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Enter The Matrix - Patches, No Reviews?
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out a patch for the PC version of Enter The Matrix, just a couple of days after its release, and a FAQ which rather horrifyingly orders you that "The Vampires should be dispatched in the rooms you find them in" to stop the game from crashing completely. If you add to this the almost complete lack of official reviews, do we get a still-decent game that simply happened to stealthily launch in the week of E3 (when nobody was around to review it), or a rushed license that's deliberately trying to take advantage of gamers who buy based on subject matter? Spoiler-free opinions welcome, especially from those who've bought the game.
I bought it. It sucks. Graphics are terrible, gameplay is like a half-assed version of Max Payne (which was SUCH a better game), and the hour of additional footage is complete crap (not to mention it's all encoded in shitty low-quality DivX). Plus the game's performance is absolutely horrendous. That's $50 down the drain.
I'd just like to say that I had to re-edit and dumb down the review cause it wouldn't go through the lameness filter. Big Words=Junk Characters.
Ok guys, this is my review of Enter The Matrix. Hope you enjoy.
The action is very well done. Combat moves look amazing. Try to think of all the combat moves that were done in the matrix. You can do them all. From neo's cartwheel gunshooting to trinity's cannonbal move. It really feels like you are controlling a zionian. The story is awesome because it starts right after the last flight of the osiris (the animatrix episode) ends. So it feels like everything thats out for the matrix is connected. Not a bad way to sell stuff imho. While you are enjoying the awesome action you also enjoy an amazing musical score. Its freakin amazing!! I have noticed that framerates get very-low in large area locations, but I think the recent patches will fix it. Its games like this that keep giving me a reason to say "I can live with windows and all its MANY faults as long as I can keep playing these games".
I'm sorry if this reads
weird, I've been doing
bonghits all night.
[Just Shut Up and Do What I say]
Makes you think they didnt even finish the game properly, kind of reminds of a game called Ultima IX.
Put the crack pipe down, my friend! Ultima IX had been in development for years longer than this Matrix title. Why, part way through, they started over from scratch! That shows dedication.
They have finally patched all of the major bugs (less than a year or so after release!) Sure, if you patch over any saved games, you're pretty much screwed. But that's the majesty of the Ultima universe. The avatar never tires of fighting evil, and bugs and poor patches are evil, yes?
Hmm, this was supposed to be about the Matrix game, so, vaguely on topic... The game is virtually unplayable on the PC. The graphics are unremarkable, but I'm somewhat impressed by the way it can bring down XP Pro inside 5 minutes of gaming. Audio clips range from good fx to trash-can resonating dialog, that could be the crappy SB Live, though. And I didn't expect much based on the Infogrames label. (Still remembering the totally crappy Drakkhen game I got suckered into buying years ago).
Remember, there is no bug.
Mod me down and I shall become more trollish than you can possibly imagine!
I've just finished playing the game for the ps2 yesterday... it only took me 24hrs to finish it. I'm so disappointed with Shiny for putting out this game which feels half finished, uninspiring and buggy. I was expecting some tougher bosses, i didn't even have to move the cursor to shoot at anything. rating: 5/10
I bought the PC version the day it came out. It's probably one of the most disappointing purchases I've ever made. Why? It essentially boils down to the fact that it's a Max Payne ripoff, except it doesn't play nearly as well as Max Payne. Some of the levels are ridiculously difficult (anyone who's played the Chinatown levels knows what I mean) while others are really easy.
The sad part is this game could have been so much cooler. As it is, it's riddled with bugs, graphical glitches, and a really annoying sync bug that makes the audio go WAY out of sync during some of the rendered cutscenes. This is not a finished game, which is surprising because it's been in development for almost 2 years. One would think they would have had enough time to finish it.
That said, the game is a must-play for devout fans of the Matrix. The game follows the path of Ghost and Niobe and takes place during the Matrix Reloaded. The plot intersects with the movie over various parts of the game, and stuff IS made more clear through playing the game. In short, the story is pretty much an essential part of the Matrix saga, at least as much so as the Animatrix.
They've even included a "Hacking" game, which is a relatively short and easy CLI puzzle where you have to "hack" the Matrix, but it can give you some nice goodies like weapon drop points, cheat codes, and a secret level. It's relatively amusing, though unfortunately it's not totally finished yet. The game redirects you to search a few websites to find some information, but it seems as though those sites aren't up yet. One of them (which now redirects to the game's official homepage) even sported a "This domain has been registered by: " temp page.
In short, this game was obviously rushed out the door before it was finished. The fact that there were patches available the day after release is a testament to that. No game should be released with this many bugs or a control system this flawed. The PC version of the game seems like it was an afterthought, a port of the console versions that wasn't quite given the care that it should have been. Which is disappointing, because it turned what could have been a spectacular game into simply a mediocre one.
...It's very obviously rushed to get out on the deadline.
I bought the PS2 version to get a better frame rate than my PC and because I figured it would be easier to play with the PS2 controller. Well the later part was true, but I'm not so sure about performance. It gets major frame lag in large areas (inexcusable for a console game!). To top this off theres plenty of other bugs (echoing voices in cutscenes, bad clipping, invisible walls) that just shouldn't be there. And as mentioned alot of the level design is very uninspired, especially towards the end. The driving parts of the game are also _very_ tedious.
On the positive side of things
The game starts off pretty well and the first half of the game is pretty good. The controls (on PS2 at least) are pretty intuitive after a short while. The fighting
The 'Hacking' mode is a welcome bonus (similar to the old Neuromancer PC game, if you haven't played it, go to Underdogs now!), although it can be a little cumbersome on a control pad, tab completion is really needed there.
Overall, it's still a must have game in my opinion, just hold off until the price drops a little and don't get your hopes up.