High on ambition, poor in execution.
Despite being a move tie-in, I had high hopes for Enter the Matrix when it was announced. Most movie license games aren't very good, but this mostly stems from the games being cheap cash-ins on the popularity of the films. Enter the Matrix was different, however. There was a lot of ambition to this title. Enter the Matrix's story isn't just a retelling of the movies; it fills out background details that The Matrix Reloaded didn't show on screen. The Wachowski Brothers wrote the script. The movie actors did the motion capture and delivered the lines. They even filmed some sequences to be used as cutscenes. On paper, this should have been a good extension to the world of the Matrix. Unfortunately, these lofty ambitions came crashing down when it came time to make the game.
Enter the Matrix plays like most third-person action games. You'll run from room to room as either Niobe or Ghost, use Kung Fu and guns to take out your enemies, trigger a cutscene, and move to the next mission. Every few levels, you'll take to the streets in your muscle car or shoot down sentinels in your hovercraft. None of this is really exciting, and none of it is done very well. The driving sequences and railshooting is especially boring. The only new feature is "bullet time." Taken from the movie, you can slow down time to deliver some nasty bone-crushing moves to your enemies. These are impressive visually, and sound just like when bullet time is used in the movies.
The graphics in this game are not very good. Characters look blocky and dull. The environments run the gamut of generic locales, including office buildings, warehouses, and rooftops. The driving sequences look especially awful. The city is dull and lifeless. The rail shooting sequences aren't anything to write home about. About the only cool effect is the bullet time moves. They really do look like they hurt when you connect with one.
The story is very "Matrixesque." There's a lot of bloated dialogue and convoluted storytelling throughout. While I credit the team for making this game as important to the main storyline from the movies, you never really get the sense that any of this game matters to the rest of the Matrix world. The frequency of cutscenes is totally maddening as well. You play for a bit, and then the game takes over for you while you move to the next sequence. I felt like I was watching more than I was playing.
At the end of the day, it felt like Enter the Matrix just didn't have enough time to fully flesh out all of the ambitious ideas that Shiny and the Wachowski's had for this game. It's not surprising, as this game's release had to coincide with The Matrix Reloaded's theatrical release. I wouldn't recommend this game; it doesn't really add much to the Matrix.
