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Enter the Matrix

When I was in junior high school, I remember sitting around the NES with my friend Marty. We’d get really excited about the summer movie season not because of the movies, but because there would be a bunch of games based on the movies. We played the Batman game, the Ghostbusters 2 game, and even the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game. Most took the form of craptacular side scrollers, and were ginned together in a few short weeks.

The people who are marketing Enter the Matrix apparently forgot this. The game, and simultaneous launch of The Matrix Reloaded were hyped as a one of a kind convergence between film and cinema. Yes, there is some spiffy FMV of the characters that appear in the game. Yes the game does fill in a few of the story holes in the movie. No the game isn’t very fun.

Admittedly, using bullet time and flying through the air to kick dozens of baddies asses is fun for the first hour or so. The problem is that the game never really goes anywhere. It’s not particularly difficult, but it is very tedious. Every fight in the game can be summed up in three steps.

1. Charge around corner, engaging bullet time as you go.
2. Kick/shoot one or more people’s asses.
3. Stand still in a safe place if you take too much damage so you can recuperate.

It just gets very blah after a while. On top of that, the car chase portions are tedious, and the other game-type, where you fly a hovercraft in the “real world” seem a little boring.

It’s too bad that you can’t just watch the FMV without playing the game first.

While I’m talking about the Matrix, I managed to sit down and watch the Animatrix last night. The images are beautiful, and the animation is amazing. I was even impressed with what those hacks at Squaresoft on the Osiris piece.