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get to play as Neo, Morpheous or Trinity (although they do appear
in the game), instead you focus on other characters; namely
pilot Niobe and Zen-Buddhist assassin Ghost, either of whom
you can guide through the game. The plot of the game runs parallel
to that of the film, so you might see characters step out of
one scene in the movie, and step into the next scene in the
game - it's certainly a unique approach to videogame making,
and we're glad to see it's not just a cheap movie rip-off as
we've become accustomed to. The Wachowski brothers are videogame
lovers too, and wanted to make sure the game stood up to the
quality of the movie, which, as well as know, is going to rock
harder than we can ever imagine.
The game is split into several sections;
Fighting, exploring, flying, driving, hacking and more. The
battle system in Enter the Matrix is unlike anything you'll
have ever witnessed in a game before. Each character has a
focus meter, which can be used to slow down the action in
a bullet-time effect. So, this allows you to slow the action
to a crawl, pull of incredible martial arts moves, take on
more than one enemy at a time and yes, even run off walls,
cartwheel, dive and generally look cool. This is no gimmick
either, once you see Ghost run up a wall and administer a
flying kick to an enemy, you'll be sold - this is how bullet-time
should be done. When you're not fighting, Shiny have added
driving and flying sections (to go with those in the movie)
where, depending on your character, you'll be in the driving
seat or taking out enemies behind you in a Silent Scope-style
shoot 'em up. You can even hack into your PS2 and download
new abilities for your character, an interesting possibility.
Enter the Matrix has so many cool features,
it's hard to fit them all in this short review. Yes, there's
the running up the walls, with the kicking and the punching
and the firing of the guns and the bullet-time, but there's
so much more in store. For once, the hype seems to be justified,
because Enter the Matrix has been made in full co-operation
with the directors, actors and crew of The Matrix: Reloaded,
it's the real deal and no expense has been spared. Believe
it, Enter the Matrix is going to be absolutely bloody massive,
just make sure you get in on the ground floor.
9 out
of 10
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