The existence of the fourth Matrix movie awakened something in me. I have always known that I like those movies-yes, even if they are reloaded and revolutionary, although not as good as the first-but I have never really realized what they mean to me. As someone who was only a teenager when the sequel was released, The Matrix is almost the coolest shit imaginable. I now realize that these movies attracted me, just as I imagined Star Wars grabbing children in the 70s. In a way, they are my Star Wars.
So, naturally, I am excited about the fourth one. In particular, I am very interested and excited to see that this movie seems to have something about nostalgia, restarts, sequels, and our love for known things. Obviously there are many nods to the past, but the released trailers and footage seem to portray them as a more purposeful portrayal of the entire movie, rather than the typical soft restart template championed by The Force Awakens and consolidated as a box office champion.
But there is another thing that makes me excited about the return of The Matrix: its potential as a video game. Wachowski’s story and world feel almost tailored for video games. In fact, it’s no surprise that the two creators of The Matrix are themselves loyal fans of video games. You can see the impact of the game in The Matrix, just like you see the impact of Hong Kong action movies, really-every time it is converted into a video game, at least, fortunately.
In the three matrix video games, each game has its own charm. The Matrix Online is not the greatest MMO, but it supports the idea of telling stories around different MMOs, and tends to adopt the computerized nature of The Matrix to explain the invention of game design in a way that few franchises can manage. Entering the Matrix is my personal favorite. A very ordinary third-person PS2 action game, nevertheless, it is ambitious in how to compose and compose the story of the Matrix sequel, using movie sets and actors to shoot additional live-action scenes to add to the authenticity of the game. In many ways, it’s still my favorite movie-matching game based on its ambitions alone, and it’s cool to see Enter star Niobe return in the trailer for “Resurrection”.
The road to Neo is very interesting. mute. Again, this is another action game from the PS2 era, containing all the implied weaknesses-but it has a powerful energy and an extremely humorous ending. I really like the three of them. Both single-player games cost 7/10, or at least they were at the time. MMO’s judgment is more complicated, but I have a lot of fun.
When I think about the progress that games have made over the past few decades, it’s hard not to think about how perfect many of these advancements would be to better portray the Matrix. I’m not just talking about visual effects either-although Unreal Engine’s incredible matrix-themed UE5 technology demo shows why the world has matured from a technical point of view and can be portrayed in the game again. But in terms of game design-the conceit and mechanics of the Matrix universe are worthy of modern game design mining.
Before their new Wonder Woman game was announced at The Game Awards, I joked on Twitter that the perfect project for Monolith Productions, a subsidiary of Matrix franchise owner Warner Bros., would be The Matrix. Let them create an open world of a Matrix giant city and use Middle-earth’s “Nemesis” system to track the relationship between your red pill and agents, exiles, and other forces in the Matrix.
Except, you know, I’m not really kidding: I really think that studio and this franchise would be very suitable. I’m very happy they are making Wonder Woman-Diana is as worthy of a great game as Batman-but, man, I will always want that Matrix game. I really hope that Resurrections will succeed-only because it may help pave the way for new Matrix games.
