Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4500 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Atari
• Released on: 2005-11-11
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Xbox

Manufacturer's Description
Set in the Matrix film universe, The Matrix: Path of Neo will enable players to actually play as Neo, the central character, and relive his most important and memorable scenarios from the complete film trilogy.. Throughout the game the path the player takes to resolve each scenario and the resulting consequences will be scripted and directed by the Wachowski Brothers.

The Matrix: Path of Neo will incorporate footage from all three feature films, as well as The Animatrix. The game includes several sequences of film-quality live-action, full-motion footage (FMV), as well as Hollywood-quality effect sequences. Throughout the game players will use martial arts, medieval weapons and guns (lots of guns) to take on a variety of enemies, such as heavily armed Agents of the Matrix, including Agent Smith and Exiles in the employ of the Merovingian.

Customer Reviews

Lazy
I bought Path of Neo with a naively optimistic hope that it would adopt all that was good on Enter the Matrix and drastically improve the (many) bad bits. Unfortunately, I was wrong. In fact, in many ways it's worse than the earlier, deeply-flawed game. First, let us start with the graphics. Yes, the graphics are okay, but not as amazingly crisp and detailed as some would have us believe. There are still unbelievably annoying flaws, particularly in the in-game cut scenes (which, truth be told, really are at the same poor standard as Enter the Matrix - characters look limp and lifeless and there's a whole load of bad cutting and niggling flaws). But the gameplay itself looks alright, and I suppose the characters do look like they're supposed to (mostly...).Then there's the sound. Contrary to what other reviewers have said, the voice actor for Neo (bizarely they couldn't get Keanu Reeves apparently, despite the presence of some of the other original actors such as Laurence Fisburne) does sound like Reeves, and plays Neo quite well. The world sounds like the Matrix, and the music (although not taken from the films) is atmospheric and tense.

But it all falls down with the actual gameplay. Appalling framerate, even worse controls and boringly repetition dog this game from start to finish. Certainly, it (kind of) follows the path of all three films, and there are geuninely cool moments (such as fighting multiple Agent Smiths, or sparring with Morpheus in the dojo), but then again some of the setpieces just fall flat (see, for instance, the lobby shooting scene - this should really be one of the best bits, but is unforutnately one of the places where all the game's flaws really come to the fore). And the fights do have the tendency to get boring after a while - just the same combination of random button presses until you get a result (reminiscent, dare I say it, of the atrocious fighting system of Star Wars Episode 3). Plus, the overall control system is just a nightmare - it is almsot impossible to run, shoot and pull off focus moves all at the same time, because it's just too fiddly, and the targeting system gets grumpy whenever you try and change enemies or whenever you kill someone with a gun - in fact, despite the dodgy fighting controls, I much prefer the kung fu moves to the gunplay, simply becasue it's so much easier to control. Couple this with one of those cameras that lets walls and otehr bits of scenary get in the way of the action, and you have an experience that is just as bit better than having your teeth pulled. In the films, artistic use of the guns provide a component and characteristic piece of the action. In the game, using guns just feels heavy, laboured and porrly thought out, as does almost every other part of the control system and gameplay.

Path of Neo stinks of rushedly being put together to fill the vacuum created by the end of the trilogyzx, depserately pinning ts hopes on Matrix die-hards who wouldn't dream of not buying this. But really, for a console that should be at the pinnacle of its technological ability (Half Life 2, anyone?), it is more of an attempt at an early Xbox game, and even back then wouldn't have impressed. My recommendation? Rent first, and then, if you really like it, or are a serious fan, go and buy it. But try before you do, otherwise you might get a nasty surprise. This should be so much better, and feel so much better (rather than constantly reminding you you're in a half-rate video game, it should totally immerse you in world of The Matrix). And I'm not prejudiced either - I really enjoyed all three of the films and might even be so bold as to claim that I understand much of what the Wachowski brothers were trying to do and say.

Love The Matrix, you'll love this.
There a few things to be done before playing this game. I found the framerate shocking, until I reduced the screen output from 60hz to 50hz. Problem solved.
The controls really must be put on "Gamma" config and gunplay to "hold", this makes gunplay lot's more fun, but takes a bit of getting used to.
You may also want to play it "easy" as I found the fights drag, having to knock the same enemy down 5-7 time grated on me. Plus I was "The One" and wanted to feel double hard.
The most important thing about this game is that is it grows. The progression in the game is the best I've seen, the development of the character keeps things fresh.
More importantly I found that to begin with you must be patient with the control system. Follow the tutorial carefully or you could end up just randomly bashing the buttons as I did before I started back at the beginning on "easy". At first glance there doesn’t seem be much of a system to master, but once you do it's very satisfying.
There are many little bug's scattered about, but this is a 'videogame', more of a homage to the trilogy than a true representation. It has everything you want in there from the movies (minus the original music, big shame, but what's there is classic Matrix enough) plus the story is convincingly progressed and adapted for an interactive medium.
A title like this screams at you to jump straight in a start belting hundreds of Agent Smith's with a iron bar, but the fight mechanic takes a bit of discipline. It's like a pie, simple on the surface, but full of interesting ingredients.

A Must Have!!!
I just like to say what a diamond of a game this is, having pre-ordered the game it was well worth the wait when I finally got it.
If your a fan of 'The Matrix' films you will love it, if your not a fan, you would still love it.
Its a run around fighting, jumping, shooting, dodging and everything else kinda game.
You start the game as 'Mr Anderson' (but eventually you become 'Neo') building your character and training him up to be able to fight 'Agent Smith'.
Its hard to compare it to another game of it's type as nothing compare's suffice to say I spent the whole weekend playing the game before I had to go to work on Monday.
The film clips during the game give it that added effect.