The Matrix: Path of Neo (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

As far as the movie to game thing goes, you actually do get to do almost everything you see in all three movies. Everything except for the infamous freeway chase. You do get to dodge bullets on the rooftop, do the lobby scene, fight agents after they bust open a door, burley brawl, fight agent smith one on one, the famous "château" scene, the training sequence against Morpheus, and MORE! There isn't really any additional footage like there was in "Enter The Matrix" but there are some extra pre-rendered movies, no "new: live footage. Compared to "Enter The Matrix," the gameplay is slightly similar but about 16x better. The fights actually look good this time and there is very little glitching. It also uses Havok physics so you can send someone flying in the air and every body part will bend accordingly, pretty cool (especially during the burly brawl.) Everything, and I mean, everything is destructible. Even a slight roll into the wall will make it shatter. This is overdone but very cool and true to the Matrix series. The other cool thing about this is that it actually tells you "way" more about the entire Matrix series, because you end up playing the scenes you missed in the movie. When Neo closes his eyes and then gets pounded with training and says, "I know kung fu," followed by a scene of him training for hours, you get to do what he did during that training and it is pretty interesting and well thought out. Other things such as when Morpheus dives out of the bathroom wall to save you, you get to see what happens after that.

I was surprised, at first, it was very tricky. The controls take a little getting used to. (Running across a wall while shooting at an enemy in slow motion takes a combination of 4+ buttons!) The shoulder buttons are used to shoot and you have to aim first and then you can shoot. The other two are used to open doors and enter "focus" mode, also known as bullet time.

The graphics are nothing impressive compared to certain games out today but for me, it was all good. I was actually impressed at times, the fact that the game ran so smoothly even with 30+ enemies on the screen at once. There were a couple slow-downs but nothing major.

I would say that there are fewer fighting moves than in "Enter The Matrix" but this is for the better, they actually all look good. There are also special instances where you will enter an area that is corrupted in the Matrix and "Tank" cannot save you, I don’t want to give too much away but it involves samurais.

The lighting is surprisingly very good. There are certain levels where there are streaks of light coming through windows and cracks and this is awesome when you have Neo standing in front of this light source with his dark outfit.
A final very important part of this game is the ability to choose what powers you want for the next level. Powers such as new moves, improved focus, and more! It is not as non-linear as it could be but it works. Another thing you have to play this game is for the ending. It is so absurd it is worth playing 3 or even 4 times over again just to see it.

Secrets, this game is full of them and you can only unlock cheat codes by beating it. There are different difficulty modes and each time you beat the game with a certain difficulty, you get two new ULTIMATE codes, such as God mode, all weapons, etc. I accidentally shut off my PS2 after having beat it and my file was corrupted. I

Finally they get the basic concept right and design a Matrix game where you actually get to play as Neo. I purchased this game because the idea of playing as Neo, and being involved in the fight scenes Neo encounters during the Matrix trilogy, was pretty appealing. Now for the details:

Overall I'd give the game a score of 7 out of 10. The graphics are decent, not cutting edge, but decent. The storyline is more or less the movie so essentially you know what's going to happen. The controls are pretty good - a lot of the combo moves in the hand-to-hand combat require memorization of multiple key sequences so it does require you to develop your skills over time.

Basically the game follows the path of becoming "the One", where you earn new skills and improve your "focus" along the way. The game doesn't follow the movie exactly but it's pretty close. I think any fans of the Matrix will be pleased with the fact that at last you get to play as Neo, but if you're like me, you'll also wish they had spent more time developing the game so it felt both more realistic and more difficult. Even playing the game on its hardest setting isn't overly difficult so once you beat the game you're not likely to turn around and consider wanting to play it again right away.

The best part of the game hands down has to be the hand-to-hand combat once you've mastered several abilities. If you can remember your button combinations, you can do some pretty cool moves. My favorite part of the game has to be the hand-to-hand combat with all the Smiths after meeting with the Oracle. I felt this part of the game justified the purchase alone. This scene was a major reason I wanted the game and I wasn't disappointed.

Worst part would be the degree of difficulty; in my mind it just isn't enough of a struggle to beat the levels compared to many other games. With the difficulty level not being that high, the game should have also been longer - the Matrix offers up virtually unlimited options for fight scenes and challenging tasks so you would think/hope a video game developer would take full advantage of this ability but sadly they pretty much just let the movies define the game.

Overall, this game is worth buying if you like a 3rd person fighting/shooting style game with some cool combat moves thrown in. It's never going to be your favorite game out there - games like God of War and Resident Evil 4 have this game beat hands down - but getting to play as Neo definitely makes this the best Matrix game to date.

In a perfect world they would have made a game where you could play all the significant scenes in the movies - the interstate battle where you would play as Trinity and ride the motorcycle while dodging traffic; play as Neo fighting the Smiths; play as Morpheus in the car chase that leads to the Interstate; navigate the ship when trying to get to Zion ahead of all the Sentinels; fight off the Sentinels on the dock as they're pouring in; etc. Maybe one day...but until that happens, give the Path of Neo a try.

Story
The Matrix™: Path of Neo (PlayStation®2)
Set in the Matrix film universe, The Matrix: Path of Neo will enable players to play as Neo, 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 likenesses of all of the films' key actors—including Keanu Reeves (Neo), Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity), and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith)—are included in The Matrix: Path of Neo, which will also 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 effects 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.


Features

• The experience of being "the One" and facing the challenges that Neo faced in the movies will not be an entirely familiar one. Many scenarios encountered in The Matrix: Path of Neo are exclusive to the game and were not seen or experienced in the films.

• The game will have the same "Bullet Time" special effects from the films that will allow gamers to dodge bullets and jump off walls to defy gravity and logic to recreate its most memorable scenes.

• Gamers will experience new powers such as flying, telekinesis and "Neo Vision," the ability to read code as they evolve as Neo and become "the One."

• All-new FMV footage has been created, directed and edited by the Wachowski Brothers.

• The game features more than one hour of re-edited movie footage from the original film to tell the story from Neo's point of view like a director's cut in a video game.

• Amazing new characters and locations not seen in the films that expand the Matrix storyline through the end of The Matrix: Revolutions.

• All-new music has been composed as synth-produced sketches, which will be tweaked and implemented into the game build.

• The game also includes the martial arts choreography of Yuen Wo Ping and enhances the already extensive libraries of moves that were originally recorded for the trilogy. Additional sessions were recorded to capture even more moves to ensure that gamers would have an authentic experience as Neo.

I really love this game. If you are a fan of The Matrix movies, you start out as Tom Anderson and must go through the training missions just like Tom. Once you pass more levels you become Neo, And finally The One. Sounds easy right? Not exactly. This game provides many challenges even on the training levels. I started by playing this game in normal mode. I beat it, then moved on to Hard mode. I wanted to get to God Mode and finally after beating the game with no codes twice on Hard mode, I discovered that to access God mode you must go through the survival mode without dying. After having all of my experience playing for so many times, I finally did it.
This time since I was in God mode, enemy's bullets bounce back to them, unlimited health, vampiric regeneration,indestructible melee weapons and many other features are at my disposal, and it is STILL fun to play! I noticed a few glitches on a couple levels but nothing bad enough to warrant me from enjoying the level. The action gets a bit slow in some scenes due to to much going on @ once.
Even if you aren't a Matrix fan, this qualifies as a very good fighting game. The moves @ your disposal will keep you wanting to learn more. I don't like a lot of fighting games because of how difficult it is to pull a great move off with ease. No problems here, plus you can slow down and rotate the action just like the movies. So if you wanna show your friends just how fast you are, go ahead and execute special moves at your leisure. Or just pull out your automatic guns and fire away, until you reach the agents. I have my favorite levels that I still play when bored to this day.
This is in my opinion, one of the best games ever developed for the PS2. Fun, long-lasting and very innovative. You will not regret owning this game.

i'm gonna be plain simple and brief.
my expectations for this game were insurmountable( i mean really high). i love the movie trilogy. the enter the matrix first matrix game was a big flop and every one who knows the basix of video game appreciation knows that.
well this game isn't so different from enter the matrix. it's kool in terms of the bullet time effects and martial; arts but the storyline is quite distorted from stage to stage. the sound isn't really good and the moves are a bit stiff.
this game is messed up!!! got it MESSED UP!!!
I gave away my copy for free cos if i had seen the game before i'd say it aint worth the money i paid for it.if u want detailed analysis of this game visit the following websites:
www.gamespot.com www.gamerankings.com. get the info u need and u'll see what i'm saying. if u aren't convinced go rent the game first and if u think u'll enjoy it buy it at your expense.
most movie based games are useless! and this one is no exception!!!!!!!!