WinterMuteAu
04-04-2006, 11:16 PM
Before I start I want to acknowledge, this game is over a year old now, but with a Combat Upgrade (CU 2.0) being added last week, I thought I'd present a review of the new version.
As we all know the story of the Matrix, as presented in the 3 Matrix movies, we know where the game starts, just after the end of Revolutions. Neo had forged a truce with the defeat of the Smith Virus, and people (bluepills in the slang) were free to be released back into the real world, to be taken to Zion to live...Fast forward 12 months...
Now there are several powers in the Matrix, all working their own agendas... Zionites are still fighting the system, trying to release people from the Matrix's control, Machinists who fight on behalf of the Machine systems in the Matrix, being controlled by Agent Grey. Merovites follow the Merovingian, and believe in eat, drink and be merry. They are the hedonists of the Matrix.
The latest additions to the power struggle include Cypherites, who believe they were tricked into taking the redpill, and want everyone to be re-inserted back into the matrix. The General, a group of military exiles (exiled programs) that seem to be playing everyone along, and E Pluribus Neo, or Neo followers, led by The Kid (introduced in the Animatrix) who reveres Neo and everything he achieved.
We all know the Matrix is a Neural simulation of the work in the early 21st century (~2007), this is presented in the game as a 'Mega city', with 4 distinct areas of town, with a starting area (Richland), the slums (Westview), International (Chinatown/Asian area) and Downtown (think of downtown Chicago)... all are extremely large areas with bluepills wandering around, cars driving by, buildings to go into, and Hardlines to 'teleport' via for fast, long distance travel.
The skill system is quite unique in that you can change your loadout at a hardline, so you can quickly go from a Combat expert to a Proxy Master (Think animal trainer) to Healer or Hacker (the magic user of the Matrix). The combat used either guns (Pistols/Rifles/Submachine guns, and dual Pistols & Dual Submachine guns.) or a close combat system called Interlock. with the 4 tactics (Speed, Power, Grab or Block) and various special combat abilities (Kung Fu/ Aikido / Karate moves) made for an interesting time of running missions for XP & Info$. Running missions for info & Xp to level (up to max of 50) get extremely repetitive after the first 10 levels, the monotony broken by various area contacts handing out missions and the monthly critical missions which evolve the storyline along.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Interlock.png
All of the above is supported by a ongoing storyline, evolving and adding to the complex world inhabited by the redpills. Monthly updates have events running with Dev support, several special 'critical' missions to run to expand the story from either the Zion, Machine or Merovingian point of view.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Morph.png
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Pers.png
All the about sounds good, doesn't it? Sounds like it could be the best MMO ever made by man, right?? *buzz* wrong.
Sadly, in June last year it was announced that The Matrix Online was changing ownership to Sony Online, makers of Everquest 2 & Star Wars Galaxies (can you see where this is going ?) but WBIE was still to make the content & stories and has some control over changes.... immediately a portion of the players jumped ship... as SOE has, shall we say, a less than stellar reputation for making & running MMO games, and the customer support is .... lacking. It has been leaking players ever since. I would assume the current player population between 20,000 – 40,000 but no one knows or will admit.
Since then the original 9 servers have been merged into 3, one a PvP server, the other two normal (PvP optional). 3 servers were originally classed European, and ran events in a EU timeframe, so everyone had a chance to interact with event characters, and be part of the event. All 3 final servers changed to US, and the forums wiped and replaced.
The rate of events, which under WBIE had a schedule and occurred every 2 - 4 weeks, suddenly dried up. There has been ~4 'events' under SOE, with the last one being called 'A Piece of Blue Sky' as the anniversary event. It was critically slammed, as the combat upgrade was added 5 days before the event, the general concessus is it was a attractive final beta test of the new combat system. The interface you see in the picture has been removed, sadly removing a very origional part of the game.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/BlueSky.png
As you can see from the pictures attached, we originally could interact heavily with the Movie characters (Morpheus, Niobe, The Merv, etc..) but the second major event was the Death of Morpheous... Under WBIE there was a dedicated team to run events, characters and setup events called the LET. This team was not taken over to SOE (Personally I believe Ralph Koster was to blame for that.)
So in the end of this rambling diatribe, all I am left to say is if you are a Matrix fan, you probably already know about this game, and possibly have played it. Although this game seems to be a dirty secret of the MMO world, with not to many people admitting to playing it. It is an interesting mix of grand ideas & ideals, with a hard working Dev team trying hard to keep it afloat.
I sadly cannot recommend it, as it has not much long-term value and the Aus$21 a month has better uses, but it can be purchased online for ~$28 - 30 so it could be a fun diversion for a while, as it comes with one month of free play. It is fun checking out some places seen in the movies, like Debir Court, seen in the Burly brawl scene and the Heart 'O' The City hotel, and the graphics on a decent video card are quite spectacular.
If anyone wants this game, pm me and I can post a DVD with the latest patched version of the game, which expands to 5.6Gb, so I can save you a far amount of downloads.
P.S. I found this pic of Avatar in Dubbo today, I don't know who else is in the pic:
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Avatar.png
EDIT: When did you take that picture??! I don't remember posing for it!! - Avatar
As we all know the story of the Matrix, as presented in the 3 Matrix movies, we know where the game starts, just after the end of Revolutions. Neo had forged a truce with the defeat of the Smith Virus, and people (bluepills in the slang) were free to be released back into the real world, to be taken to Zion to live...Fast forward 12 months...
Now there are several powers in the Matrix, all working their own agendas... Zionites are still fighting the system, trying to release people from the Matrix's control, Machinists who fight on behalf of the Machine systems in the Matrix, being controlled by Agent Grey. Merovites follow the Merovingian, and believe in eat, drink and be merry. They are the hedonists of the Matrix.
The latest additions to the power struggle include Cypherites, who believe they were tricked into taking the redpill, and want everyone to be re-inserted back into the matrix. The General, a group of military exiles (exiled programs) that seem to be playing everyone along, and E Pluribus Neo, or Neo followers, led by The Kid (introduced in the Animatrix) who reveres Neo and everything he achieved.
We all know the Matrix is a Neural simulation of the work in the early 21st century (~2007), this is presented in the game as a 'Mega city', with 4 distinct areas of town, with a starting area (Richland), the slums (Westview), International (Chinatown/Asian area) and Downtown (think of downtown Chicago)... all are extremely large areas with bluepills wandering around, cars driving by, buildings to go into, and Hardlines to 'teleport' via for fast, long distance travel.
The skill system is quite unique in that you can change your loadout at a hardline, so you can quickly go from a Combat expert to a Proxy Master (Think animal trainer) to Healer or Hacker (the magic user of the Matrix). The combat used either guns (Pistols/Rifles/Submachine guns, and dual Pistols & Dual Submachine guns.) or a close combat system called Interlock. with the 4 tactics (Speed, Power, Grab or Block) and various special combat abilities (Kung Fu/ Aikido / Karate moves) made for an interesting time of running missions for XP & Info$. Running missions for info & Xp to level (up to max of 50) get extremely repetitive after the first 10 levels, the monotony broken by various area contacts handing out missions and the monthly critical missions which evolve the storyline along.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Interlock.png
All of the above is supported by a ongoing storyline, evolving and adding to the complex world inhabited by the redpills. Monthly updates have events running with Dev support, several special 'critical' missions to run to expand the story from either the Zion, Machine or Merovingian point of view.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Morph.png
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Pers.png
All the about sounds good, doesn't it? Sounds like it could be the best MMO ever made by man, right?? *buzz* wrong.
Sadly, in June last year it was announced that The Matrix Online was changing ownership to Sony Online, makers of Everquest 2 & Star Wars Galaxies (can you see where this is going ?) but WBIE was still to make the content & stories and has some control over changes.... immediately a portion of the players jumped ship... as SOE has, shall we say, a less than stellar reputation for making & running MMO games, and the customer support is .... lacking. It has been leaking players ever since. I would assume the current player population between 20,000 – 40,000 but no one knows or will admit.
Since then the original 9 servers have been merged into 3, one a PvP server, the other two normal (PvP optional). 3 servers were originally classed European, and ran events in a EU timeframe, so everyone had a chance to interact with event characters, and be part of the event. All 3 final servers changed to US, and the forums wiped and replaced.
The rate of events, which under WBIE had a schedule and occurred every 2 - 4 weeks, suddenly dried up. There has been ~4 'events' under SOE, with the last one being called 'A Piece of Blue Sky' as the anniversary event. It was critically slammed, as the combat upgrade was added 5 days before the event, the general concessus is it was a attractive final beta test of the new combat system. The interface you see in the picture has been removed, sadly removing a very origional part of the game.
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/BlueSky.png
As you can see from the pictures attached, we originally could interact heavily with the Movie characters (Morpheus, Niobe, The Merv, etc..) but the second major event was the Death of Morpheous... Under WBIE there was a dedicated team to run events, characters and setup events called the LET. This team was not taken over to SOE (Personally I believe Ralph Koster was to blame for that.)
So in the end of this rambling diatribe, all I am left to say is if you are a Matrix fan, you probably already know about this game, and possibly have played it. Although this game seems to be a dirty secret of the MMO world, with not to many people admitting to playing it. It is an interesting mix of grand ideas & ideals, with a hard working Dev team trying hard to keep it afloat.
I sadly cannot recommend it, as it has not much long-term value and the Aus$21 a month has better uses, but it can be purchased online for ~$28 - 30 so it could be a fun diversion for a while, as it comes with one month of free play. It is fun checking out some places seen in the movies, like Debir Court, seen in the Burly brawl scene and the Heart 'O' The City hotel, and the graphics on a decent video card are quite spectacular.
If anyone wants this game, pm me and I can post a DVD with the latest patched version of the game, which expands to 5.6Gb, so I can save you a far amount of downloads.
P.S. I found this pic of Avatar in Dubbo today, I don't know who else is in the pic:
http://members.westnet.com.au/hall87/Avatar.png
EDIT: When did you take that picture??! I don't remember posing for it!! - Avatar