Enter The Matrix, which came out
just a few short years ago across all major gaming platforms, let down more than
a few devotees of The Matrix franchise with its poor AI and glitch-filled
gameplay. Around the same time, The Matrix trilogy, in regard to the movies, was
completed. Reloaded was merely an acceptable film, and Revolutions was downright
disappointing. With The Matrix: Path of Neo for the PlayStation 2, the
developers have mixed things up. They’ve taken the best from all three movies,
smashed them into one attractive bundle, and introduced one heck of a combat
system. Plus, you now get to play as the beloved Neo.
Welcome to the psychedelic and
twisted world known as The Matrix. As mentioned above, the foundation of Path of
Neo is best described as a ‘’Greatest Hits’’ package. The story isn’t based on
any one movie, rather bits and pieces of all three. You’ll assume control of the
character Neo. After being given the choice of what color pill you want to opt,
the game starts out with you being placed into an office building of some sort,
where Neo will have to escape from Agent Smith and his evil clan of clones and
security guards. Stealth elements will be relevant as you’ll have to tiptoe from
cubicle to cubicle avoiding the enemy. You’ll then have to climb out onto a
window and ascend your way to the top of the skyscraper. Following this, you
will have to scurry down a bunch of staircases shoving your way to safety trying
to stay away from the relentless Agent Smith and Co. Neo finally pushes his way
outside to Trinity who is hauling a sharp motorbike that Neo will board and flee
to shelter. An interesting beginning to say the least.
After completing the first few
missions, you will be taken into the training levels. There is a total figure of
six training ordeals in all, and each takes a good 15-20 minutes to finish. You
don’t have to be a mathematician to comprehend how vastly long this tutorial is.
It’d be a little different if you could merely skip it and proceed with your
game, but, strangely, you can’t. On the flipside, these aren’t your normal
tutorials found in most games. While they may not be openly linked to any type
of story, they appear to play like full-fledged levels with objectives.
Everything from gun training to sword training is present, and these tidbits of
information you will become acquainted with will most definitely be utilized and
put to use later on in the campaign.
Something I need to touch upon is
Path of Neo’s combat system. Every type of combat imaginable is featured here,
including sword, gun, and fist. By watching gameplay videos of The Matrix: Path
of Neo, or even observing someone else playing, you’d think the engine was just
your average beat-‘em-up, hack-‘n’-slash pile of garbage. What a misconception
because the combat engine here is one of the deepest I’ve seen in recent memory.
I’m talking mesmerizing combos, special moves, and something this game titles
‘’Focus,’’ which is just a fancy name for what most games reference to as bullet
time. The controls are fairly well positioned as well, making the action
seamless. I must say – a darn good improvement over Enter The Matrix’s
well-below-average system.
One of the main problems I had with
Path of Neo was its camera system. It will usually get stuck when you’re trying
to maneuver yourself around structures. If this wasn’t bad enough, when
attempting to do a wall jump via Focus, the camera just won’t keep up with the
intensity of the moment leaving you blindsided and forced to slow down the pace
and situate the view. Troubles like these plagued most of the game causing the
level of otherwise exciting, fun-filled action to go down immensely.
Camera issues aren’t the only
technical issues found in this game. You’ve also got a truckload of invisible
walls coupled with poor frame-rate. Early on in the game you will have to go out
on one of those fixations that carry window washers around. Well, to put things
simply, I attempted to jump off. Sure enough, I hit into a brick invisible wall.
This really lowers the amount of freedom and realism. The Matrix: Path of Neo’s
single-player campaign at times is a well produced bundle of joy, and at others
it’s just plain frustrating due to its many technical difficulties. Even with
its production faults, it has a superlative combat system that will please
Matrix fans as well as hardcore gamers.
The visuals in Path of Neo are a
mixed-bag. Aspects such as atmospheric feel have been nailed. For Matrix fans,
that’s probably the most important facet. The particle effects are some of the
best I’ve seen, and the character models and animations follow suit. One of Path
of Neo’s best effects lies within one of its training levels where you’ll have
to walk on ice in a Ninja Gaiden-esque setting. The way the ice will crackle and
split as you glide across is straight-up beautiful. Personally, some of the
special effects found in Path of Neo I never thought the aging PlayStation 2
hardware was capable of.
Sadly, this is where reality rudely
steps in and crashes the party. Path of Neo attempts too much with its visuals.
There’s a considerable amount of slowdown, and the amount of clipping in the
cutscenes, both in-game and movie clip, causes an unbounded amount of annoyance.
What’s important is still here though. You’ve got luminous green loading
screens, stylized effects galore, and enough ambiance to make you feel like
you’re actually in The Matrix.
Speaking of ambiance, Path of Neo’s
audio is something you will want to experience first-hand – namely the superb
voice-acting, primarily because it’s mostly taken directly from the movies.
Sound effects are done in unparalleled quality, too. Just as it appears
beautiful to walk upon ice in this game, it sounds beautiful. Heck, it may even
sound better than it looks now that I think about it. The soundtrack is
outstanding as well. All of this truly does complement and help generate the
unforgettable Matrix sentiment. For a game based on a movie franchise, this is
huge.
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Gameplay: 8.0
As stated earlier, you have to play this game to understand how in-depth its
gameplay truly is. It’s chock-full of action that will thrill gamers with short
attention spans. In addition to that, it has an in-depth combo system that’s
sure to be a fan-favorite among the hardest of hardcore. Some may be turned off
by the abnormally long training levels, but most will just hop right through
them to get to the core of the game. The Matrix: Path of Neo is a very
well-rounded package, and is a vast, vast improvement over previous Matrix
titles.
Graphics: 7.8
Hey look, it’s Keanu Reeves! Those looking for a darn good rendition of the
adored world known as The Matrix and its characters need not come any further.
However, the PS2’s hardware is pushed maybe a little too far with Path of Neo’s
visual effects making the experience far from perfect. The clipping found in the
cutscenes won’t make many happy, and frame-rate problems only make matters
worse. On a positive note, just because they tried too hard doesn’t mean they
haven’t succeeded at all. No sir, character modeling, textures, and things of
that nature are presented in top-notch fashion. You also have to take into
account the fact that the PS2 is home to specifications that are aging quickly.
Sound: 8.6
The audio is hands down this game’s best facet. You will be blown away by the
voice-overs, wonderfully produced soundtrack, and lifelike sound effects. I know
I was. They’ve brought the exciting sensation of watching a movie at a theater
into your living room. Movie-based titles usually lack the attitude of their
big-screen counterparts, but not The Matrix: Path of Neo.
Difficulty: Medium
Missions are clear, and you’ll be guided along every step of the way. The 1-2
hour tutorial forces you to learn the ins and outs of the gameplay mechanics and
this in return will assist in keeping the level of difficulty down.
Concept: 8.0
It’s The Matrix, c’mon. The entire premise is psychedelic and at times
prominently frightening. The way the Wachowski Brothers have reinvented the
wheel by vigilantly placing portions of all three movies into Path of Neo to
create one big journey for Neo is, simply put, staggering. Matrix followers will
be in heaven.
Multiplayer: N/A
I would have liked to have seen a cooperative mode here, but unfortunately there
isn’t anything of the sort.
Overall: 7.9
At the end of the day, The Matrix: Path of Neo is unquestionably some
high-quality Matrix merchandise that fans are sure to gobble up. The combat
system is so deep it could be featured in a full-blown fighting game. Path of
Neo doesn’t just stop at fighting though; it adds gun, sword, and numerous other
weapon-based combat arrangements. Those concerned about clipping and frame-rate
issues should take into perspective that the technical difficulties are quickly
overshadowed by the immense atmosphere. When you couple this with the fantastic
audio, you have yourself yet another above average third-person action game for
your PS2.
