Enter the Matrix is the first video game based on The Matrix Trilogy series of films. It was developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Atari and WB Interactive for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube game systems, and for the PC. It was published in Japan by Bandai. It sold one million copies in its first eighteen days of release, 2.5 million over the first six weeks, and eventually 5 million copies. Enter the Matrix was simultaneously produced with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions films.
First released on 15 May 2003, the same day as The Matrix Reloaded’s North American release, Enter the Matrix gives players control of two of the supporting characters in that film, Ghost and Niobe, members of the same group of rebels asMorpheus, Trinity, and Neo. Niobe is the Captain of the Logos, the fastest ship in the rebel fleet. Ghost is the ship’s first mate and weapons guru, and is a deep-thinking, philosophical assassin. The game takes place at roughly the same time as the events in The Matrix Reloaded; a character may walk out of a scene in the film, only to walk into a scene in the game. Like the films, the game features martial arts, firefights, driving, and bullet-time. It also includes a “hacking system” that simulates the ability to hack into the Matrix by way of a simplified mimicry of DOS, exploring and unlocking secrets, weapons, maps, and skills. Enter the Matrix was designed, like The Animatrix, to be an integral part of the Matrix series. Many previous movies have been adapted as games, but in this case, the game expands upon the story told in the films. Enter the Matrix includes two hours of live action 35mm film footage written and directed specifically for the game by the Wachowski brothers (and later included as part of “The Ultimate Matrix Collection” on the “The Matrix Reloaded Revisited” DVD). The martial arts moves and in-engine cutscenes of the game feature actions captured directly from the films’ actors and stunt doubles to recreate their unique fighting styles while suspended from wires under the supervision of the series’ fight scene choreographer Yuen Wo Ping.
The player learns that Neo is not the only target of Persephone’s predilection toward trading kisses for esoteric information; Niobe and Ghost are both put into positions where they must submit to her whims in order to gain critical information that she offers them in return for their favors. Significant also to the continuity of the Matrix universe is the first appearance of actress Mary Alice in the role of the Oracle. (Gloria Foster, the original actress, died of complications related to diabetes early on in the production of both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions). The game includes a film sequence specifically explaining her change of appearance, as a result of an attack on her by the Merovingian, a malevolent character introduced in The Matrix Reloaded, who also appears in the game. Another film sequence reveals that the Merovingian’s attack was facilitated by a sacrificial trade with the compassionate program Rama-Kandra. Allowed to occur by the Oracle, the Merovingian acquired the deletion codes for the Oracle’s external “shell,” and in exchange, he gave Rama-Kandra’s daughter Sati her freedom and safety in the Matrix, despite her lack of purpose in the machine world, though the Oracle foreshadows that Sati will play an important role in both the Matrix and the Real. What role Sati will play is yet to be determined in The Matrix Online.