October 28, 2005 - With just a few weeks left before Atari rolls out The Matrix: Path of Neo to stores, Shiny Entertainment has finally lifted the curtain on a near-final build of the game so that we can see for ourselves how well it's going to hold up. The version in our possession is content complete too, which means that all the same levels, extras, and moves that can be found in the retail copy are in this disc too (with the exception of the ending, which has been changed from the motion picture's to reflect the Director's cut "True Conclusion").
So far, we've spent a good couple of hours with Path of Neo and there are several cool elements worth noting. To start, its presentation is well above average compared to your typical action game -- with movie-quality cinematics taken from the film to tell the story in an effective "montage" format, and the familiar "Matrix Code" effects in the menus, loading screens, and the like. Take our word for it, from the moment Path of Neo loads up on your television screen there won't be any doubt that the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Bros. has their say in the production.
Shiny's attention to movie detail continues on in just about everything the player does. The opening sequence, for example, actually takes place in Neo's head as a sort of premonition that points to the end of the first film's gun battle in the skyscraper lobby. It's your performance here that determines what difficulty setting users will play through the rest of the game with, as you'll begin eliminating security guards and police officers before being pushed into confrontations with SWAT team members, low-level agents, and Smith himself.
This is cool for a number of reasons (primarily because it's chaotic), but it also serves as a preview of what kind of moves Neo can eventually learn once he's progressed through the game. These battles can get a little disorienting, though, since the "dream effect" that's been utilized means that the screen warps and contorts pretty often. Still, it "feels" like you're in The Matrix regardless, and being able to select which pill you want to take from Morpheus right before is a nice touch (yes you can select the blue pill and if you do, you'll wake up in front of the computer as the game automatically ends).
After the initial lobby sequence, the game starts to loosely follow the events of the first film. Your very first objective is to sneak around to the office while talking to Morpheus on your cell phone just like you did in the movie. This area plays out a lot like the Hitman and Splinter Cell series, with Thomas Anderson running and ducking behind office cubicles and following would-be captors as he tries to make his way out of the building. Of course, the stealth here isn't as specific as you'd find in those other games, and it's okay to run at full speed or make a little noise without the worry of being caught.
Eventually, the action switches to Anderson's attempted escape on the outside ledges of his office. It's here that players can expect to do a lot of hanging, climbing, and shimmying from one ledge to another before moving back into the building to complete his descent down the stairs for his ultimate getaway. In the end, the stealth sequences are interesting and have some neat moments, but after moving on to the much more engrossing action portion, they're easily forgotten.
And that's where the majority of The Matrix's gameplay lies anyway. Built similarly to games such as God of War and Devil May Cry 3, Path of Neo offers a pretty vigorous battle system. Even in the earliest segments of the game, Neo can hide behind walls, peek around corners, pull off defensive jump-rolls, and participate in simplistic hand-to-hand combat. As Neo progresses through the various training sequences, however (which include swordfights in a bamboo forest, black and white group battles in a burning dojo, and a shootout in an Asian bar), his moveset continues to grow and expand.
At first, Neo can pull off your basic two and three-hit combos along with special maneuvers such as the Hyper Strike, Lightning Strike, Grapple and Lineup attacks. Most of these techniques are context sensitive too, so depending on whether you're in front, on the side or in back of your competition you'll do a myriad of different things. Players can also use a "Focus" command that slows time down and allows you to move at a much faster speed than everyone else (which further opens new move sets dependant on your position). When you take the above system and throw in a whole mess of different weapons (Bo staves, hand axes, pistols, machine guns, etc), mid-air grabs, wall runs, and the ability to chain multiple moves, you have yourself one of the most entertaining combat systems around.
Because of this expansive battle system, our time with The Matrix has provided a good bit of fun thus far. But there is a significant issue with the preview build that could prove problematic if it remains that way in the final version. I speak of course, of the framerate. Rarely steady and usually below 30 frames, this earlier disc slows down when it's not supposed to. The framerate problems have also created a few instances where commands we've input on the controller aren't always followed because what's happening on screen and what's happening with your hands isn't quite in synch. On a similar note, there's a whole lot of shimmer and shadowing problems in the PS2 version as well, and it gives some of the more populated environments a somewhat glitchy appearance.
Luckily, the version of the game we have is almost a month old -- so an optimization of the code is highly likely for the final. And if the issues highlighted above are solved by the time it ships later next month, then The Matrix: Path of Neo has a very bright (and very green) future ahead of it. Check back with us again in a few weeks to see how it all turns out.
ing duck. I may have to give this one a rent instead.. damn it.
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