Customer Reviews

Enter the Matrix (DVD-ROM)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

All the reviews I've read say that the game sucks, so why buy it? One reason and one reason only - there's over and hour of DVD quality video in the game. This video isn't just snippets from the three films either. When the Wachowski's shot footage for the video game as they were shooting The Matrix Reloaded and

Do you have to play the video game in order to see the movies. No, just like The Animatrix, you don't have to have played the game in order to enjoy the movie. Yet, there are some very interesting story lines and back stories that you miss if you haven't played it. This content enriches your movie experience. I equate it to watching your favorite television show. Take "Friends" for example. You can sit down and watch any episode of Friends and know what's going on and have a good time watching it. Yet a lot of the enjoyment of the show is the fact that you know about Ross and Rachel's past, or the fact that Monica used to be fat. When you know these back stories, things that happen in current episodes are more enjoyable. "We were on a break!" doesn't mean anything to you if you haven't seen the previous episodes.

The first segment involves going to the post office to collect the package. The second segment involves going to the airport to call all the other captains for the meeting that appears at the start of The Matrix Reloaded. I was very surprised to learn how the captains use the Matrix to leave messages for each other and there is some very funny dialog. While at the airport, you are called upon to save a fellow crew, which greatly expands the level. The third segment involves the meeting of the captains and the subsequent escape after the agents show up. In The Matrix Reloaded, we see Neo fight the agents, but we don't see what happens with the rest of the characters. It's a bit more expanded in the video game. After this third segment, I would recommend that you stop here and watch The Matrix Reloaded. Or at a minimum, watch The Matrix Reloaded, then play the game and then watch The Matrix Revolutions

Throughout the game you're presented with the following elements:

1. Cinematics - through the use of DVD quality video, you see the story unfold with all the main characters from the Matrix Trilogy. They take a few short cuts with the special effects in places, but otherwise it's the same quality of footage as the movies.

2. Animatics - to help transition you from the movie to the game, often times a cinematic with change into an animatic. This simply means that the story unfolds in an animated version using the game engine to render the characters. These cut scenes are just as engaging as the video because they use the actual actor's voices.

3. Game Play - you do actually get to play the game as well. As either Niobe, or Ghost, you navigate your way through the game unfolding the story as you play.

It was no surprise to learn that the game play sucks. As a game, Enter The Matrix is dead on arrival. No matter how powerful your computer is, the game play is going to bog down to a crawl whenever there are a lot of enemies on the screen. The limited ability to save your games is going to cause you to scream more than once. Last but not least, the game play is simply not that engaging. It's very linear and thus you're really only going from point A to point B, press a button, or open a door and the level is over. I'll be honest, as a game, it's a turd.

But that's not the point. The reason for this game is not for you to play it over and over like Quake III, or Medal Of Honor Allied Assault. The purpose for this game is to tell a story. I don't know that a video game is the best medium for telling a story, but I have to give the Wachowski brothers credit for the attempt. To show you that the Brothers simply want you to get to the end, if you get to a point where you can rest, your health will automatically increase. Not just a little at a time, but in 20 seconds you can go from 2% to 100% if you simply stand still (and no one is shooting at you).

Other than the 1 hour of DVD quality video (have I said that enough yet?), the only saving grace is the audio in the game. Dane Davis, the sound designer for the Matrix Trilogies used the exact sounds from the movies. So when you're in bullet time and hearing the guns go off, it's just like you're there. It's weird when the sound effects are the most notable aspects of a game, but they are that good.

The music is also excellent. Don Davis, the composer for the Matrix Trilogies, composed music for the game as well. In addition, there are tracks from Juno Reactor, Chris Vrenna, Fluke, Rob D and others, that add a certain bit of adrenaline to the game play. Great songs to kick butt to.

If you're a die-hard Matrix fan, then I'd recommend buying the game if you can find it on sale. However, you don't have to be a gamer to play this game. Simple button mashing will get you through the game and through all of the stories - which is the point of the whole game anyway. Even if you're not a die-hard fan, the story arcs are good and worth slugging through the game to watch them.

I found this game well worth the video card I had to go invest into run it and the hassle to install it, which, all in all, was quite a lot. The gameplay is really fun although frustrating as heck sometimes (Being kicked off roofs by agents, being thrown about to the point of death by 4 Smith clones....). But I'm a rabid Matrix fan so I guess I'm kind of biased. I recommend playing as Ghost when you play since he has more entertaining, yet somewhat harder, tasks. And just a note people--Do NOT buy this game if you don't have a Radeon 8500 or GeForce 256 or higher video card. It just causes lots of aggravation and hassle. But all in all this is one of the best video games I've ever played. The live action video clips are pretty entertaining an the game fills in lots of holes in Reloaded. My only problem is that the game is over to quick! I played for 7 hours and was done. That was a little disappointing

the graphics are normal,
the controls are easy to get used to,
focus is the best,
interesting hacking engine,
good combos,
unusual story,

the game does not slow my computer down, and i only have p4 2.4 ghz and loading times are extremely short (less than a minute per load). p.s if you use cheats use enemies cant see to win easily.

This game is so cool. Fighting Agents and machines. I mean whens the last time you ever went so fast you could dodge bulits! And got to drive a hover craft! NEVER!! The game also features the real voices in the movie. Its just to bad you don't get to be Neo or Morphus, but you do get to fight Trinity. You can only play as Ghost or Niobe. I have to give Enter the Matrix a maximum 5! That's all I have to say for now. See-Ya! Oh, by the way PARTY ON!!!!!!!!

the graphics are good.i have a problem with the controll.the charactor does this circular stance around opponet which is fine when its one on one,but with multi targets you end up facing the wrong way whilethey are picking you off (i.e.:SWAT HELICOPTOR)considering thats the most challenging aspect,getting the controlls to do what you want,i'd call this a dud.but entertaining none the less

This is for sure one of the best games I've ever played. Yeah, some people say that if makes your computer run slower than a snail - and that's true if your computer was made in 1982; but for those living in at least the 18th century, this game rules. An intriguing concept, the story of the game takes place in the "what you didn't see" part of the movie (Matrix Reloaded). In other words, all the stuff about Niobe and the Osiris - it's right here - with additional scenes which were seemingly ripped straight from the Matrix Reloaded DVD!
The martial arts in this game are superb - based on very simple button controls, your character can execute a wide variety of REAL kung fu punches, kicks, counter-attacks, and with your "focus" ability, you can truly bend time and gravity as your character dodges bullets, runs and flips off walls, and dives through windows - all with a stunning 3D engine that is a fresh break from the overused Quake III system (like the Jedi Knight Games). The character's detail is superb, and the overall combat system is plain awesome.
The sound is great too - with a unique 3D sound emersion system, you can literally "hear" gun shots from behind you, even if you only have 2 speakers!
This is a Must-Buy!

Enter the Matrix isn't a terrible game, but it is sort of a rip-off of Max Payne with some of the neat time-slowing tricks you can do. Another problem is that it crashed repeatedly on my desktop. And also I could only get the sound to work about a third of the times I played it. I might try playing it again now that I have a newer video card, but so far I'm not sure if even that will fix the no-sound buisiness. No patch has been released yet. If one has and I don't know about it shout it out at me! I would have given this game three stars if I didn't have these sound and crashing issues.
In the end, the movies were wayyyyyyy better.

I, like the 1st reviewer above, was unable to play this through due to crashes on many of the levels, which I have been unable to work around. This was really a disappointment, as I was really enjoying the action of the game up until this point. I too, have the DVD version and a high-end computer (athlon 64, 1 gig memory, nvidia 6600). I can play farcry with all the settings on high, but this game crashes my system. Makes me think it's not my machine that's the problem here.

Anyway, I'd recommend the game. If you were able to play through it, I'm sure it would be a ton of fun! :)

~jen

I bought the DVD version of the game, played for about an hour, then had my high-end comp crash mid level. Since then every other level I can play one in normal mode, and the next 2 or 3 in safe mode. I don't know if anyone else has these issues but there's no technical support on a high-end comp crashing at the start of every other level...

This game is pretty good. Its graphics arent great, and you need a pretty good computer to run it. If you like The Matrix movies its worth having because now its price has dropped! And with the DVD version you dont have to wait half an hour wile installing the four disks of the original version. Its too bad you can only play as Niobe and Ghost though...