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The Matrix: Path of Neo Mini Review
Chris Leyton
14/11/2005
Just in case you hadn't had enough of The Matrix here's Atari and Shiny with the MTV mix...
In light of continued financial troubles and what some would argue as a weak line-up, the beleaguered Atari has once again turned its attention to The Matrix in the hope that Neo can set the cash tills ringing once again.
This time around players get the opportunity to take control of The One having taken on the roles of Niobe and Ghost in the 2003 side-story Enter The Matrix. Once again Dave Perryās Shiny Entertainment have been brought on board to present gamers the story of Neo, with players taking control from the initial āWake Upā scene right through to the culmination of Neoās tale.
Being a fan of The Matrix I have to admit the whole concept takes awhile to get into; largely because progress in the game presents a haphazard split of sequences from the film in a largely unconvincing manner and one that throws up many inconsistencies with the original plotline. Itās as though somebody thought stringing together cuts from the film and putting them alongside slightly dubious in-game cinematics amounts to a new opportunity to expand The Matrix; well Iām sorry I canāt see it, thankfully Iām a glutton for bullet-time and the actual game delivers to a reasonable degree even though the premise doesnāt.
The Path of Neo begins at an absolute crawl and will immediately bring back memories of the glitch-laden travesty that was Enter The Matrix. Itās a wonder why Shiny even bothered to implement the āstealthā section that finds Neo trying to escape from his office and the Agentās clutches. Neo plods around in such an unconvincing fashion, awkwardly transitioning between crawls, ducking into cubicles and occasionally limply pushing away a security guard that you begin to ask yourself whether itās better to turn the console off now.
However perseverance gets you further; itās never going to be a game that blows you away and you have to ask whether The Matrix still has the commercial pull that Atari need it to. Thankfully Path of Neo places the emphasis on the combat so thereās none of the dreadful deviations that blighted the previous game and generally speaking it manages to do this to a reasonably satisfactory level. There are plenty of moves within the game and more become unlocked upon further progress; essentially they can be broken down into strikes, throws and counters however there is a particularly neat technique for dealing with multiple opponents in true Matrix tradition. Combine these with Focus and you have a core combat dynamic thatās certainly impressive, to a lesser extent enjoyable but one on the whole that manages to replicate the Matrix style ā“ and thatās all we really want. The initial stages of the game run through Neoās training routine, detailing exactly what he learnt during the āI know Kung-Fuā section ā“ however I sincerely hope that the lines within the game would never make the final cut of the movies, āultimate gamerā, ābest score on ninja crisisā anyone ā“ itās liable to offend if youāre a fan!
Combat isnāt restricted to just Neoās fists and feet; along the way youāll learn the knowledge of melee combat with blades, staffs, etc and it wouldnāt be a Matrix game without a healthy dose of uziās, shotguns and plenty more in the shape of firearms. Auto-targeting within the game is largely useless since switching between targets is a relatively hit-and-miss affair, making the firearms action slightly less enjoyable then chucking your sword in the air, running up the front of an opponent, twirling in the air and catching the blade to deliver a final blow! Shiny have done a reasonably good job at managing to replicate the choreography of the many advanced combat techniques on display from the films, however the glitches that plagued Enter The Matrix once again return for The Path of Neo; a multi-hit combo often results in Neo running through the motions of stabbing and pushing a corpse from his blade that wasnāt even there!
Visually the game is very much a mixture of the good, the bad and the downright ugly. The gameās animation throughout the heavily choreographed fight sections is undeniably impressive, whilst the explosion of debris and bullet trails faithfully creates the look and style. On the flipside, dirty textures on the various character models and some strange modelling makes a number of these look like mutants ā“ itās hard to feel anything for Trinity when sheās looking so bad. To make matters worse the bland and sparse environments of Enter The Matrix make a return in the game, leaving the overall style largely unconvincing and certainly uninspiring.
The questionable nature of the game is further outlined by the voice acting, of which only Laurence Fishburne has reprised his role as Morpheus. Admittedly the substitutes hit a pretty close mark, particularly Keanuās Reeves emotionless stand-in, however you do have to ask the question if the original cast have put The Matrix behind them, surely everybody else should for now at least ā“ even The Matrix Online had more cast members then this.
The more I think of The Path of Neo, the more disappointments I find with the game. The dilemma is not over the quality of the game which has its fair share of good and bad moments; more so itās the premise of weakening the Matrix universe with what amounts to be little more then a blatant cash-in. We may expect this from some but what on earth are the Wachowski bros doing commissioning this in the first place ā“ surely they donāt need the money that much.
Expanding upon Neoās story could have been a compelling opportunity for any Matrix fan out there; unfortunately the haphazard approach to the design and storyline are likely to offend the fans the most, leaving a mildly enjoyable beat-em-up at exactly that.
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 1st Dec 2006 19:12