The Matrix: Path of Neo
Added November 12th, 2005 by Barnolde
Introduction:
1999 was the year the blockbuster movie hit known as The Matrix was released. It hooked people all over the world. These same people waited and waited for a videogame, because it seemed like it would be a perfect match. Fast forward to 2003, on May 15th, the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix Reloaded was released, along with a game that coincided with it, known as Enter the Matrix. Simply put, both the movie and the game disappointed many fans and were not well received critically. Enter the Matrix pitted you as Ghost or Niobe (nobody cared about them back then either) in a boring action game that just wasn’t fun. The Matrix Revolutions came out in November of 2003 and was received even more poorly. Why? Well, because the movie flat out sucked. It made less money and was not in theaters for as long as the original Matrix, probably because at that time everyone was obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. It seemed the world forgot about The Matrix, probably due to the lower quality of the sequels. Atari’s hoping the thought of playing as Neo will entice gamers to their new game, The Matrix: Path of Neo. From the developers of the great Earthworm Jim and MDK games, it was somewhat shocking at how lame Enter the Matrix was, but that had to coincide with a film’s release. Path of Neo does not, so the quality must be vastly improved. I’ve seen all three movies and played the previous game and I hoped that Path of Neo would do The Matrix the way it was meant to be done. The One is finally playable in this game, but two years after the last Matrix movie, is that enough for gamers to care about The Matrix again?
The Matrix: Path of Neo takes a different approach than Enter the Matrix did, where Path lets you play as Neo through all three movies, instead of running concurrently with the second movie like Enter. This game is made for people who have seen all three Matrix movies, as it really doesn’t do much on elaborating the story, so if you haven’t seen the movies, you WILL be lost. The game’s tale of the story is “aided” by some movie clips, but they’re told in such an overly discombobulated fashion that they become meaningless. So don your sunglasses and trench coat, you’ve been waiting six years to play as Neo, here’s your chance. Whoa.
1999 was the year the blockbuster movie hit known as The Matrix was released. It hooked people all over the world. These same people waited and waited for a videogame, because it seemed like it would be a perfect match. Fast forward to 2003, on May 15th, the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix Reloaded was released, along with a game that coincided with it, known as Enter the Matrix. Simply put, both the movie and the game disappointed many fans and were not well received critically. Enter the Matrix pitted you as Ghost or Niobe (nobody cared about them back then either) in a boring action game that just wasn’t fun. The Matrix Revolutions came out in November of 2003 and was received even more poorly. Why? Well, because the movie flat out sucked. It made less money and was not in theaters for as long as the original Matrix, probably because at that time everyone was obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. It seemed the world forgot about The Matrix, probably due to the lower quality of the sequels. Atari’s hoping the thought of playing as Neo will entice gamers to their new game, The Matrix: Path of Neo. From the developers of the great Earthworm Jim and MDK games, it was somewhat shocking at how lame Enter the Matrix was, but that had to coincide with a film’s release. Path of Neo does not, so the quality must be vastly improved. I’ve seen all three movies and played the previous game and I hoped that Path of Neo would do The Matrix the way it was meant to be done. The One is finally playable in this game, but two years after the last Matrix movie, is that enough for gamers to care about The Matrix again?
The Matrix: Path of Neo takes a different approach than Enter the Matrix did, where Path lets you play as Neo through all three movies, instead of running concurrently with the second movie like Enter. This game is made for people who have seen all three Matrix movies, as it really doesn’t do much on elaborating the story, so if you haven’t seen the movies, you WILL be lost. The game’s tale of the story is “aided” by some movie clips, but they’re told in such an overly discombobulated fashion that they become meaningless. So don your sunglasses and trench coat, you’ve been waiting six years to play as Neo, here’s your chance. Whoa.
Gameplay:
Shiny’s previous trip to the world of The Matrix showed less than stellar execution, it just wasn’t very much fun to play, even with its halfway decent fighting system. Sadly, Path of Neo suffers the same fate; it’s just not fun to play. One nice thing the game does offer is a few choices, such as being able to take the blue pill (which just ends your game). You play as Neo throughout all the movies and you start off as him in his office building where he has to escape from security guards, by using his powers of shoving people down. One choice you can have in the beginning is whether or not you accept being arrested (like what happens in the movie). I just chose to be arrested, because I was bored and wanted to get the office level over with, but I imagine not being arrested just makes you redo it. As in Enter the Matrix, you have some fun martial arts moves to play with, as well as some guns, which make doing flips off walls a lot more entertaining. It’s pretty fun to unleash a fury of fists onto your foes or a barrage of gunfire while flying slow motion through the air, but all the other negative features, such as bad camera and stupid objectives greatly outweigh the fun of pummeling people.
Ninja Gaiden previously held the record for worst camera on Xbox, but Path of Neo gives it a run for its money. The best way to draw comparisons is that Ninja Gaiden’s camera is a stubborn child, who you have to tap constantly to motivate them. Path of Neo’s camera is like a psychotic child who’s kicking and screaming and won’t do what you want without a fight. The camera refuses to turn, it doesn’t like to show what’s happening to you and it just gets worse with the poorly implemented targeting, which is a complete chore to use. If you’ve played Advent Rising, you used its highly touted flick targeting, which allows you to easily change targets by flicking the right thumbstick without breaking up any action. The Matrix: Path of Neo copies this, but not all of it, because it only works sometimes and even after enemies are dead, your crosshair stays on them, opening you up to more gunfire than you should be receiving.
One very disappointing factor is that despite being able to play through all three movies, for the majority of the game, you’re not doing anything even remotely related to the movies. The Matrix: Path of Neo is filled to the brim with filler crap. It just very quickly becomes very annoying due to the amount of useless junk you’re forced to endure. One level in specific is a surreal door-related level, which offers nothing except headaches and a fight against giant ants, which is really, really stupid, even for The Matrix sequels. A good majority of the game is generic, poorly designed levels over and over, a stigma of clichéd gaming design. It may have The Matrix license, but there’s so much “new” stuff, that offers nothing new, innovative or fun, because we’ve seen these types of levels many times before. Sure, you get to play some key moments in the movies, which are fairly entertaining, but for the most part of the game, you’re just doing busy work, seemingly implemented to try and make the game longer. In a move I’ve never seen (for good reason) in any other game, Path of Neo will cut to a loading screen WHILE you are in the middle of battle. Neo was starting to unload on some enemies and I jumped forward at them and I was immediately hit with a loading screen, which is something that should never, ever occur during actual gameplay. I also have to mention the relatively useless training at the beginning that you cannot skip and it also goes on for more than an HOUR. That’s right, you have to tolerate over an hour of training (you don’t need most of it) before you can even start kicking ass, which is just plain stupid.
Graphics:
It’s really confusing at how split the graphics are, because it’s split right down the middle. On one hand, we have some excellent effects and character models. There is so much destruction that the environments allow, it’s staggering. Smashing into walls and against objects is such fun and creates a great deal of havoc. Also, the character models are detailed very well and they do look like their real-life counterparts.
One very disappointing factor is that despite being able to play through all three movies, for the majority of the game, you’re not doing anything even remotely related to the movies. The Matrix: Path of Neo is filled to the brim with filler crap. It just very quickly becomes very annoying due to the amount of useless junk you’re forced to endure. One level in specific is a surreal door-related level, which offers nothing except headaches and a fight against giant ants, which is really, really stupid, even for The Matrix sequels. A good majority of the game is generic, poorly designed levels over and over, a stigma of clichéd gaming design. It may have The Matrix license, but there’s so much “new” stuff, that offers nothing new, innovative or fun, because we’ve seen these types of levels many times before. Sure, you get to play some key moments in the movies, which are fairly entertaining, but for the most part of the game, you’re just doing busy work, seemingly implemented to try and make the game longer. In a move I’ve never seen (for good reason) in any other game, Path of Neo will cut to a loading screen WHILE you are in the middle of battle. Neo was starting to unload on some enemies and I jumped forward at them and I was immediately hit with a loading screen, which is something that should never, ever occur during actual gameplay. I also have to mention the relatively useless training at the beginning that you cannot skip and it also goes on for more than an HOUR. That’s right, you have to tolerate over an hour of training (you don’t need most of it) before you can even start kicking ass, which is just plain stupid.
Graphics:
It’s really confusing at how split the graphics are, because it’s split right down the middle. On one hand, we have some excellent effects and character models. There is so much destruction that the environments allow, it’s staggering. Smashing into walls and against objects is such fun and creates a great deal of havoc. Also, the character models are detailed very well and they do look like their real-life counterparts.
However, on the other hand is the ugly side of The Matrix, which rivals PS1 for sheer technical failure. During a training stage, you play in a feudal Japanese forest-like setting, something similar to an environment in Otogi 2, that is if Otogi 2 was on the PS1. This stage is absolutely sad looking. There’s pop-in from the game’s poor draw distance just a few character lengths away, it’s jaggy and just plain ugly. The framerate is another big problem, a really big problem as a matter of fact. Many times, just during normal gameplay, the framerate will slow to a crawl, probably to exaggerate the fact of slow motion. Kidding aside, the framerate can and will get very bad at times, I pity the people playing this on PS2. One thing I found very odd was that the framerate would dip when there were only a few enemies onscreen, but during the huge Smith battle in Reloaded, it was fine for the most part. It also doesn’t help that the animation is choppy and stiff most of the time, not to mention how characters often disappear through solid objects or just teleport (it’s a glitch, not part of the gameplay) somewhere.
Audio:
Those of you expecting all the actors from the movies in here are going to be immensely disappointed, because aside from the movie clips, they have replacements doing most of their voicework. The actors do a pretty good job of emulating the movie actors, it really does add to the game, except in moments where it comes across as forced and therefore corny. Smashes and explosions and gunshots, namesakes in The Matrix universe, are well presented. As a whole, the audio is probably the best part of the game, and it’s certainly the most well executed component of it.
Controls:
How can you be The One if you can’t control The One? It’s a question I was asking myself many, many times while playing. PoN’s controls are some of the most infuriating I have ever encountered; they just make the game much more difficult and annoying than it should be. Like I stated before, the camera is absolute garbage, it makes simple things such as turning around a difficult task. There is a lock-on feature for the weapons and you can target different objects by flicking the right thumbstick a la Advent Rising. Unfortunately, this works very poorly, because the game is a big fan of retaining the crosshair on corpses or enemies in different rooms, instead of the enemies who are pumping you full of lead. In fact, the game reminds me of Drake of the 99 Dragons, because they both have terrible cameras, floaty controls, wonky auto-targeting and the main characters both share similar powers, such as wall running and slow motion. The controls are also often times slow and unresponsive, further damaging the gameplay experience. Not to mention that most of the moves you’re forced to learn are a waste, because constantly pressing Y in conjunction with B is more than enough to pummel your opponents into oblivion.
Replay:
The game is a chore to play through once and beating it just opens up some movie clips. It’s about a 10 hour romp and if you’re really itching for some combat, this disc is not going back in your Xbox. It’s really frustrating and for me to replay games, they have to be fun, which is something that’s not very prevalent on this disc. A rental is best suited for this game, because it can probably be completed during a rental period and it’ll save you some money, as I doubt you’ll be walking the path of Neo more than once.
Audio:
Those of you expecting all the actors from the movies in here are going to be immensely disappointed, because aside from the movie clips, they have replacements doing most of their voicework. The actors do a pretty good job of emulating the movie actors, it really does add to the game, except in moments where it comes across as forced and therefore corny. Smashes and explosions and gunshots, namesakes in The Matrix universe, are well presented. As a whole, the audio is probably the best part of the game, and it’s certainly the most well executed component of it.
Controls:
How can you be The One if you can’t control The One? It’s a question I was asking myself many, many times while playing. PoN’s controls are some of the most infuriating I have ever encountered; they just make the game much more difficult and annoying than it should be. Like I stated before, the camera is absolute garbage, it makes simple things such as turning around a difficult task. There is a lock-on feature for the weapons and you can target different objects by flicking the right thumbstick a la Advent Rising. Unfortunately, this works very poorly, because the game is a big fan of retaining the crosshair on corpses or enemies in different rooms, instead of the enemies who are pumping you full of lead. In fact, the game reminds me of Drake of the 99 Dragons, because they both have terrible cameras, floaty controls, wonky auto-targeting and the main characters both share similar powers, such as wall running and slow motion. The controls are also often times slow and unresponsive, further damaging the gameplay experience. Not to mention that most of the moves you’re forced to learn are a waste, because constantly pressing Y in conjunction with B is more than enough to pummel your opponents into oblivion.
Replay:
The game is a chore to play through once and beating it just opens up some movie clips. It’s about a 10 hour romp and if you’re really itching for some combat, this disc is not going back in your Xbox. It’s really frustrating and for me to replay games, they have to be fun, which is something that’s not very prevalent on this disc. A rental is best suited for this game, because it can probably be completed during a rental period and it’ll save you some money, as I doubt you’ll be walking the path of Neo more than once.
Summary:
I’m not sure which Matrix game is worse, Enter the Matrix or The Matrix: Path of Neo, because they pretty much suck equally. All the problems in EtM return in PoN, with about the only new feature is the ability to play as Neo. There is just a myriad of problems with this game including the camera, the targeting, the framerate, the forced training, the level design, the graphics, the controls, etc. I did have some fun playing a few key moments from the movies, like the famous lobby shootout and large Smith battle, but for every good movie-battle level, there are three stupid, time wasting levels you must endure. I was shocked at how poorly the story was presented (they have the source material at their fingertips! What could go wrong?), because a few movie clips that aren’t in chronological order does not do a decent job of telling the story at all. It seems like a fighting game at times, just because there is nothing cohesive from one level to the next. Forced upgrades in between stages do little to keep the game running smoothly. It seems apparent to me that shoddy games like this are part of the reason why no one will probably care about The Matrix again; it sure as hell made me less interested. I found this game to be similar to Advent Rising in a few moments, such as the flick targeting and the feel of the game in general, except I had a lot more fun with Advent. PoN’s graphics are absolute garbage in some places, yet excellent in a bunch of other places, such as the amount of destructible objects, which really deserves a commendation. The best part about the game is the fighting, but all of the game’s other faults put such a heavy damper on that, making the game very bad, very fast. The Matrix: Path of Neo is a very lackluster game that wastes the Matrix license, I recommend taking the path less traveled by, as in playing another game, because Neo won’t be there and it’s for the best that he’s not.
One last thing I have to touch upon is the ending of the game, which happens right after you play the final battle in the movie. It’s just so completely ludicrous, I’m at a loss for words trying to describe it. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that the ending is definitely different from the movies and it comes across as the Wachowskis admitting that Revolutions was a piece of crap and this is their attempt at an apology, or they just have no idea what they’re talking about. I’ve never seen something so crazy before in a game that was intentionally put there, but of course it’s not worth playing through a sub-par game just to see an ending, so I recommend downloading a video of it online.
I’m not sure which Matrix game is worse, Enter the Matrix or The Matrix: Path of Neo, because they pretty much suck equally. All the problems in EtM return in PoN, with about the only new feature is the ability to play as Neo. There is just a myriad of problems with this game including the camera, the targeting, the framerate, the forced training, the level design, the graphics, the controls, etc. I did have some fun playing a few key moments from the movies, like the famous lobby shootout and large Smith battle, but for every good movie-battle level, there are three stupid, time wasting levels you must endure. I was shocked at how poorly the story was presented (they have the source material at their fingertips! What could go wrong?), because a few movie clips that aren’t in chronological order does not do a decent job of telling the story at all. It seems like a fighting game at times, just because there is nothing cohesive from one level to the next. Forced upgrades in between stages do little to keep the game running smoothly. It seems apparent to me that shoddy games like this are part of the reason why no one will probably care about The Matrix again; it sure as hell made me less interested. I found this game to be similar to Advent Rising in a few moments, such as the flick targeting and the feel of the game in general, except I had a lot more fun with Advent. PoN’s graphics are absolute garbage in some places, yet excellent in a bunch of other places, such as the amount of destructible objects, which really deserves a commendation. The best part about the game is the fighting, but all of the game’s other faults put such a heavy damper on that, making the game very bad, very fast. The Matrix: Path of Neo is a very lackluster game that wastes the Matrix license, I recommend taking the path less traveled by, as in playing another game, because Neo won’t be there and it’s for the best that he’s not.
One last thing I have to touch upon is the ending of the game, which happens right after you play the final battle in the movie. It’s just so completely ludicrous, I’m at a loss for words trying to describe it. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that the ending is definitely different from the movies and it comes across as the Wachowskis admitting that Revolutions was a piece of crap and this is their attempt at an apology, or they just have no idea what they’re talking about. I’ve never seen something so crazy before in a game that was intentionally put there, but of course it’s not worth playing through a sub-par game just to see an ending, so I recommend downloading a video of it online.
