So I just experienced my first 48 hours of The Matrix Online. I will have to say that I was very impressed with some aspects of the game. While it came up short in other areas. I really liked the overall presentation of the game. Character creation was fun but way too limited in the amount of starting options for clothing. The atmosphere is dead on and you almost feel like you are being put in the Matrix world. I like the combat system, the hardline system, it's all very interesting and fun.

The biggest complaint I have about this game is it's pretty clear it's on the D List as far as SOE is concerned. It's probably five guys in a closet working on this thing. They have a great license and if they put in a little more effort it could be a truly great game. The Ultimate Matrix Collection is coming out on Blu Ray pretty soon and this would be a perfect opportunity to relaunch the game. They could even do a strong internet only thing like EVE does. They are already giving a free trial for the Station Launcher but they don't push this game at all. The only advertising or anything they do for it is that it's part of the Station Pass. This game deserves a second look and needs to be marketed properly.

What killed this game is SOE (that Sony Online Entertainment just so people know to avoid ANYTHING hosted by them like the plague it’ll turn out to be a big waste of time and money)  they have to be the most useless, mind boggling stupid bunch of monkeys to host a MMORPG, EVER to grace the internet.  They Messed up The Matrix online, they messed up and Star War Galaxies! Two of the biggest film to MMORPG's to hit the net FULLSTOP. We are talking money in the bag, big bucks if managed right, and SOE just spooned it up. 

SOE couldn't manage them selves out of a wet paper bag if they had an eternity to work it out, in fact even if they had an infinite number of monkeys trying to type up the escape plan. They would get the escape plan read it, and then totally ignore it in favour for the most moronic idea to first be brain farted out of the hole in there face, they call a mouth! 

Now that rant is over yes I agree I quite like matrix online to start with but again once it stared to get mismanaged by SOE it all fell apart. The game was also fare to repetitive and alto you first got the feel for the matrix it soon wore off after the first month or so. When there was no real effect to you action on the world in any shape or form. Once the game was boiled down to it basic element it was all about making the hardest, biggest butt kicker you could make for PvP and that was about all the game was about. It needed more play driven environment like SWG or much, much, better yet EVE Online. 

For this game to become anything SOE needs to drop it and give the ball to someone else. In fact Sony really should just step away from MMORPG’s as they clearly, in my view have no idea what the hell they are doing. SOE is the biggest waste of space and money to grace the net if you ask me. I’ve been let down by them twice on what should have been two of the biggest MMORPG phenomena to hit the net, I’ll never forgive them for what they did to SWG. The Matrix well, it’s not such a big issue for me. However I know there is a fan base out there that feel as strongly as I do about SOE mishandling SWG’s, but for the Matrix online.

They Killed My Everquest And Planetside!!!

Then make you contempt, nay your hatred known, vote now! Even if it's an imaginary destruction of the evil that is SOE, I am sure it'll help you sleep better at night.

no offence mad but my english teacher has drilled this thing into my head that forces me to take apart posts to milk information from them.  your first 2 paragraphs and your signature clearly state that your opinion is a tad extreme.

anyway

Matrix online never really perked my interest as the movies never perked my interest.  as for SOE stuffing up its MMO's,  in a way yeah it really stuffed them up but on the flip side most of these MMO's were great until 2004 (you can all guess why) and SOE, being the good business that it is (its fairly good at making a profit from poor games) tried to copy other MMO's to try and milk as much $ as they could.  too bad 2 of the big IP's got caught up in it.

Originally posted by madjimbob

What killed this game is SOE (that Sony Online Entertainment just so people know to avoid ANYTHING hosted by them like the plague it’ll turn out to be a big waste of time and money)  they have to be the most useless, mind boggling stupid bunch of monkeys to host a MMORPG, EVER to grace the internet.  They Messed up The Matrix online, they messed up and Star War Galaxies! Two of the biggest film to MMORPG's to hit the net FULLSTOP. We are talking money in the bag, big bucks if managed right, and SOE just spooned it up. 

SOE couldn't manage them selves out of a wet paper bag if they had an eternity to work it out, in fact even if they had an infinite number of monkeys trying to type up the escape plan. They would get the escape plan read it, and then totally ignore it in favour for the most moronic idea to first be brain farted out of the hole in there face, they call a mouth! 

Now that rant is over yes I agree I quite like matrix online to start with but again once it stared to get mismanaged by SOE it all fell apart. The game was also fare to repetitive and alto you first got the feel for the matrix it soon wore off after the first month or so. When there was no real effect to you action on the world in any shape or form. Once the game was boiled down to it basic element it was all about making the hardest, biggest butt kicker you could make for PvP and that was about all the game was about. It needed more play driven environment like SWG or much, much, better yet EVE Online. 

For this game to become anything SOE needs to drop it and give the ball to someone else. In fact Sony really should just step away from MMORPG’s as they clearly, in my view have no idea what the hell they are doing. SOE is the biggest waste of space and money to grace the net if you ask me. I’ve been let down by them twice on what should have been two of the biggest MMORPG phenomena to hit the net, I’ll never forgive them for what they did to SWG. The Matrix well, it’s not such a big issue for me. However I know there is a fan base out there that feel as strongly as I do about SOE mishandling SWG’s, but for the Matrix online.

If this game was owned by any other company it would have been shut down already. And can you really blame soe for trying to change swg, people were leaving in droves pre-cu because the game was shallow and thin, nothing really to it, oh booo-hooo now you cant stack tier builds (which all ended up being the same for everyone if you wanted a tier build that was worth a damn), The content that has been added to swg since the cu is tremendous, yes content, to go with the story, something to do besides join 10 man groups to do solo job terminals over and over and over, or standing in the ackley cave for hours and hours and hours. You seem like the type of sorry sap that isnt so much angry with the whole cu, but is indeed angry you cant run into the water when yer flagged and get out of the pvp (that sheet pissed me off). So think about that man, at least soe tries to keep a game going, or tries to change it for the better where other companies woulda said f**k you f**k this game its gettin shut down. Get over it already, you sound like some weird screwball obsessed freak, comparable to the guy who shot john lennon imho, yer not healthy.

Yeah I recently picked up this game too (thanks to the station launcher trial)...

The graphics are nice for an old game, char creation is limited - but I think more avatar features are needed (faces etc.) there are plenty of clothing styles once you get ingame.

The atmosphere is spot-on. You really feel like you're in The Matrix. The community seem cool so far too.

The storyline is great! But as far as content goes - that's it.

Live events and 'critical missions' (storyline based missions released every few days) are all that keep me in this game. It's more like an interactive Matrix 4 film, than an MMORPG.

Standard missions suck, they are all same-ish, in the same buildings, doing the same tasks over and over. Quite a few bugs there too.

It seems all there is to do in the game is Missions or Data-Mining.
They realllly need more content.

It's such a shame, with such a big IP as The Matrix, this could have been something special... but it isn't :(

It would take some serious funding, and a total re-make to make The Matrix Online appeal to anyone but Matrix franchise fanatics like myself.

= Just my humple opinion after a few days of gameplay.
It really is a shame. Another MMO with such great potential, that has never been realised.

[Edit]
My trial is now over, and I'd quite like to keep playing, but I honestly can't justify £10 a month - the same price as the brand spanking new shiny Age of Conan.

Rediculous pricing for such an old game imo
[/Edit]

I was always curious about this game, and I even check back here to see what people think of the game. The only reason I never played this game was because SOE is the one I have to go through to play it.

I have to agree with the people that give SOE a "thumbs down". It's a shame they are mismanaging this game, but perhaps a new company can take over, and I would be willing to try it.

I refuse to send any money to Sony, however.

Technically the game is now quite sound, a bit of a grindfest but what mmo isn't. The pvp system is the best of any game baring an mmorpg title imo, though pvp itself has no purpose or reward. The community is tremendous albeit a bit introverted, but given the enormous potential squandered here its difficult to blame them for being a bit cautious, certainly if you do want to get the most from the game seek out that community it understands the game far better than any of the official team.

Sadly the biggest problem is that the story (the hook on which the game should hang) is being written by people with no conviction or commitment to the original material. While the place looks the part (brilliantly realised by the early devs in fact), there is no material or emotional connection to the movies any more. Recognisable characters are notable for being portrayed atypically, downright stupidly or else backgrounded entirely. New characters have been introduced but clearly would never have been allowed near the set of any of the movies, they simply do not belong in the Matrix and are uniformly one dimensional anachronisms or jokes.

Player involvement in the story has been refined to a clockwork series of live events where you are gathered and taken to an npc spawn (even when fighting with rival player organisations) then provided with miniscule exposition (invariably later to be proven worthless). The story has systematically avoided any of the outstanding questions posed by the franchise and instead just refuted anything learned to date; rolling back every situtation in a manner that makes it clear no matter who or what you are - nothing matters, nothing can be learned, nothing can be done and nothing changes. The player has effectively been written out altogether, a startlingly example of what 'not to do' for any MMO. 

The Matrix was a mature and persuasive slab of sci fi action. The ground was paved for the most perfect MMO integration of any franchise, Monolith understood that but didnt have the resources to make it work, SoE simply never understood it. Consequently new content has all the imagination of 'snakes on a plane' - irrelevent to anything that is supposed to be happening, a random insertion of game mechanics, that works only to contradict, bury and obscure the brilliance beneath.

The game aspect of MxO has become a sea, one in which, the original franchise and any original or unique design feature it once had, now drowns.

Originally posted by madjimbob

What killed this game is SOE (that Sony Online Entertainment just so people know to avoid ANYTHING hosted by them like the plague it’ll turn out to be a big waste of time and money)  they have to be the most useless, mind boggling stupid bunch of monkeys to host a MMORPG, EVER to grace the internet.  They Messed up The Matrix online, they messed up and Star War Galaxies! Two of the biggest film to MMORPG's to hit the net FULLSTOP. We are talking money in the bag, big bucks if managed right, and SOE just spooned it up. 

SOE couldn't manage them selves out of a wet paper bag if they had an eternity to work it out, in fact even if they had an infinite number of monkeys trying to type up the escape plan. They would get the escape plan read it, and then totally ignore it in favour for the most moronic idea to first be brain farted out of the hole in there face, they call a mouth! 

Now that rant is over yes I agree I quite like matrix online to start with but again once it stared to get mismanaged by SOE it all fell apart. The game was also fare to repetitive and alto you first got the feel for the matrix it soon wore off after the first month or so. When there was no real effect to you action on the world in any shape or form. Once the game was boiled down to it basic element it was all about making the hardest, biggest butt kicker you could make for PvP and that was about all the game was about. It needed more play driven environment like SWG or much, much, better yet EVE Online. 

For this game to become anything SOE needs to drop it and give the ball to someone else. In fact Sony really should just step away from MMORPG’s as they clearly, in my view have no idea what the hell they are doing. SOE is the biggest waste of space and money to grace the net if you ask me. I’ve been let down by them twice on what should have been two of the biggest MMORPG phenomena to hit the net, I’ll never forgive them for what they did to SWG. The Matrix well, it’s not such a big issue for me. However I know there is a fan base out there that feel as strongly as I do about SOE mishandling SWG’s, but for the Matrix online.

426 words, and no where do you actually say how SOE mismanaged this title.  Talk about being a 12 year old...

Eve = The gaming equivalent to getting braces.  You'll have a nice game playing it for 18 months.

Sadly the biggest problem is that the story (the hook on which the game should hang) is being written by people with no conviction or commitment to the original material.

Wasn't the story mapped out by the writers/producers of The Matrix?

I don't believe so plase correct me if im wrong as to i'm not certain but I think i remember reading about how dev's log in for the events to play chars like the twins or agents or nobia to make story and such so going off that I think its just a continous roleplay I haven't played enough yet to figure it out as to leveling is quite hard for me since no one is around my level.

my problem with the game is what you do at lvl 1 is the SAME THING you do at lvl 50. that thing is go to one building, do something, go to another building, do something else and so on. There is no purpose in this game. plus the story makes no sense and only affects you if you are on at the right time.

This continuation is written collaboratively between the award winning comic book writer Paul Chadwick and MxO lead game designer, Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain. It has also seen verification and input from "Matrix" creators, The Wachowski Brothers, through until the end of the upcoming Chapter 9.

To quote Jack Black from High Fidelity "You could be wrong, and you are!"

The original spiel stated the Warchowski's delivered the story and Paul Chadwick would furnish the details. Later this was qualifed to state that the story was Paul Chadwick's (details by LET/Rarebit) with reference to the Warchowski's, then later still it was admitted he just ran the more major ideas past them, then it was stated Chadwick only did a very rough outline  and recently Rarebit passed on the message that the Warchowskis had originally told Paul Chadwick he could do what he wanted, including ripping the story apart and starting over (the closest analogy to what actually has occurred and something inconsistent with our earlier information). Even Mr Chadwicks overarcing storyline was curtailed and corrupted toward the end taking away its original conclusions/justifications and replacing them with .... totally ridiculous ones seemingly just to retain the sub organisations that the game engine cannot actually accomodate properly.

Mr Chadwick's input was clearly provided with little or no consideration to the limitation and restrictions of the gameworld, Rarebit (who is since chapter 9 in sole charge) is capable of delivering a far more game (and thus player) freindly plot but is saddled with all the distance and contradiction already in place so that association and continuity with the movies no longer exists.

The player has literally been relegated to the role of detached observer, not involved, not affected by or able to influence events in any way shape or form. massively important events are described to have happened such as the breakdown of the truce, the destruction of Zion, the death of major characters but with no material consequence anywhere, for a story to place players at war yet retain us in the one location where nothing and noone can die is bizarre and inept. Worse still any interface the player has open to them has been rendered invalid, common logic refuted and real analogy denied so that even information gathered can take you nowhere.

The best story and rp to be had is in the player organised material - it works at a scale where the player can make some contribution but the official story is a sad sell out of the original promise and potential.

"and recently Rarebit passed on the message that the Warchowskis had originally told Paul Chadwick he could do what he wanted, including ripping the story apart and starting over "

Got a link, please?

_{The soe forums aren't very friendly or versatile for searches but the comment is referred to in the General discussion thread 'Warchoskis and the storyline' and of course the literal evidence of the story 'developed' to date.}

_{Don't know if links are effective cross-forum but you can try to use; http://forums.station.sony.com/mxo/posts/list.m?topic_id=36300021082}

Hm, I was rather interested in a direct quote of Rarebit or something (the only one I found there was about the original outline... I think).

Anyway, I just remembered to have read that statement myself (apparently, I was still around at that time). I even remember you or someone else saying "oh, now that I don't like at all, the game should be more true to the franchise" or something like that :)

"Rip apart, remake it as your own", right? Yea, definively. I remember that.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to start any discussion, or "make a point" or an argument (let's pretend I still had any right or knowledge to do so °_°).

I just wonder, if their franchise wasn't that holy to its creators, why should it be to us (or rather you, since I left)?

 

Well I left too, mainly because that statement confirmed something I feared was the case but didnt want to admit.

The original sales pitch for Matrix Online (still about in fact) was that it was the continuation of the events of the movies, that it would paint an immersive experience where the player was involved in what happend next..... However what actually occurred rolled back events, played down anything achieved (even by Neo, so what hope would there be for a humble player), spent time going places the player could not follow, feel or experience and in a monumentally shortsighted move the story actually destroyed the integrity of the players interface with the world so that nothing could ever be done to restore the situation.

However I concede I am not a typical MMO'er, what I hoped from the game is not the be all end all and just because it didnt fulfill my hopes is not to say there are not aspects to recommend. It has a great community (some great player rp), a close tie to the devs, a solid game engine, great pvp system, it looks and feels the part (albeit that is getting buried by souless generic mmo content) so if you haven't given it a go already I'd recommend anyone to do so.