Penny Arcade Expo Recap
By Ian “PhroG” Taylor & Justin "Mal'ak" Naylor

Well, the Penny Arcade Expo in Bellevue, WA is over and from everything we’re hearing, The Matrix Online and the Monolith team came out as one of the most talked about and high-profile attractions. We’d like to recap the event, and The Matrix Online’s demonstration and display from the firsthand accounts of community member Mal’ak.

As many of our readers have no doubt seen in pictures from the event on other MxO sites, there were several gigantic banners hung throughout the exhibition area. Mal’ak described them as being large enough to “be draped over my house” and it’s hard to argue with that estimation judging from the pictures we’ve seen.

The demonstration area for Monolith was comprised of four public computers, and two for staff use. In addition, they provided a large widescreen monitor so passersby could get a glimpse of the action taking place. Members of the community team oversaw the event, as well as the producers and marketing representatives. Other developers mingled in with the crowd, not making themselves known.

The showcase was mainly centered around player vs. player combat, with the participants fighting each other. On the first day of the demonstration, the characters were level 15, but the second day featured level 30 characters, and much more diverse and interesting combat.

Travis Williams, Executive Producer with Warner Bros., pulled out his laptop to play, but he often found himself face-first in the pavement, with 3 people on him at the same time. Mal’ak was very positive about the martial arts he saw, explaining that while kung-fu and karate were featured, aikido had not been set up with the soldiers available. There were guns as well, from revolvers to automatic rifles. Interestingly, Mal’ak found you do not have to be in Interlock to use firearms, making one able to help out their crew by standing back and shooting. However, you are unable to perform special moves unless you are in combat, so staying outside of Interlock may be helpful to your team, but will not make for a very exciting experience.

Mal’ak found the interface simple and easy to learn. The icons in the UI easily and accurately describe their function. The screen isn't overly “busy” with lots of info thrown at you at once; everything is simplified. The combat was smooth and organized. It was fast-paced and definetly not a “sit back and watch” combat system. You are involved with every round of combat. You have to adapt to each situation and won't be able to use the same strategy and technique with everyone. Strategic and adaptive thinking is necessary. Leaving the Matrix to change abilities for different situations is easy and the game overall feels and looks very much like the Matrix.

They showcased character creation numerous times. Mal’ak reports that it is fairly easy to look unique in MxO. He told us he’d be surprised if anyone ever came across a copy of themselves in the Matrix. Mal’ak got a glance at the clothes database on one of the staff machines, and assures us that to say there are lots of choices of clothing is an understatement. In fact, saying there are a lot of shirts would be an understatement.

About the team working at PAX, Mal’ak had the following to say:

“Everyone on the team is probably more excited about the game than we are, and Ellen just loved to show that excitement whenever she could. Dan has awesome boots. Travis and Jeff are both funny guys, I wouldn't mind hanging with them anytime. Leo is pretty cool too, and he had fun on day one showing everyone just how good Kung Fu is by beating everyone in the other booths. Eris and Thoth.. well you all know them.”

We’d like to thank Mal’ak for sharing his insights and experiences from his visit to PAX and his time spent with The Matrix Online and the Monolith team.

Discuss this article here.