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| We printed this nice review and Atari still wouldn’t send us any decent images. |
Enter the MatrixI don’t know if it was the blue pill or the red pill or if I
took both, but the room had started to spin and I was beginning to wish that
none of it was real. We had just begun to experience Atari’s Enter the Matrix,
the second game to take advantage of Xbox’s 1080i resolution. Once we chose to
play the gun-happy, lovelorn Ghost or the hard-as-nails Captain Niobe, the game
immediately immersed us in the Architect’s world. Walking down a hallway, a
night watchman told us, “We’re closed.” We hit a button and BAM! With a
spin-kick move, the punk was down! That’s right!
Now, I know I’m supposed to
talk about the video, but this game is fun. Other publications have panned it
for uninteresting story lines and general simplicity, but the game is supposed
to follow the blockbuster movie, so what do you expect? Personally, we think the
game is a kick in the pants.
In regular video mode, the view was not
spectacular. In 1080i mode, though, the outlook was much improved in terms of
brightness, colors and, where you’d expect it most, smoothness. The characters,
once pixelated with lots of jagged edges, became consistent and all the more
realistic. Backgrounds acquired depth, giving a much more 3-D feel. It’s not
video—God knows it’s not video—but it’s damn close.
Enter the Matrix has
another little feature of interest—great sound. The game incorporates many
sounds from the Matrix films, and the various punch, kick and hit sounds lend
the gameplay more weight. The films also provide or inspire much of the
music. Some high-quality licensed electronica tracks make for an overall
Matrixesque experience. Also compelling is the game’s hack mode. This mini
puzzle game lets you hack into your saved game files to enter cheat codes or
unlock new features. You can hack your way to messages from the characters,
concept art and a multiplayer mode.
Fast-paced gameplay can often make up for
mediocre story lines, and it does here. Despite the game’s failure to take
advantage of what the story line could offer, and because it’s quick and
action-packed, we recommend that gamers at least rent the title from their local
video store.
