A classic example of a game with great ideas poorly executed.
User Rating: 5.6 | Enter the Matrix PC
Enter The Matrix is a classic example of a game with great ideas poorly executed. There is no doubt that anyone who has seen the movies would be excited about pulling off cool Matrix moves in a game, and being able to do so is by far the best part of Enter The Matrix. Unfortunately, most of the great ideas in the game are only half-baked, making for a cool, but empty gaming experience. A lot has been made of the graphics in ETM, and frankly, the graphics are mostly serviceable, although unspectacular, with one exception: cutscenes. The accurate lip-synching and facial expressions are the best I have seen in a pc game in a long time. Shadows and reflections are also particularly well done within the game engine. Unfortunately, other areas do not fare so well. Even with anti-aliasing turned up to the highest level, jaggies are blatantly apparent, and backgrounds lack detail and character. They are also highly unoptimized, and even on my 2.4 Ghz P4/Radeon 9700 PRO system, FPS can slow drastically with only a handful of enemies on the screen at any given time. Turning down graphics options provides some relief, but not much. I would be curious to know how owners of nVidia cards fare; the game's system requirement call for a Radeon 8500 for ATI owners, but only a GeForce 256 (yes, you read that right) for those with nVidia cards. As you can guess, an nVidia logo is found on the front of the game box. It is possible the game is just not well-optimized for ATI cards. Unfortunately, some of the good graphics in the game can't be enjoyed due to the poor character controls. The mouselook is practically uncontrollable, with small movements causing the point of view to rotate maniacally, and reducing mouse sensitivity in ETM's limited options menu does little to alleviate the problem. Furthermore, my avatar runs as though he is taking amphetamines, making controlling him next to impossible unless I have "focused." "Focus" is the gameplay mode similar to Max Payne's bullet time, and it slows your environment to a crawl, allowing you to execute the cool Matrix moves, such as running along walls, dodging bullets, and performing flip/kick combo moves. Upon first use, I was in awe of the execution of these moves, but the lack of polish of the control can make the focus moves tiresome and frustrating at times. Hand-to-hand combat is the crux of the gameplay, and at its best, it is intense and exciting, but all too often, I found myself getting frustrated as the camera moves to a cinematic 3rd-person view, allowing me to watch the scene as though it were a movie. It is a great idea that falls flat, as the camera often chooses bad angles, allowing the player to lose sight of his combatant, a frustrating occurrence if you are fighting multiple enemies. Executing your cool moves ends up being reminiscent of console button-mashing, and involves little finesse; it usually does not matter which move you perform at any given time, as most kicks and punches will fell any given enemy. However, I do like the ability to peek around corners and jump from your peeking position; that move gives the first mission's "lobby" scene a lot of punch. For those interested in the gunplay, it, too, involves little finesse, as the developers have kept the typical console-type targeting intact. It is difficult to aim your crosshairs at an enemy, and mostly impossible if you are in motion. To make up for this, Shiny uses a forgiving targeting system that allows your crosshairs to move directly to an enemy if your crosshairs are close enough, and actually shooting your target has little to do with how accurate of an FPS player you are. It is a necessary element, however, as the smallest movements of your mouse whip your point of view around, keeping you from pinpointing your targets with any accuracy. The level design is decent, but extremely linear, and often involves backtracking through the same environments. The game's sound is the best part of the game and does an excellent job of creating tension, although it gets a tad repetitive. The AI is another story: enemies are easily tricked, often stand there staring at you and doing nothing, and do not seem to work together, unless they are following obviously scripted events, such as ganging up to guard an elevator that you must enter. They will attempt to hide behind pillars and execute moves such as rolls and dodges, but the moves seem random, as if they were intended on giving the impression that the AI is better than it really is. The AI animations and spoken lines are incredibly repetitive; for example, innocent bystanders will do the "crouch and shield themselves" move when threatened, familiar to fans of Half-Life and NOLF. However, the animations look unintentionally funny when all the innocent AI in a room are all executing the same animation, bouncing slightly as if they were in a discoteque. For a game that requires four CD's and over 4 GB of hard drive space, gamers should expect more. All in all, the game is a great idea rushed to the shelves before Shiny had a chance to polish the individual elements that could have made the game a masterpiece. Enter The Matrix is a pure console game, from the terrible menu options to the inaccurate mouse/keyboard controls, limited saving scheme, and awkward 3rd-person cinematic camera. Had Shiny been allowed to develop a single version of the game, the controls and graphics could have been refined, the level design broadened, and the AI fixed. Furthermore, they could have fixed the game's numerous bugs, from gamma settings that don't work to mouse clicks in the menus that choose the wrong option. The game is an obvious rush job, and while fun in spurts, it is an exercise in shoddy details and bad porting. For those interested in a Matrix gaming experience, you will be much better served by reinstalling Max Payne and playing the Matrix mod. Unfortunately, Enter The Matrix is cool for five minutes and mediocre at every point afterwards. Skip it. 
