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Images: Taking the red pill in 'Matrix Online'

So, three "Matrix" films weren't enough for you? Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment is offering a Morpheus fix.

2 min read

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment hopes its new title, "The Matrix Online," will help expand the market for massively multiplayer games--online role-playing games that let any number of people play with one another. So far, such games haven't been big hits in the United States, but that could change if fans of "The Matrix" (the movie) and its sequels flock to the new game, which was co-published with Sega.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

The game is set after the end of the third movie, "The Matrix Revolutions." Players have the option of allying themselves with one of three factions: humans, machines or "exiles," which are self-aware, humanlike computer programs that make the Matrix their home.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

Combat is a key part of the game, according to its official Web site. Players can engage in the same sort of "wire fu" for which the movie is known. There's also something called "bullet time action"--in which time slows down, just like in the movies.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

The game takes place within the Matrix itself, which in the world of the game has four sectors: the slums, the barrens, the international district and downtown. "The influence of the machines over the Matrix emanates from downtown," warns the game's Web site.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

The game's evolution has been somewhat troubled, according to the The New York Times. The game's launch date was delayed twice, and the original co-publisher, Ubisoft, had to be replaced with Sega.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

One unusual aspect of the game is that Warner Brothers Interactive has hired people to assume the identity of certain characters during "live events" and interact with the players. A reviewer for GameSpy notes that the first such live event "kicked off a little slow, (but) its events snowballed pretty excitingly for the five days that it ran." Click here to read GameSpy's whole review of the game.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'

Taking the red pill in 'The Matrix Online'

According to the GameSpot review, the game is flawed but imaginative, and "it takes the same sort of person who can appreciate the entire movie trilogy in spite of its flaws to appreciate this game." GameSpot gives "The Matrix Online" a 7.3 out of a possible 10. Click here to read the whole review.

Credit: GameSpot

screenshot from 'The Matrix Online'