;)
Role-Playing
The Matrix Online makes it very easy for a person who wants to Role Play their character to do so. People seem more likely to role play in this setting than in your typical fantasy or medieval setting because they don't feel as silly doing it. Either that or they're not as worried about screwing something up; such as should I use a 'thee' or a 'thy' here? In the Matrix Online it's a modern setting so role playing your character could mean as little as acting ingame as you would in every day real life. And if you wanted you could even take it as extreme as you wanted.
The Storyline Events definitely help with the role playing aspects of the game. Interacting with known entities from the movies does a lot to make one feel more in touch with their character. The different factions also go a long way in this aspect; giving the player several diverse options of play style to choose from. You could be the determined Zionist, struggling to survive in the unstable peace after the war. Or maybe work for the Machines, trying to reinstate their dominance over the Matrix. And last but definitely not least you could work for the Frenchman which has a kind of organized crime feel to it.
Fun and Value
This is one of the areas where I found the game to be lacking. In my opinion it just didn't have the depth to keep me playing long term. After playing a while I found myself not really all that hyped up to log in and play unless there was an event going on. Basically as far as depth goes the game really brings nothing new to the table. It even feels like all the fantasy/medieval MMORPGs out there just wrapped in a nice new Neo Trenchcoat and combat boots. The missions start to get repetitive after a while, insanely so at some points. I had a series of five missions which sent me back and forth between the same two buildings (which were about 300m apart) over and over and over.
;)
Yes I know there is other stuff to do in the game to break up the mission monotony, and different types of missions, but really that's the meat and potatoes of the game while you're leveling up. At least in my opinion it is, your opinion naturally might vary. To me it just seemed like the same stuff I've done so many times in the past, just with a different look. I know, the same could be said about any game out there these days, but I'm not reviewing any of those other games at the moment, I'm reviewing The Matrix Online.
The way I see it is if you're a hardcore Matrix fan you'll love this game and consider it WELL worth your money. If you hated the Matrix movies you're going to hate the game, that's a given. If you're kinda iffy as far as the movies go then you could go either way on the game as well. Obviously a lot of people out there find it to be worth their money, in my opinion though I can't see myself playing it for too much longer. The Storyline Events are amazing and I look forward to them, but other than that I just don't feel compelled to play the game.
;)
The combat system has been one of the most talked about features of the Matrix Online. A lot of people compare it to rock paper scissors but that's really not an accurate description. You have three different styles of attack plus a block and special abilities. So basically where in a typical MMORPG you just do your normal attack (swing weapon repeatedly) when you're not doing a special ability; in Matrix Online you can choose which style of "normal" attack to use. This seems interesting and new in the beginning but eventually the novelty of it wears off.
The crafting system can seem daunting to the average new player. And it indeed is a bit complicated and convoluted in the beginning but once you get the hang of it there's really not much to it. As with all the other skills in the game everyone can do everything so there's no real differentiating between two different crafters. The only real reason to craft is to make your own items or to sell to those too lazy to make their own. The system doesn't have enough depth to it to really encourage a full-time crafter like some other games on the market so if that's your thing then you're going to be sadly disappointed in this game.
