Enter the Matrix

"Choice," Neo observes in The Matrix Reloaded. "The problem is choice." The significance of this statement as it pertains to videogames is vast: The argument has been made that because of their uncontrolled nature—namely, the sheer randomness of the player's choices—videogames can never truly be considered art. That they give up authorial intent and drama in favor of messy, unpredictable human interference. Sadly, Enter the Matrix does very little to help counter this argument.

In flashes, the game shows promise. The implementation of Bullet Time is impressive, with slow-motion acrobatics and pyrotechnics serving to moisten the palate of nearly anyone who picks up the controller. Likewise, the concept of a story that intersects and complements its cinematic counterpart is one that will surely be mimicked for years to come.

The game fails, however, and fails dramatically. At times, it's laughable; at others, merely passable. Severe, fundamental flaws permeate the experience, ranging from wince-inducing run-cycle animations to sloppy, unrefined controls. Painfully literal "glitches in the Matrix" abound, continually breaking whatever spell might exist over the player. And yet these scattered defects merely hint at the heart of the problem.

Ultimately, the most disappointing factor here is the mysterious lack of artistic intent. Rough technical edges merely fan the fire of mediocre game and level design, it seems, simply an outgrowth of some deep-seated lack of creative inspiration or breathing room. Rather than transforming the Matrix universe—perhaps the most videogame- centric physical and psychological playground Hollywood has ever produced— into the interactive realm, Enter the Matrix is a simple, straightforward shooter, with B-grade cut-scenes bookending each punch/kick/shoot action scene. Variations in gameplay come in the form of driving and hovercrafting scenes; unfortunately, these escapes are derivative of such genre travesties as Test Drive 4 and Microcosm.

Unlike Electronic Arts' considerably more polished Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Enter the Matrix cannot simply survive on slick presentation. Shifts between interactive gameplay and passive story segments are often painfully jarring; moving from chop-socky button mashing, to an in-engine cut-scene, to live-action film footage and back again without context or visual transition is ineffective. And within these awkward confines, the game's rickety storyline becomes utterly devoid of drama or emotion.

Atari's main objective with Enter the Matrix was to achieve history's single largest commercial videogame success, and the manner in which it has attempted to do so has come at a price. Perhaps the most incisive technical flaw comes in the form of a control setup that has been tailored for marketing departments' imagined "lowest common denominator"—specifically, those who have not played a videogame since Donkey Kong. (This is, of course, faulty logic; as games from Asteroids to Halo have effectively proven, even "the masses" have the capacity to simultaneously juggle control over multiple axes.) From the moment one picks up the Xbox pad and feels the weight of a blunt, mismanaged control scheme in which one merely steers a character on a single plane rather than guiding it through 3D space, it becomes quite clear that this is a game designed to be immediately accessible rather than ultimately fulfilling. Eschewing dual-analog control in favor of a simplified Tomb Raider-style faux-3D scheme simply limits the depth of the experience.

It's difficult to lay blame for the orgy of bugs, glitches, and overall shallowness marring Shiny's gameworld at nearly every turn. It seems to rest somewhere between mismanaged development cycles, misguided publisher goals, a preoccupied/unqualified pair of Wachowskis, and a staunchly inflexible release date. Whatever the case, Enter the Matrix's world is an extremely buggy one. And given the simplicity of its gameplay, such rough edges are simply unacceptable.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Xbox Nation.