Tuesday 29 May, 2007

This game was panned so horribly when it was released (and it sold so phenomenally!) that I couldn't resist picking it up for $5. I keep telling myself that the game can't be THAT bad and, given that my expectations are so low, I might even have some fun.

To be honest, I really thought about what I was expecting (and hoping) from this game before booting it up for the first time the other night. By now, I've pretty much forgotten all the negative things the reviews focused on...so I don't think I'm biased towards particular issues.

So, I've summarized my expectations thus: I want a Matrix experience.

What is a Matrix experience, in terms of gameplay?

Hmm...good question... First of all, I want the game to be authentic to the Matrix universe. Whatever you do in the game should make sense and tie in with stuff that happened in the movies. I want to feel like I have special powers while in the Matrix. I should be able to pull of nice acrobatics with ease, I should be able to fight well in hand to hand...dispatching enemies without much trouble. Weapons are secondary to hand-to-hand. Sure, you pick up and fire lots of them, but it's not a game about saving on ammo and having to decide which gun works best for a given situation. Agents should be almost impossible to defeat.
Action, action, action.

So far, the game has lived up to those expectations pretty well! It's pretty fast paced, but not insane. Characters run, they don't walk. If you "focus" you get to see stuff in slow motion... You can take hits, but you're not scavenging for health packs and that kind of stuff.

It just feels right.

Of course, there are all the movie tie-ins. Which helps a lot... I think that, unless I get stuck on some nasty boss fight where you have to use a horrendous number of special combo moves and I get stuck... I'll enjoy this to the end!

Honestly, I played this game back when it was released and..... enjoyed it. It was the first time I played a game with Slow-Motion "powers"--- The second game being Viewtiful Joe, then Prince of Persia (eugh~!)---- during combat. I absolutely ate it up, dodging bullets in Slow-Mo, letting go, Punching someone in slow motion, then letting it go so they'd fall fast (kinda like in the movie 300..). I just liked it. There was enough "NEW" in the game, for me to like it overall.


and for $5.00, I would pick it up again.. (nostalgia..)

It's interesting how much context matters, right? I really should get back to this game.... sigh.