The Matrix Path of Neo Preview

It is a well known fact that the Wachowski brothers were very keen on distributing the story of The Matrix through plural media. The story flows in a linear fashion through film, comic books, novels and even video games. The only snag is that Enter the Matrix, the game that put you in the shoes of Niobe and Ghost simply sucked although it was meant to fill the void between the events of Final Flight of the Osiris and The Matrix : Reloaded. The Matrix Online is another such product. This post Revolutions MMORPG doesn’t seem to have an active player database either. Fortunately, here comes Shiny to rescue the series from imminent sepulture. The Matrix : Path of Neo will be a third person action game that puts you in control of ‘The One’ himself. This game will not be a part of the storyline as such but rather a revisit to the content of the motion pictures and the Animatrix.

The star studded cast is back and this time they play 3d models. Reeves, Moss, Fishburne, Weaving…. they’re all there. Apparently, we will get to see some real cinematic footage as cut scenes and even a scene that didn’t make it into the movies where Neo fights in a theater. The developers say that the game will also feature an all new ending. One that is different from that of the movie trilogy since it didn’t seem to fit well into a video game. The Wachowskis have in fact, assented to this and have also signed up to actively watch over the game’s development. You may even manage to catch a glimpse of the elusive brothers in this game.

Wake up Neo! You need to follow the white rabbit…

Not surprisingly, the game begins the same way as the first movie with Neo in a disturbed sleep as his computer screen flashes the apocalyptic message. You are now ‘The One’ and soon you will have to save the world. It’s all fine until you realize you don’t know why and more importantly how. Those who have seen the movie will probably know what to do since the game will contain almost all of the memorable scenes from the movies. You go through Neo’s training process, learning a lot of things including jujitsu, dodging bullets and manipulating the world of the Matrix. As you play on, Neo can also learn how to fly and see his surroundings in code. Of course, at a certain point in the game Neo won’t even have to dodge those pesky bullets anymore. He can simply stop them with a dexterous flash of his palm. Now that is true sleight of hand. Trinity plays quite an important role in aiding Neo just like Alyx did for Gordon Freeman in Half-Life 2. She fights by Neo’s side at several stages in the game as a computer controlled character.

I believe…

Shiny did not give up on the Enter the Matrix graphics engine. They believed they could extract a lot more out of it and they were right. Even though the engine is outdated, Path of Neo is highly detailed and packed with impressive fog, dynamic lighting and bloom effects. The engine has also been enhanced considerably to permit real-time distortion effects which is crucial for slow motion scenes with bullet trails. Another example would be the scene from the movie where Neo flies away from all of the Agent Smith clones, causing the ground to shift like a ripple on water. The environment is more realistic now. Cement pillars are easily destroyed by heavy gunfire. Remember the lobby shootout scene?

Fighting the world every single day.

Inside the Matrix, Neo has few allies. Everybody’s out to get him so expect a lot of fighting in this game. Things are going to be very tough, even with assistance from someone of Trinity’s caliber. As mentioned earlier, we see the lobby shootout scene where you need to equip Neo with guns. The game also has a fair share of hand to hand combat where ‘The One’ squares off against a few Agents or against a few of the Merovingian’s men. However all that amounts to nothing when you come up to the grand daddy of them all. The omgwtfhax fight between Neo and a few hundred Agent Smiths. What’s really amazing about this fight is that Shiny have managed to squeeze about 1,500 of them onto the screen at the same time. There is even a training fight sequence which we did not see in the movies. Here, Neo is pitted against a few samurai swordsmen in a Japanese tea garden with a single katana in his hand. Apparently, these guys bleed green code when cut open.

Deja Vu

Yes, we’ve already seen all of this in the movies. Path of Neo may not have too many new things to show us. On the other hand, they seem to be doing a great job of taking something old and shining it up real nice. The game boasts great graphics, a nice fighting system and 1,500 Agent Smith clones on screen at once. Apart from that, there are also real cut scenes featuring the original cast from the motion pictures. The game looks poised to be the best Matrix game yet. Let us pray silently that this game will not have to end up in the recycle bin like the one before it did. The game is slated for a November release.

Ashwath Ravee