The Matrix: Path of Neo, its aa'right...
In order to help you determine the difficulty level, the game jacks you straight into the lobby sequence that has you taking on wave after wave of enemies. Depending on how long you survive, you can then choose your difficulty level for the entire game. This is a fresh concept and is definitely cooler than your standard "Choose difficulty level".
Path of Neo puts you firmly into the boots of Neo as you embark on a journey of self realization. As interesting as that may sound, the game takes a lot of time to show its true colors. Right from the first mission (that's where the agents come to arrest you in your office) you realize the camera is a tad retarded. What could have been a cool stealthy mission now becomes a chore with you ducking in and out of cubicles. Lame!
Once you get captured by the agents, be prepared to sit through edited parts of the movie in an excruciatingly boring cut scene, which by the way cannot be skipped. The movie's dialogues were stupid and complex enough, and the speedy editing just makes it even more meaningless. "You are the one". "He's beginning to believe". "You know why you're here." "You are the one". "You've already made the choice". "You are the one". "There is no spoon". "You are the one". Ahh! Shut up already!
Once the cacophony subsides, you'll be booted into the tutorial level which goes on for what may seem to be eternity. The only advantage to this is that at the end of the tutorial you'll be extremely comfortable with the controls and will be able to pull off combos with relative ease. Even then, they should have given us the option of skipping through the tutorial after a few levels.
It's only after the tutorial that you 'begin to believe'. You'll be able to play through all the exciting moments from the entire trilogy, right from the iconic bullet-dodge "Trinity Help" roof-top moment to the aerial battle against Agent Smith. Through out the game you'll find yourself sticking mainly to melee combat as gun combat is sloppily implemented and is a chore to use in the game. In this particular game, not using a gun isn't necessarily a bad thing because the game's hand-to-hand combat is extremely stylish, entertaining and totally over the top. Every enemy encounter will result in you choreographing your very own slow-mo-kung-fu battles that'll have you running up walls, punching and kicking the living **** out of enemies, my personal favorite - running up a person to deliver a kick right in his face and more. Sounds cool, looks even cooler. Serious pain can be dealt out once you get your hands on melee weapons such as swords, axes and sticks.
As you advance through the game, cooler moves will be unlocked, which can be extremely devastating as long as you can successfully pull of monster combos. A really cool aspect about pulling off combos is that the last blow is always delivered in slow motion and you have the liberty to flick the camera with the right analogue stick to a full 360 degrees, making the action look even more cinematic.
Various environmental objects like pillars, tables and entire walls can be destroyed during combat and enemies exhibit a good amount of ragdoll, courtesy of the HAVOK engine. Enemy grunts like the S.W.A.T. team and other cops are easy to dispose off, while agents take some getting used to. Since agents can take up different forms, you'll have to eliminate all the enemies in the vicinity before you go after them or they'll keep coming back for more.
Besides the combat, the game doesn't have any thing else going for it. Visually this game is ugly and excessive amounts of this game may make your eyes bleed. Faces look flat and weird, hands are blocky, and Neo himself looks a bit tubby in his trench coat. Even though it is impressive to watch each of your punches shatter entire pillars, the price to pay for that is way too high, especially on the PS2. During sequences involving environmental destruction, your frame rate will drop faster than Salman Khan's shirt. The musical score and voice acting are average with Laurence Fishburne being the only actor associated with this project.
The Path of Neo is a tough game to recommend. It does have an excellent combat system and will appeal to all fans of the Matrix provided you can sit through ugly graphics, un-skipable cut scenes and excruciatingly long tutorial levels. However, if you are patient, you will be rewarded. After all, I can only show you the door; you will have to walk through it. :)