In March of 1999, the Matrix was released to the world, and became a cultural phenomenon. From the amazing storyline about humans living in a virtual world, and being used as batteries to fuel machines, it blew our minds. Containing many religious and philosophical questions, then combining them with a hackers/computers world, and including the style of a kung-fu movie, it pleased all that watched it. This movie was so fantastic other movies emulated the special effects like “bullet time”, and the notorious jump kick scene.

This was only the beginning for the directors of the Matrix -- the Wachowski brothers -- who over night turned into directing stars. With a world demanding a continuation of the Matrix storyline, in 2003 the populous got just that. In Animatrix several different artists created stigma for the storyline with 9 more stories -- written by the Wachowski brothers -- nine more piece of the puzzle fell into place. Also in 2003 three, two more movies of the core trilogy were released. The Matrix Reloaded, and the Matrix Revolutions were marred by the stellar success of the first movie. They were blockbusters but never lived up to the greatness of which they originated.

From this legacy, and the world we live in, of course there has been video game tie-in’s, and their first was Enter the Matrix. Released on a budget of 30 million -- one of the most expensively produced -- it gave another piece of the Matrix, a side story of Ghost and Niobes, as they fill in a few gaps from Matrix Reloaded. The game received mixed reviews, and one of the main factors was because people could not play as the three main characters of the movie, Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo.

Their second attempt at games came in the form of Matrix Online -- a MMOG -- allowing players to create their own characters, and put them into the world of the Matrix. The game did express quite a bit of customization, which was good for all the people whom wanted to put themselves in the game. It was quite popular with many fans of the movie overall it, but it only provided another average experience for gamers. This could again be attributed with not being able to play any of the main characters from the movie.

Two years after the end of the last movie, the Matrix returns to us in a video game. Finally they have listed to what the public wants, which is Neo, in all his glory. Since the final movie had aired over two years ago, this should have allowed them to put all of their effort into just making a fantastic game, to allow us all to play Neo as he goes through all three of the movies.

You start the game off in Thomas Anderson’s (Neo’s) apartment, asleep at his computer, just like he was at the beginning of the first Matrix movie. Everything seemed to be going good so far. You are then given a brief tutorial, and set off to fight a few security guards. What you do not know at this point, is that it is only a test. Once these guards are dispatched, more return with pistols. After you defeat them, a SWAT team arrives, and it continues to escalate. Depending on how well you do against the escalating enemies, you will have the option to choose which difficulty you will play the game through with.

After you choose the difficulty, a short montage from the beginning of the Matrix will play. The editing of the video is pretty good, but lacks the punch, and the gravity of the movie. Then you are in Thomas Anderson’s office, where you get the phone call from Morpheus. You will then play a game of hide and go seek with the agents and the police officers. This is where the game branches out from the movie. In the movie, once Neo gets out onto the ledge, he gives himself up to the Agents. In this game, you need to go to the top of the building, and then fight your way down against police guards, while running away from the occasional agent.

This sequence goes against the movie drastically, even when Neo meets up with Mr. Smith for the first time. They talk to each other, but something is not right. Then it came to me, that the voice actors are not from the movie. Rather a Mr. Andrew Bowen plays Neo, and a Mr. Christopher Smith plays Agent Smith. These actors simply do not have the passion in their work, and the whole fabric of their scenes is torn apart at the seams. I really would have wished for them to get Keanu Reeves to play Neo, and Hugo Weaving to play Agent Smith, even if it would cost them a more money. After all with the clips they play from the movie, including Keanu and Hugo’s voices, it should only be natural.

The game branches off from the movie here again, as when you make it to the bottom of the building, you can either be taken in by Agent Smith, or make it to Trinity’s motorcycle, and drive off. This is when Thomas Anderson sheds his skin, and becomes Neo, and gains a tiny shred of control over the Matrix. Just like in the movie, Neo goes through a tutorial, and luckily we do too. I do like how in-depth the tutorial is, as you learn how to attack with weapons, and your own Matrix powers as you fight your way through a Samurai world. It teaches you how to run up walls, and how to navigate through the world, but while making it quite easy to understand.

I give my blessing on how good the world looks. They do a great job graphically to add to the atmosphere of the game, and each level looks great. Quite often the environment can be destroyed, with things like walls, boxes, and fire extinguishers. Something that was not done terribly well was the blocking of the characters. I had pushed an officer down on the top of the roof of the first building. The only thing that was touching the ground was their feet, while the rest of their body hung over the ledge, so they should have fallen. Another thing is when I was running through a bamboo forest the game let me run through all of the shoots.