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January 7, 2022 5:15 PM Subscribe
Many found The Matrix Resurrections surprising with its irreverently metatextual approach, but it was probably less so for anyone who played Shiny Entertainment's video game tie-ins: Enter the Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo. Read the oral history of their development and learn how close we came to a Godzilla crossover.
[MLYT]: Both games attempted to redefine how films were adapted for games. Rather than simply settling for the standard marketing line item given to a work-for-hire studio, the Wachowskis were more directly involved in making the games complement the narrative of the film series.
Enter The Matrix was a companion piece to the sequel films, following the adventures of secondary characters Niobe and Ghost using live-action scenes filmed alongside the movies. In addition to the expected gunplay and fisticuffs, it included a surprisingly deep hacking game which allowed the user to unlock a great deal of unique content.
Path of Neo summarized, expanded upon and provided an alternate ending to the trilogy as a whole, allowing players to answer questions like "Wouldn't it be cool to fight one big Smith instead of a bunch of regular-size ones?", or "What if Neo took the blue pill?", or "What if The Matrix had even more glitches?"
While much is made of the expense and audacity of including Queen's "We Are The Champions" for the ending, Path of Neo also included a soundtrack with contributions from contemporary electronica artists.
All tracks by Tobias Enhus featuring the indicated artist.
Ever Had a Dream - Juno Reactor
Winter Training - Photek
Storming the Drain - Meat Beat Manifesto and H. Scott Salinas
Subway Showdown - Crystal Method
Multiple Smiths - Juno Reactor and Todd Haberman
The Great Hall - Junkie XL and François-Paul Aiche
Tuned Out - Marcus Brown
Welcome Back - Juno Reactor
[MLYT]: Both games attempted to redefine how films were adapted for games. Rather than simply settling for the standard marketing line item given to a work-for-hire studio, the Wachowskis were more directly involved in making the games complement the narrative of the film series.
Enter The Matrix was a companion piece to the sequel films, following the adventures of secondary characters Niobe and Ghost using live-action scenes filmed alongside the movies. In addition to the expected gunplay and fisticuffs, it included a surprisingly deep hacking game which allowed the user to unlock a great deal of unique content.
Path of Neo summarized, expanded upon and provided an alternate ending to the trilogy as a whole, allowing players to answer questions like "Wouldn't it be cool to fight one big Smith instead of a bunch of regular-size ones?", or "What if Neo took the blue pill?", or "What if The Matrix had even more glitches?"
While much is made of the expense and audacity of including Queen's "We Are The Champions" for the ending, Path of Neo also included a soundtrack with contributions from contemporary electronica artists.
All tracks by Tobias Enhus featuring the indicated artist.
Ever Had a Dream - Juno Reactor
Winter Training - Photek
Storming the Drain - Meat Beat Manifesto and H. Scott Salinas
Subway Showdown - Crystal Method
Multiple Smiths - Juno Reactor and Todd Haberman
The Great Hall - Junkie XL and François-Paul Aiche
Tuned Out - Marcus Brown
Welcome Back - Juno Reactor
I played both these games and enjoyed them, though I have no idea if I'd like them if I played them again today.
I was expecting that the "glitches" link would go to a specific level in the game where, after the Neo vs. Smith fight at the subway platform from the first movie, Neo gets punched through a wall and ends up in a partially corrupt blocked-out portion of the Matrix. Eventually he gets out, and it's right back to running from Smith and the Jesus analogies at the end of Movie One.
It's a short bit that isn't really very substantial, but when I played it for the first time, it tickled me.
posted by KChasm at 7:08 PM on January 7, 2022
I was expecting that the "glitches" link would go to a specific level in the game where, after the Neo vs. Smith fight at the subway platform from the first movie, Neo gets punched through a wall and ends up in a partially corrupt blocked-out portion of the Matrix. Eventually he gets out, and it's right back to running from Smith and the Jesus analogies at the end of Movie One.
It's a short bit that isn't really very substantial, but when I played it for the first time, it tickled me.
posted by KChasm at 7:08 PM on January 7, 2022
Mod note: A couple deleted. If you primarily want to critique or discuss the film itself, rather than how the film(s) and the games intersect, there's an ongoing discussion of Matrix Revolutions up on Fanfare. Thanks!
posted by taz (staff) at 11:58 PM on January 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:58 PM on January 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the post! I played a lot of this game as a kid and have very fond memories of the hacking game. I feel like I got only about 60% of the way into it overall and 30% into the hacking game before it got too hard for me. It's also the source of the main screen name I use that I think most of as my digital self, being an accidental transformation of the save game default name "MATRIXSAVE" made when changing it.
It sounds like trying to develop for four different platforms was really stressful! The game definitely felt a little janky, so I'm surprised that it actually sold so well at 5mil copies. I wonder how many of those copies were actually played to completion?
At the time I also appreciated that there were two Asian male characters in an American media landscape that was kind of a desert for that. I remember wishing that I could play as Seraph instead of Ghost.
Looks like you could actually play it on an emulator today.
posted by coolname at 1:02 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
It sounds like trying to develop for four different platforms was really stressful! The game definitely felt a little janky, so I'm surprised that it actually sold so well at 5mil copies. I wonder how many of those copies were actually played to completion?
At the time I also appreciated that there were two Asian male characters in an American media landscape that was kind of a desert for that. I remember wishing that I could play as Seraph instead of Ghost.
Looks like you could actually play it on an emulator today.
posted by coolname at 1:02 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
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For some reason the text here is not hyperlinked plz fix.
posted by alex_skazat at 6:37 PM on January 7, 2022 [9 favorites]