User Rating: 6 | Enter the Matrix XBOX
By Padrino | Review Date:
Enter The Matrix: How Deep Does The Rabbit hole Go? The sad fact is; for every cool and fun thing in this game there is something else that is lame and sloppy. The entire game lacks polish. Your enjoyment of the game will depend on how much of the "slop" you are willing to ignore. I am sure many Matrix fans will enjoy the story and distinct Matrix environment but others should take a pass on this game. Gameplay and Controls Most of the gameplay involves hand-to-hand and gun combat "Matrix Style". This means a lot of bullet-time (called "Focus") and cool combinations. The list of moves, both "Focused" and normal is long and looks and plays well. Some of the animations are good and some need work. Much of the combat will give you the feeling that you are fighting through your own version of a Matrix movie. Although linear, the continuous onslaught of enemies is quite fun and is the core of the gameplay. The combat system does not have the depth of many fighting games but its more fun and cool than most. Sometimes the "Focus" moves can actually take you out of the action for a bit too long. You need to get the timing of how and when to use you Focus ability. Unfortunately, You find yourself fighting with the camera almost as often as anyone on-screen. Camera troubles are common in 3D action games and ETM is certainly no exception. Once you get a hang of turning and targeting with both fists and guns, the combat is as much fun to watch as it is to execute. It never gets too tough (a.k.a. Dead To Rights) and re-playing a level always gives you a chance to try new moves. The controls are a bit difficult but with practice you can pull of nearly all of the cinematic moves from the first Matrix movie and then some. The gun combat is almost as fun and the bullet time effects look quite good despite the bland environments (see graphics). There are also short levels of driving and shooting which seem like typical "mini games". These car sequences are pretty much filler and don't add much to the game. The Story Well it is the Matrix after all the Wachowski brothers were involved with putting the story together. Even though it is a Matrix story, most of the plot elements are typical for an action shooter. Find this, go there, talk to him, get that. What makes the story worth following is the good voice acting and good production of the FMVs. In fact the two characters you play are straight from "The Matrix: Reloaded"; Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Ghost (Anthony Wong). The biggest letdown is that most of the FMV lacks excitement or action. Its mostly dialog and exposition. Even though its done better than most movie tie-ins we were all hoping for some extra fighting and action scenes. Graphics Its not that the graphics themselves are all-bad its the makeup and design of the levels. The textures look good, there are just so few of them. The same textures are cut and past throughout the levels and they look poor. The levels are very bland and repetitive. For example, in one level you are in a bank (or warehouse, who can tell?) and you have to find a package and they tell you the box number. Unfortunately the best way to find it is to just run around the wall until the FMV triggers. This is just lame. ETM also contains some of the worst level design I have ever seen. Textures are repeated so often, its difficult to know where you came from and where you are going too. Luckily the levels are very linear so that you just look for the next batch of bad guys. Some of the character animation is also horrific and would be out of place even for zombies in Resident Evil! The whole thing is sort of requiem for the "Funny Walks Institute". Its strange that a game so focused on combat has character animations this poor. I actually laughed out loud when I saw Ghost climb a ladder. "Ghost is a wooden boy, a wooden boy, a wooden boy" Ok, enough comedy jokes, you get the idea. Sound When its good, its Matrix good. When its bad, its just plain bad. Obviously they had a ton of great sound from the Matrix source material but they dropped the ball on this as well. The dialog is good but background music is choppy (maybe they were trying to match the animations). Some of the effects are done well. Bullets, for example, sound good and the bullet-time whooshing and altering sound is also done well. The cars engines are another story! Sound, turns out to be another feature that just lacks polish. Enter The Matrix will be a fun rental for any matrix fan despite all its shortcomings. In between the unpolished graphics and choppy animations are some cool moments that will be worth your time. They will not be worth $50 and you will not want to play through it multiple times.

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