereleased as a funds title, and a few variations have been even barely revamped with new mini-games. Every model of the sport had points and attention-grabbing bugs, however not one of the releases escaped with out some type of efficiency drawback. For many, nonetheless, the PS2 providing appeared to provide the best overall experience.
As fulfilling and inventive as Enter the Matrix was, there have been a number of issues. The traditional controls work positive and look stable in lots of situations, however they are often sluggish and assaults are usually not snappy when coping with a number of opponents, which is made worse by usually horrible AI, inflicting the enemies to both be too simple to defeat or ridiculous to hit. Driving and on-rail shootings sections might be irritating and really feel tacked on whereas melee encounters are missing and stage design comes throughout as uninspired apart from wanting the half. It does supply numerous modes within the gameplay, which required a number of engines, and that is one case the place a extra streamlined expertise was most certainly wanted. Even Perry said the workforce, “bit off a little bit greater than we might chew,” and in some instances have been growing for platforms they weren’t precisely accustomed to.
Although the sport apparently spent over two years in growth, the discharge date was set in stone to coincide with the movie. Enter the Matrix had positives for positive, the place the entire package deal nonetheless managed to come back collectively even when a number of elements fall brief, however a number of these successes hinged on the IP it represented, and this batch of code might have used some extra time in manufacturing. Lead Programmer for the sport, Michael “Saxs” Persson, said to Polygon, “Irrespective of who you ask, Enter the Matrix was like Dante’s seven ranges of Hell,” which appears a little bit harsh, nevertheless it feels like this wasn’t a simple manufacturing interval, irrespective of how a lot enjoyment gamers might have gotten out of it.
Some critics felt that the sport cheapened the film, however I don’t see that in any respect. In reality, Enter the Matrix might have suffered barely for having to make the story slot in with the films when that was the strongest side of the entire package deal. The sport isn’t fairly equal in its elements, some parts are epic, others are awkward, however its power lies in what it was, an bold program that sought to offer main followers one other probability to enter the simulation.