Atari/Shiny Entertainment - 2003

      I find it odd that the colors of the Matrix are green and black, yet the X-Box game case still looks horrible. However, upon further consideration, it really set the tone for the next few days of my life. Everything should have been good, but was awful instead. As a result, anything that I call good is not really very good at all, but merely a dim area of light in the joyless, demon infested pit that was my week.

      You may be wondering what I thought of the game. If you are, I suggest you go and buy it, immediately, and pick up the hint book and stick them both in your butt. If you just want to know why it sucked my socks, read on. The slow-mo was the most fun part of the game, but most of the moves had no use. All you ever "needed" was the dive-and-shoot and the cartwheel-and-shoot. Also, certain moves automatically activate if you, for example, run toward a wall in slow-mo, which is convenient, unless you just wanted to run next to the wall and not cartwheel off the platform. There are tips but they are either given too late or resemble this: Reloading: You character will reload automatically when a clip is empty. These are particularly frustrating because I had assumed it was automatic until I got a little notice about the tip. So when I went to learn about reloading, the tip essentially said, "Sucker."

      In summary, this game is awful because there was nothing good about it. It is plagued by visual and gameplay glitches. The graphics are average at best. The controls ride the fine line just above usable and just below tolerable and the level design is generally uninspired. Finally, the multiple gameplay styles are like they took some astoundingly average action, driving, and flying games, put them in a pot, urinated on them and then fired it all at you from a cannon, but between each barrage of moist videogames and gunpowder, they showed you a clip from some version of Reloaded filmed in an alternate universe that couldn't afford decent actors or special effects.

What I liked: The movies, the real movies. When things related directly to Reloaded, they were cool- NO, it was cool that things related directly to the movie, but that didn't make all the clips good. Yeah, that's it. The hacking was fun(ish), too. Finally, the focus kick off the wall.

What I disliked: The controls, getting shot through walls, climbing fences like an epileptic with a strobe light, Jada Pinkett Smith, the flying, the driving, the shooting, the sewers, the flying, and, um, the flying.

What to expect: An ultimately frustrating 3rd person action game with an arguably redeeming payoff at the end.

What not to expect: "Unparalleled film collaboration resulting in a true Matrix experience" (the back of the box). Nothing about the gameplay makes this more like the Matrix than Max Payne or Dead to Rights.

What sets it apart from the genre: It is the only "official" Matrix based game. The movie scenes are a first, too.

Ratings on:

Controls: 6 - You can play, but you probably won't enjoy it. You have no camera control and have to fight with some of the "situational" focus moves.

Graphics: 5 - These wouldn't be good on PS2. For some reason, the default lighting seems to be below you, so when the game isn't sure about the source, your shadow just jumps up on a wall.

Sound: 7 - Some voice acting is good, some is terrible. The music is very solid, but seems to start and end rather abruptly.

Style: 3 - Movies, Hacking, and, uhh . . . . . . Matrix in the title?

1st hour: 7 - Slow-mo moves are so much fun.

3rd hour: 6 - Slow-mo moves are so impractical.

2nd day: 4 - Have I been down that pipe? What's my objective?

3rd day: 4 - You know what game is fun? Dead to Rights.

7th day: 5 - Too late to return it now, I guess these movies are worth $50.

#1 thing I hate about this game: The hovership stage. I understood Romance of the Three Kingdoms better than the hovership stage.

      Sundu is the two.

This game clubs baby seals.

      FreeOhio