I base this on the release for the PC. I'm not ruling out that some of the problems have to do with that, that this was geared towards consoles. Hey, I won't claim that this is all negatives, it isn't. This does recreate many favorite scenes, almost all they could(albeit hardly any flying). It does, of course, expand on them, otherwise this would be even shorter than it is, and not all of this is bad. There are also new levels, the quality of which varies, but, honestly, there are several(not all of them) nice ideas, and done well, to be found in them. At any time, you can replay an earlier one, and twice, you're given a Mission Selector, and can choose the order of the next handful of them. The story-telling is OK, the worst part of it is the hideously, and oddly, cut up and stitched together Frankenstein's Monster of the trilogy that is the series of clips they use(a couple of times, it even seems like they just thought "well, this was funny, let's put that in there"). Don't get me started on the crappy music they put to it. The sound is well-done, though the acting can be awful, and the voices do not always fit. Link, for example, and can someone tell me when The Merovingian became German? The new plot has good to it. The acrobatics, shooting and fighting are probably the biggest attractions to this. They are a mixed bag. There are cool moves, but it is truly sad that they had to be taught how to make a VG taking place in this universe by the new Prince of Persia ones(of 2003, '04 and '05), and incredible that they still managed to screw it up. And the guns are fine, if often useless(and why so few?). Aiming, well, it can be done, they actually put a cross-hair in this time, though the mouse doesn't move right. Now, the martial arts system, when you get past how clumsy it can be, as well as how sluggish and either too fast or overly slow(that's a theme with this one, it hits the extremes, and goes back and forth between them) it often reacts to your commands, it can be entertaining. There are a lot of combos, if you can activate them, with how similar they are to do, and on account of them making up most of the powerful attacks, the Free Form thing didn't entirely work, and you wind up typically taking them on one at a time. There are not enough buttons devoted to it. Meleé weapons range, but tend to be a positive in this. The Bosses... do not. Defending by striking could be fantastic, but it wasn't really, here. The camera is free, with zoom and 360 degree turning. The abilities are decent enough, the main thing here is that each you get is helpful a little, and that's it. The adventure portions are nothing but a method of prolonging this. They were happy to make it possible for characters to be tossed about, and objects(as well as walls) around you to break, so it's happening all over the place, and it quite frankly looks preposterous. This makes the astounding occurrences in the three commonplace, and they lose their impact. The bugs and glitches are all over this, and stability could be better. The graphics are great, with fluid animation, if at least one of the faces(Smith) come out looking ridiculous. Cut-scenes are, with one exception(which is CGI, and gorgeous), in-engine, and fair. This does manage to put a lot of you-know-who's in one place, up against you, lets you squeeze the trigger in the chopper, and features aerial combat. This is either too easy, or annoying, depending on what specific portion you're playing. Replayability is essentially nonexistent. There is bonus stuff, including an extraordinarily unfunny outtake reel. Saving is still automatic, and offering only four slots. The puns are gag-inducing. The altered continuity is reasonable. This takes some of the best moments in the original film and makes gimmicks out of them. Why all the silliness? The changed ending(cheap attempt at getting audiences to purchase this, contact me and I'll let you know what it is), which I actually don't consider to be a poor concept, it's merely wrong for this? My guess would be that the brothers saw the reception the sequels got, and got scared, gave up trying, or perhaps both. Thus they almost invariably(there is philosophy in this, and situations that could really be impeccable) didn't try to make this serious. I would hate to think that they belong in the group of people who refuse to believe that games can be complex and innovative, after what they did to the action flick genre, and reinvigorating the science fiction cinema. A tremendous lot can be achieved in this medium, and the only cause for alarm at these being less than stellar is the sheer fact that done right, an effort of this kind, inside the Matrix universe could be excellent. This, however, is downright stupid. Superficial and empty aren't off the wall as words to describe it. Not to mention ammo for those who claim that the 1999 movie was nothing but a stroke of luck. It's a terrible waste of potential. In case you weren't sure, I've been comparing this to Enter the Matrix(so much that I didn't write where I did so). All in all, I'm sorry, I find that to be the superior title. Less frustration, comes closer to you being able to count on it to deliver, and while both overreach, the result here is at times painful. This has, well, not direct sexuality, but adult material, as well as language, relatively strong, not in copious amounts. I recommend this to fans of the franchise, if you prefer the visuals and battles to the exploration and the food for thought(perfectly acceptable, I simply feel that what the Wachowski's made deserves more). 7/10
