Path of Neo is Shiny and Atari’s latest attempt at a Matrix videogame and I am happy to say the final product is a lot better than Enter the Matrix. It takes a few liberties with the storyline and it isn’t the prettiest game around, but it features fun weapons-based and hand-to-hand combat and captures the feel of the Matrix universe very well. Fans of The Matrix will absolutely love it.
You Are The One ...
Path of Neo follows Neo through all three of the Matrix films. I won’t go into details for the simple fact that if you are interested in this game you likely already know everything you need to know. If you aren’t a fan of the Matrix movies this game isn’t going to do anything to change your mind. Also, if you haven’t seen these movies already, playing the game is pretty confusing and not all that interesting. This is a game for fans only, basically. The game adds scenes and removes or changes others to fit into a videogame better, but the overall story remains intact. You spend more time training than Neo did in the movie and the chateau sequence from The Matrix: Reloaded has been extended, but all of the major fights are included and that is what is important. The training fight with Morpheous, the Burly Brawl, the chateau fight – they are all here and the scenes that are direct copies of movie sequences are glorious.
One issue I have is that movie clips are used throughout the game but they are edited together more like music videos than story sequences. They don’t even really make sense a lot of the time and just seem like an excuse to cram as much Matrix-ness into the game as possible.
Gameplay
The gameplay is actually fairly simple. You have a jump button, a movement/evade button, and two attack buttons. Combinations of all of these result in different moves. Pressing another button slows down the game and puts you into “bullet time” which gives you even more moves to play with. At its core, Path of Neo is a pure fist-to-face brawler, but there are also guns and melee weapons available. Melee weapons simply become an extension of your normal attacks, but the gunplay is as simple as locking onto enemies and blasting away. What is even better is that you can combine punches and kicks with shooting to form some very stylish and satisfying combos. Basically, any move you saw in the movies you can do here. Slow-mo fighting, wall running, flips, dives, spins, crazy shooting – you can do it all. You earn new moves all of the time and doing familiar moves in different situations will cause different results so there is a lot of variety here. An aspect of Path of Neo’s gameplay that really shines is that fighting multiple enemies is extremely easy. You just flick the right stick in the direction of the next enemy you want to it and Neo will attack everyone around him in one long flowing combo. Good times.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Path of Neo is a somewhat ugly game. It is understandable that level and character detail was scaled down considering the destructible levels and all of the crazy action going on in fights with a bunch of enemies onscreen at the same time, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. At least the framerate stays pretty solid in the Xbox version of the game. The characters in particular look really bad, but you only see them up close once in a while. On the plus side, the animation is really quite good and you get new moves all the time which keeps the game interesting.
The sound is pretty good in Path of Neo. Only Laurence Fishburne returned to record new dialogue, but the soundalike voice actors for Neo, Trinity, and Agent Smith all do a really good job and sound pretty darn close to the real actors. The music is all original and wasn’t taken from the films, which is disappointing, but what is here is pretty good and fits the game well. Sound effects for all of the weapons and the combat are all just like what you hear in the movies. Overall, the sound is quite good.
Bottom Line
For fans of the Matrix franchise, Path of Neo is a very enjoyable game. You get to play as “The One” in all of the biggest and most important action scenes from the movies which is very cool. The gameplay itself is a great mix of brawling and shooting and you have all of the flashy moves from the movies at your disposal which makes the game very satisfying. There is a lot of variety to all of the punching and shooting you do as well and when it does start to get a little repetitive you get a major action sequence and your interest is instantly renewed. If you aren’t already a Matrix fan, Path of Neo won’t change your mind. If you are a fan, however, Path of Neo is a very fun game that is highly recommended for at least a rental.
