I was a little slow getting on the Matrix band wagon back in 1999 when the movie came out, not seeing it until it was on DVD, but when I finally saw it I was hooked. It was one of those movies you could watch every day, and each time you'd see something new or realize something you never have before. It was the ultimate computer geek movie.

Ever since the movie came out, the Wachowski brothers were talking about making it a video game and I knew from the second it was announced that I needed that game. However, after a few years of waiting we finally started hearing things about the game and I began to worry. First of all, the game was not to star Neo, but instead two new people from an entirely different ship. After all, what game can be based on a movie and not even star it's main character? That couldn't possibly become a good game, just look at Minority Report.

My fears were relieved when the first game trailer was released on www.enterthematrixgame.com and I discovered that these two nobodies were in fact in the Matrix Reloaded as side-characters and that the game was a side-plot to the movie, I became excited again. (Yes, I know I was probably slow figuring this out, but when it comes to something like the Matrix, I refuse to have a single moment of it spoiled aside from the trailers I'll watch over and over again)

Agent Smith... meet Agent Smith... and um... Agent Smith.

So, after I finally accepted the new characters as part of the Matrix storyline, I only had a few concerns left. First and foremost, my main concern was control. Something as technically complicated as the Matrix could be extremely hard to pull of as a video game simply because there is so much freedom and there has to be a way to control that freedom with a minimal amount of buttons. My second concern was with load times. Knowing that the game was being developed for the PS2, and then ported up for the Xbox and GameCube, I was afraid that Shiny wouldn't take the time to use the GameCube's fast loading capabilities.

Ok, enough about my expectations and fears for the game, let's talk about how the game really is. I played the Xbox and PS2 games for a few minutes at the store so I could use them as a quick comparison to the GameCube version. All three games seemed to look and play identically, same graphics, same framerate. The only difference I found between them were the controls. The default control styles were slightly different for each system, which is understandable, because each controller has its own benefits. As soon as I bought the game and put down the Xbox and PS2 versions, I quickly got home to play it on my GameCube.

The first thing I noticed when I booted up was that the opening sequence before the menu was slightly choppy compared to the PS2 and Xbox counterparts. This had me a little worried that the GameCube once again got the shaft as a crappy port. However, as soon as I started up the actual game everything was as smooth as can be. The game opens with a film stock, DVD quality FMV, then into a 3D modeled FMV. The voices were perfect, which was to be expected considering the actors themselves did them, but there's always a chance that the creators wouldn't spend as much time on the voice acting for a game as they would for the movie.

After the little FMVs were over the fun began. The game opens up in a lobby, much like what you saw in the first Matrix movie but with fewer guards. The camera spun around your character perfectly, with a very cinematic touch. That's definitely something you don't see in many video games. Next up I had my first fight. It was with one of those stupid guards in the white button-down shirts, black pants, and a nightstick.

Buuuuuurrrrn!

The hand-to-hand combat was spectacular. Combos are amazingly easy to pull off and the moves were just like you saw in the movie. This is where I learned that my fear of hard to manage controls was completely alleviated. The controls are extremely intuitive and work perfectly with the fight system. You push A to punch, X to kick, B to jump, Y to pull out a gun and fire, L to use your focus (which I'll talk more on in a bit), R to strafe, and Z to do cool things like dodge bullets, break people's necks, etc. Like I said, it works perfectly and I can't imagine anyone wanting to use something other then the default.

Now, a game based on the Matrix wouldn't be complete if it weren't for some insane, gravity defying moves, and Enter the Matrix has them all. Just about any move you see in the movies can be pulled off in one way or another by using your focus. Basically, in order to do all those cool moves your character has to free his/her mind and focus on the task. However you can only focus for a short amount of time, so you want to conserve your focus for when you really need it. When you press L, time will slow down to a crawl and everything will be happening in slow motion. While focusing you can run faster, jump for insane distances, run up walls, and even dodge bullets.

The graphics are simply amazing. High quality textures, lighting effects, and reflections, along with perfectly done character models that look exactly like the characters in the movie make this game one of the most realistic I've seen yet. Not to mention the frame rate being as smooth as it could possibly be, like a baby’s butt, and that’s pretty smooth. The FMVs are extremely high quality, however every once in a while they will pixelate and grow fuzzy thanks to the compression scheme Shiny used, but for how much video they put in and how seldom we GameCube players see real FMV I'm not that worried about a few pixels. The only thing that really hurts the graphics are the load times. It's always a disappointment to see load times in GameCube games, and there are just a few too many of them.

The audio in Enter the Matrix is top notch. Everything from the soundtrack to the voice acting is done perfectly, and the music kicks in at just the right times to really bring the mood of the level up a notch. Not only are there music tracks from the new movie, but some original tracks as well. How often do you hear fully orchestrated music in video games? Not very, I’ll tell you that.

As for the storyline, it could use some work. For the most part it is cut up and doesn't flow very well. If you haven't seen the movie then you'll have no clue what's going on at all in certain places. Then there are other places that don't make sense regardless or give the feeling that they were only put in as space fillers. Most disappointing of all is the ending. Rather then ending on an extremely high note like the movie, it just flat out ends. What's worse is that the final level is probably the worst, most boring level in the game.

Running from agents, dodging bullets, and kicking ass: all in a day's work for a hacker.

Another minor fault of Enter the Matrix is its length. I was able to beat it on easy using Niobe in an afternoon and the harder difficulties won't take a whole lot longer. Fortunately it's one of those games that is just crazy fun to play. You can play the game over and over and the fighting will never get boring. In addition, learning all the fighting moves and combos, especially those while using your focus, will take some time to do.

Not only is there a great single-player game with lots of action, but a ton of mini-games and even multiplayer hidden within the game. Using the built-in "Hacking Simulator" you can unlock some really cool stuff. For starters, Hacking is a mini-game in itself. It loads up like an old green-screen DOS prompt, complete with the A:/> command. You start out with two commands, help and dir and need to find a way to access others and learn more about the Matrix. As you progress in Hacking, you can unlock new weapons, maps, images, bios, and even a few extra mini-games, as well as the ability to re-watch the FMVs you’ve seen already. To unlock these goodies, you need to use some basic computer know-how and a little bit of problem solving. I simply love the idea and for the most part they portrayed the hacking experience to be very realistically. I only have a few minor problems with the system. First of all, no real hacker would use a DOS prompt to hack, but instead would use a Linux console. However, John Q. Public wouldn't be able to figure out how to run a Linux console, so it makes sense. Secondly, you should be forced to actually cd to the proper directory before running a command you find. Once again, this was probably left out so that the user could figure stuff out easier.

The multiplayer mode that you unlock by beating the hacking simulator is a lot of fun, but obviously thrown in at the last minute as an afterthought. There are approximately 10 levels you can spar in, and each level has two set characters to fight as so you can't choose which character you are.   Also, the spar has an unlimited number of rounds and will continue until you finally decide to quit and load a new level. It's a great addition, but if a little more time was spent on it to perfect the sparring system and allow for choosing a character it would be one of the most fun multiplayer games ever.

If you're looking for a game filled with non-stop action, something that you can play through over and over again for the sheer fun of kicking people across rooms, this is the game for you. While it may be short you'll definitely be playing this over and over again.

Matt Schraeder