The Matrix: Path of Neo

"What is the Matrix?"

Oops, you probably already know, but I bet you've never beaten the crap out of 1500 Agent Smiths at once, have you? Well, Shiny Entertainment's new game The Matrix: Path of Neo will let you do just that.

Following up Shiny's last Matrix game, Enter the Matrix, Path of Neo will allow you to play through the storyline of the movie trilogy, as well as including some of the events seen in the Animatrix shorts. Of course, as the title suggests, you will be Neo this time, all the way through to the end. However each situation from the movie alters depending on your choices and ability. In essence what fans wanted first time around has been included, with the game drawing heavily from the first film's brilliant set pieces. The Wachowski's, as with their other Matrix side projects, have been deeply involved, even making a brief cameo in the game and writing an alternate ending to the trilogy. 

All of the characters likenesses have been accurately replicated as well as all the key actors (Keanu Reeves, Carrie Ann Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving and Jada Pinkett Smith) doing voice-overs for that 'in-the-movie' feel. Cinematic clips from the movie will serve as interludes, progressing the storyline in familiar installments. Graphically The Matrix: Path of Neo looks superb offering a faithful recreation of the worlds made so familiar in it's big-budget brethern and boasting some superb effects, including the stormy brawl at the end of Revolutions and 'that' scene in the lobby, destructible walls included. 

As for the gameplay, you start off as Thomas Anderson at his desk in his office at work, where you receive a package with a cell phone from Morpheus inside. Your goal is simply to escape the office and from there the rollercoaster begins. There are some stealth elements early on in the game as you skillfully turn Mr Anderson into Neo, but once those sections have been navigated it's bullet-dodging time. You will get increasingly more powerful as the game progresses and will pick up Neo's trademark powers (flight, Matrix-vision, bullet-dodging and bullet-catching, etc.). Other than that, it's run-and-gun fun with some brutal close combat to boot!

The Matrix: Path of Neo will be available for the PC, PS2, and Xbox on November 7, so get those one-liners ready, 'cause it's almost here!