Introduction to The Matrix Online
By Ian "PhroG" Taylor, Matrix Stratics Contributing Author
Architect: Just how long do you think this peace is going to last?
Oracle: As long as it can.
And so it ended. The Matrix Trilogy had come to its close with the humans and machines locked in an uneasy peace.
The Architect had agreed to free the humans who wanted out, and the program Smith had been vanquished. On the surface,
all seemed well as movie fans left their local theaters. But, in the absence of conflict, a cold war of sorts was inevitable.
Exiled programs, humans and machines all have a stake in the survival or destruction of the Matrix, and will go to great lengths
to turn the fate of all in a way that will benefit their causes. This is the world you step into when you take the red pill.
This is the world of The Matrix Online.
The Matrix Online is the "fourth movie in the series” as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s senior vice president Jason Hall
describes it. The game picks up the story directly after The Matrix: Revolutions and, in a rare opportunity for gamers and movie fans alike,
turns over the continuing story to fans. Unlike many movie franchise games, The Matrix Online will not only be important to the story,
it will be the story. With plotlines developed by the Wachowski Brothers and Paul Chadwick, a comic book writer who has worked on The Matrix Comics,
the game is the open-ended and official story of The Matrix universe. In a humorous irony, the sort of mass virtual reality Neo and his band of warriors
fought to destroy has been realized. And, like Morpheus and his crew, it’s up to you the player to jack-in, make your stand, and fight for what you believe in.
The developers of The Matrix Online were challenged not only to make a great MMORPG, but to keep the feel and cinematic flair of the films on which
it is based. The Matrix films were so innovative to the world of film, that any game based on their world would need to combine kung-fu, gunfights,
stylized camera maneuvers, and, most importantly, bullet-time. Thus, the Interlock system was born. The Interlock system is one of the very unique and
important features of the gameplay of The Matrix Online.
As described on the official The Matrix Online site:
“When the Interlock system has selected which maneuvers each character will perform, the combat exchange takes place. Several values are compared,
and a final outcome for that combat exchange is determined. Specific values will include the characters' respective ability levels and the tactical settings
selected. Keep in mind that all of this computation happens instantly and does not stop the flow of the action. Players see a smooth, continuous exchange of
attacks and counterattacks, not stilted turn-based gameplay”
Not only are you faced, as a player, with choices of affiliation, but also what ability codes to acquire and use. Ability codes are the currency of The
Matrix. Knowledge is quite literally power. There are numerous ability trees to choose from, allowing you to download information into your player’s
brain. You too can know kung-fu.
Trench coats aren’t your thing? Due to all characters being basically human in appearance, the developers have gone out of their way to pump the game
full of nearly limitless combinations of hair, clothing, tattoos, and other external amenities. Defining your residual self-image promises to be beyond
the character creation options of nearly any MMORPG that has come before.
The Matrix Online challenges you to create a unique character, free your mind, and jump into a complex and action filled plot that picks up where the
movies leave off. Gangs, politics and intrigue as well as gunplay, martial arts, Matrix-altering hacking maneuvers and backstabbing spy techniques all
await you. It’s a sprawling landscape, the largest ever built for a MMORPG, and the developers promise to keep it expanding. Every building you see,
you can enter. It’s an infinite world, with no end in sight.
About SEGA
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment
both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of
hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
SEGA of America's Web site is located at www.SEGA.com/usa.
About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc., a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is a premier licensor and a publisher of entertainment content
for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including consoles, PC-based gaming and wireless applications.
About Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions is one of North America's largest independent game development studios employing 130 people. Over the past 10 years,
Monolith has risen to critical acclaim through an emphasis on delivering quality products such as the No One Lives Forever franchise and Tron 2.0.
The Matrix Online, characters, names and all related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
|
Stratics Central
