The first film "Matrix" 1999 made a real revolution in the genre and it was not surprising to observe how various marketers attacked it, who tried to rip off as much as possible from the popularity of the film, which exploded in pop culture, like an atomic bomb, and had an indelible effect. Sequels, costumes and accessories, sponsorship with energy drinking manufacturers, the release of specially designed (rather spectacular than practical) versions of mobile phones used in the film – most were hardly surprised when, in accordance with the fashion of that time, a video game also appeared.

But this time it was not just an adaptation of the game: the Vachovsky brothers came up with a full continuation, with key elements of the plot for fans. In addition to filming new films, Vachovski took on the work of writing a plot, monitor production and even record an hour of additional frames with Jada Pinett Smith and Anthony Wong, who play the main characters of the game.

Shiny Entertainment David Perry was chosen as a developer, and Infogrames acted as the publisher, after Perry in the 1990s was responsible for a number of successful adaptations of Virgin Games. The first approach was made before the release of the first film, and Perry rejected the idea of ​​the game, but the success of the first film and pressure from his superiors forced him to take up the development of the game.

The game flows simultaneously with the plot of films "Matrix: rebooting" And "Animatrice", Begining in chronology immediately after the film "The last flight of Osiris"., Showing how the team "Logos" received information about the army of cars rushes to Zion. The game was a cross between the fan service and an additional plot, showing, for example, how they came to the rescue of Morpheus during the chase on the highway. A separate storyline was devoted to explaining the change in the appearance of the oracle between the second and third films (the real reason for the change, of course, was the death of the original actress Gloria Foster), as well as a more detailed explanation of relations with Merovingians at the beginning of the third film. However, there were moments clearly designed for fans, for example, a clash with the twins and the appearance of agent Smith in the finale.

Ultimately, it was the fan -style nature of the game that mostly determined its style: Enter the Matrix was not just a game adaptation, but a game that had the style and rhythm of films. Shiny designers gained full access to various visual sources, and gameplay, although it was not fundamentally new, included dozens of special combo and techniques, from air shooting to running on wall delay, which, if they were not useful in terms of gameplay , added a lot to visual effects and atmosphere. Thanks to the support of the creators of the film (which included, among other things, unlimited access to the Mokap devices used to shoot a film), a strong plot orientation, spectacular animation of the battle, a variety of gameplay (TPS shooting was sometimes interrupted by driving segments, and segments similar on a rail shooter, – segments against cars outside the matrix), Enter the Matrix could become one of the best gaming adaptations of all time.

But, as often happens, fate intervened, and by the time the development was coming to an end, gloomy clouds were gathering over the game. In general, the Shiny 3D games of that time, such as Messiah and Sacrifice, were not perfect, their revolutionary ideas were basically not realized.

In the process of creating Enter the Matrix, the team was faced with two serious obstacles: cruelly compressed deadlines, when the game was supposed to appear on the shelves of stores for the premiere of the film "Matrix: rebooting", and the bankruptcy of the publisher, Infogrames, which was then bought by Atari. As a result, the game was released on time – but she had nothing much to boast. Critics were, to put it mildly, dissatisfied: the uneven design of the tracks and levels of complexity, ridiculously bad and unfinished graphics, clumsy control, terrible driving areas, various technical problems and non -optimal functions. All this was crowned with a squall of errors, because of which many decided not to even end the game.

But the name "Matrices" It was enough for the game to become successful – in fact, one of the greatest successes of Atari at that time – and Vachovsky was pleased with their work with Shiny, so they gave the go -ahead to the sequel, which, fortunately, was made in much more ideal conditions and came out and came out In 2006 called Path of Neo.