Re-enter The Matrix with Path of Neo

By Tom Bramwell Published 14 February, 2005

Atari and Shiny take the wraps off the next Matrix game, where you get to replay all the best bits from the trilogy from Neo's perspective. Woah.

No one can be told that Shiny's working on another Matrix game; you knew that already. However, Atari has finally given the persistent rumour of another Matrix title substance by announcing that The Matrix: Path of Neo for PS2, Xbox and PC will be released in Q4 2005.

And interestingly, despite all-those-involved's previous assertions that Neo was "too powerful" to be a player-character (hence Enter The Matrix's bit-parts, and the "no fly" rule in The Matrix Online), that's all this one does. You play as Neo and relive the best bits of the trilogy.

As with 2003's style-over-substance title Enter The Matrix, Path of Neo is being developed by Shiny Entertainment with collaboration from trilogy producer Joel Silver and, critically, the elusive Wachowski brothers. The path the player takes in resolving each situation will be scripted and directed by the brothers, with all the actors and actresses' likenesses intact, and we'll also see footage from all three films and The Animatrix woven into the storytelling side of the game.

Sort of a Lord of the Rings: The Third Age for The Matrix, then, which needn't be a bad thing. Having been given one of the most destructive and adrenaline-fuelled central protagonists in cinema history to play with though (a character so fundamentally cool, lest we forget, that his appeal even overcome the use of Keanu Reeves), we only hope Shiny learns from past errors and does Path of Neo justice.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Freek #1 7 years ago

    "When will the hurting stop!?"

  • Tiger_Walts #2 7 years ago

    "There is no spoon."
    "There is, right here."
    "That's a spatula!"
    "No, it's a spoon, we just didn't use enough polygons to make it curved..."

  • drumbaby #3 7 years ago

    The reaction I had to Matrix films # 2 and # 3 applies here:

    MEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    They guys over at Shiny must be well pissed off to have been working on this for so long only to have the last two films meet with a massive wall of 'meh'. I smell bargain bucket....

  • max #5 7 years ago

    MEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

    You're a sheep? ;)

    I honestly didn't mind Enter the Matrix for a bit of fighting, although it did wear thin rather quickly. Definitely never got around to playing as both characters. And yes, this game holds no interest what-so-ever. Ah well.

    Max

  • degust #6 7 years ago

    So you'll die in the end, right?

  • mcmonkeyplc #7 7 years ago

    Im interested.

  • Master Cheif #8 7 years ago

    "So you'll die in the end, right? "

    YEP........................... unless they change the endling ;)

  • Royal Fool #9 7 years ago

    "They guys over at Shiny must be well pissed off to have been working on this for so long only to have the last two films meet with a massive wall of 'meh'."

    You mean that they were proud of their sub-standard movie tie-in game with the immense production budget and outrageous hype?

    They don't really have anyone to blame, except themselves. Well, and Atari for forcing the game out too soon in that condition. And Interplay.

  • Singularity #10 7 years ago

    /tries to hide interest

    /fails

    I'll put my hand up and say that I liked films two and three and even quite enjoyed Enter the Matrix, so I'm looking forward to this.

  • Thamuhacha #11 7 years ago

    >This would be pretty hard to mess up, but they would have to find a way to make it possible for Neo to die. The bullet doging could be superbly implemented into the gameplay. So I say, Shiny, make a beautifal game and superb us all, and this will easily be one of the top-selling games of all time!

    That's a wind up right Paolo?
    Edited by 1 at 14/02/05 @ 15:40

  • dadrester #12 7 years ago

    i can see this being a fps

  • Bezzy #13 7 years ago

    Great. We already know the scenarios. We already know the ending. We already know how the fights are *meant* to look in all their glory, and yet we'll be hamstrung by a limited reportois of moves.

    Isn't a better way "reliving" these situations a case of "re-watching the movies"? Am I rite? Oh wait... the movies were not all they were cracked up to be. What a dilemma!

    Given that the original was forced out of the door, and that there is no critical time frame for this, I'm willing to believe that Shiney can get it right this time (I seriously hope they do). I *can* believe, but I *expect* to be underwhelmed. Please prove me wrong, because I don't have any problems with good games being made.

  • magicpocket #14 7 years ago

    ROYAL FOOL wrote: They don't really have anyone to blame, except themselves. Well, and Atari for forcing the game out too soon in that condition. And Interplay.

    Err, wasn't it Warner's fault? The game had to ship when the film shipped. As far as i'm aware it was Shiny's first PS2/XB/GC game so they didn't have any experience on those platforms - whereas i'm sure they would have gotten more time if it didn't have to tie in with the film
    Edited by 1 at 14/02/05 @ 18:31

  • Artemus #15 7 years ago

    Anyone remember when Shiny used to make great games that no one bought. How apt that they should now be considered the exact opposite.

  • max #16 7 years ago

    Anyone remember when Shiny used to make great games that no one bought. How apt that they should now be considered the exact opposite.

    MDK! Great game.

  • w00t #17 7 years ago

    Could be good...

    When (I emphasise the when) Enter the Matrix worked properly, it was very good for feeling like a super-badass.

    Here's hoping the new one isn't a total balls-up.

  • markypants #18 7 years ago

    I have faith that they will finally get right what they set out to do with the first one. I didn't 'hate' this game as much as I was supposed to. But. It had a lot to do with my obsession with the movies.

  • ChocNut #19 7 years ago

    The first movie WAS genius and I don't care whether people think Im sad for listing it in my top 10 movies of all time.

    So the sequels sucked. ETM was a lot of fun imo. Bring it on. I'll buy it anyway - esp if it's 3rd person

  • tengu #20 7 years ago

    Yeah, this game will be rock.

    (r = c)

  • Royal Fool #21 7 years ago

    Warner Bros, not Universal. And I don't give a damn about them wanting it out for the movies' releases, it's still something that Atari could have negotiated on. Surely they must have known how crap the game was when it was decided to have it released and could have delayed it? No, instead they cashed in on the movie craze and released a unpolished and buggy game.

    Yes, it was Shiny's first attempt at the current consoles plus PC, which should be even more reason to have the game delayed until it has been sufficiently fixed. Or just cut the GC/Xbox releases immediately and have it go only for PS2 and PC.

    All in all, Atari were stupid and screwed up but were saved by the uninformed masses that bought the game and made it such a hit.

  • space_ace #22 7 years ago

    enter the meh

  • The-Bodybuilder #23 7 years ago

    " the elusive Wachowski brothers"

    Erm, you mean the watchowski brother and "sister", considering one of them is now a "woman".

  • MikeD #24 7 years ago

    style over substance?

    hmm, I thought it was pretty damn uuuuuugly.

  • GitSomE_UK #25 7 years ago

    Snnoooozzzze... stirs, farts zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    So late, so meh and just so what?!

  • perilikid #26 7 years ago

    Is anyone still interested?

    And space ace - surely it should be "enter the meh-trix"?

  • space_ace #27 7 years ago

    meh tricks
    yeah

  • Genji #28 7 years ago

    way! NO WAY! WAY!
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/05 @ 09:41

  • Mr_Sleep #29 7 years ago

    I enjoyed Enter the Matrix, it's not wonderful or anything but it is quite entertaining and on budget quite worth a pop. I think it's fundemental problem is a lack of developer inspiration, there aren't really any scenes which stick in my head. The controls were also a little clunky at times.

  • Bru-Man #30 7 years ago

    " the elusive Wachowski brothers"

    Erm, you mean the watchowski brother and "sister", considering one of them is now a "woman".


    Eh? SERIOUSLY?! Whoa...

  • The-Bodybuilder #31 7 years ago

    "Eh? SERIOUSLY?! Whoa..."

    I thought everyone knew? Considering it was in newspapers and internet sites?

    He did it about 3-4 months ago and is probably still recovering from his "snipping".

  • Kami #32 7 years ago

    A case for me of, "Enter the Meh-trix".

    The Matrix, the original, was cool. But it's gone a bit pear-shaped from there.

    Please prove me wrong Shiny... I'm begging for you to make this a great game...

    edit: BTW, I believe the technical reference I've heard is, "The Watchowski Twins"... but they're not even twins, are they? so how the **** do they work this one out?
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/05 @ 17:14

  • Gareth.de #33 7 years ago

    They guys over at Shiny must be well pissed off to have been working on this for so long only to have the last two films meet with a massive wall of 'meh'. I smell bargain bucket....

    Never mind bargain bucket. If the game is anything like the first over-hyped sample of horse shit then hopefully most shops won't even stock it.

    Please don't fall for the hype this time around - I remember Dave Perry claiming the first game would revolutionise gaming, and was an extension of the movie experience.

    The shit animation when running and climbing up fences wasn't even revolutionary compared to Ikari Warriors.
    Edited by 1 at 16/02/05 @ 18:44

  • Genji #34 7 years ago

    My main problem with the movie sequels is that they didn't plan for them beforehand. The first movie had an ENDING. It should've ended right there - Neo became all-powerful, the Matrix was beaten. In the second and third ones, he's still all-powerful, and this makes the battles less interesting, because you know there's no way he can lose. It's no fun to watch completely invincible people fight.

    And there was too much philosophising, as if the philosophy was what people liked the most about the first movie. It felt like a videogame with boring cutscenes.

  • Madder-Max #35 7 years ago

    "Well, for one thing, the Matrix IS philosophy" LOL!

    Yeah.....The MacDonalds Cod philosophy!!

  • Genji #36 7 years ago

    Granted, the universe was left unexplored in the first movie. We never saw Zion, for one thing. But Neo's story was finished. In the first film, before he became the One, he was a vunerable human being. A human being with potential, yes, but still very vunerable. I reckon it would have been better if he didn't become so powerful. I could've then seen the sequel as the next stage on his path to being the One. The way it was, the fight scenes just became pointless, like they were just fillers between Neo's talks with the Oracle or the Colonel guy. Or they could've done a sequel that explored another side of the conflict, like some of the Animatrix shorts did.

    I'm not against having philosophy in films, if that's what they're about. If I'm going to see an kungfu action movie like the first Matrix, having the cool premise to think over is welcome, as long as it doesn't get too bogged down in details. It COMPLEMENTED the first film, in a good way. The sequels allowed the philosophy to dig its claws into the plot to the point where it slowed the whole movie down.