Enter the Matrix manages to be a short, stylish ride through the Matrix, and though flawed, it still is a ton of fun.
1. It's undoubtedly Matrix, what with slow-motion, martial arts, and gun-shooting we all know and love. 2. Pretty interesting storyline IF you've seen the Matrix 2 and 3. 3. The acrobatics combined with shooting works excellently.
4. The "Agent" effects work brilliantly.
5. Good variety of minigames and gameplay.
THE BAD: 1. Not exactly the prettiest looking game ever.
2. No-go zones are jarring and extremely annoying.
3. AI can be simply awful at times.
4. Too short and easy.
5. Doesn't explain story very well.
One must think that it wouldn't be too hard to create a Matrix game. Add a run-on-walls button, an aim button, a melee attack button, a slow-mo button, and while you're at it, maybe a robust combat system and you've got a Matrix game pat-down. Maybe add in a little bit of variety, some agents, some massive jumps, and some really cool martial arts, and you've got it! Well, Shiny and Atari tried to make a Matrix game, but they made a big mistake: You don't play as Neo. Perhaps it's to be mentioned that this game, Enter the Matrix, was produced together with the second and third movie. This means that you could've played through the entire series as Neo. Sadly, they didn't make it this way, and you're stuck with Niobe and Ghost. Now, this isn't to bad a thing… if you've seen the Matrix 2. In the movie, you see these two guys for maybe 5 minutes, and then it cuts elsewhere. You're stuck assuming that they were busy the whole time, and this game fills in exactly what in the heck they were doing.
Perhaps the worst thing about the game is its story telling. If you don't watch the Matrix 1, you won't understand how in the heck the characters get into the world, what the Matrix is, and why they're fighting guys in tuxedos capable of transforming into anyone they please. It's almost stupid. I had to watch the movie (a good one, as a matter of fact) just to understand what in the heck was going on, what with car parts falling down from the sky to land in a white void and form a car, or why our characters are so eager to get to a phone booth.
But never mind that. If the rest of the story were intelligible, you would get something out of it. Instead, you're stuck with TIPS. TIPS simply explain to you bits of gameplay, and puny tidbits of the story. But forget about the story. Enter the Matrix manages to be an entertaining and fast-paced ride due to its cool combat and its awesome Focus system. The combat totally works quite well. Much like Jedi Outcast, moving and attacking at the same time results in a different attack. You might think that this would be cool, and it is. Punching is mapped to the left mouse button, kicking to the right, and throws to both of them at once. However, as soon as you get into a fight situation, you wind up in a sort of Soul Calibur thing with only hands and feet. It's ok, and it's fun, but sometimes you would wish for some standard, 3rd person action. Even so, the combat looks Matrix-ish, and cool enough. There is no slow-motion button. There's just a button called Focus. It's actually pretty cool, and is mapped to the SHIFT button. When you hold down Focus, time slows, and a whole new array of moves is unlocked. For example, holding down Focus while in a battle situation and pressing right-mouse results in you jumping off a wall and kicking the dude in the face. Holding down Focus while running diagonally towards a wall has you running on it. Holding down focus while running forwards and jumping is the iconic super-jump in the Matrix. Also, you can do cartwheels, backward-dives, forward-spin-dives, and dodge bullets. During Focus, the bullets also have the iconic, Matrix-style white lines spiraling behind it, which not only look awesome, but totally work. Moreover, you run faster, and your bullets are more accurate. This brings me to gunplay.
The game utilizes a pretty standard auto-aim feature. Your character will automatically aim at an enemy, and you can shoot, obviously. You'll get your hands on snipers, dual pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, UZIs, and all sorts of juicy weapons for you to fire. Also, there's a very simple cover system. You press yourself to a wall, and you can jump in and out of cover to shoot. You can also jump away from cover and do a mid-air flip, and shoot at the same time. It isn't too good, because many a time I would get stuck on walls and be unable to jump in and out of cover. Every now and then, you'll be treated to an Agent fight. If you've watched any Matrix movies, you'll recognize Agents as badass guys who are super-charged and awesome at fighting, almost as good as Neo himself. The game portrays them very well, what with them counter-attacking you, dodging bullets with ease, and in general being indestructible. Usually there's an easy way to defeat them, ranging from kicking them out of airplanes to lots of other stuff.
Also, the game has a great variety of minigames, like: Sniping. Driving. Riding in a cover and shooting. And lots of other stuff.
Sadly, when you're Ghost and having to ride in a car with Niobe, it really doesn't work. The AI is so bad, Niobe drives into walls all the time, and since the enemy AI isn't much to speak of either, the only threat you face while being the passenger in the driving bits are the walls. And you can't destroy them. I found myself restarting my level several times because Niobe would incessantly get stuck in a wall, and drive backwards, and hit another wall, and go forwards, and hit again, and back, and forwards, and back, and etc. Seriously. It's pitiful.
Moreover, when you're fighting enemies with snipers, they'll stand there. You snipe one. The companion stays there, like nothing happened. You snipe him. Problem gone. Another huge problem would be the no-go zones. You so much as wind up there, you die. It's pretty jarring and annoying, considering the lack of checkpoints. The only way you'll ever die is through the no-go zones. Like in the level where you have to run like crap from an agent, if you miss a jump and fall 10 feet, you die. Seriously. These guys can survive guns, punches, Gatling guns, snipers, and getting thrown about like a rag doll. Moreover, you can survive 100 meter jumps forward, but not a 10 foot jump down. It's stupid, if anything.
Moreover, the game is far too easy. Bullets do barely any damage, your health recharges very quickly, your melee attacks seriously own, and you can do almost anything to a guy you're melee fighting. If you're dying, avoid the danger for a few seconds, and you'll get full health in about 30 seconds. Another cool thing about the game would be the "HACKING". In it, you can type all sorts of stuff, and sort of become a HACKER. It's pretty fun.
In the end, Enter the Matrix manages to be a short, stylish ride through the Matrix, and though inherently flawed, it still is a ton of fun.