Background The original Matrix film, released in 1999, was a revolutionary action film in terms of combining Asian cinema inspired gunplay and kung fu together with cutting edge special effects, particularly the famed "bullet time" effect. With themes that resonate with the nascent late 90s internet and a plot that keeps you thinking, The Matrix was a cultural touchstone for many Western millennials. Of course, with financial success comes a demand for sequels, which was taken a step further by the franchise with the launch of a multimedia universe. 2003 was to be the big year, where two film sequels were released: The Matrix Reloaded in May followed by The Matrix Revolutions in November. If that wasn't enough of a media overload, there was also the anime anthology, Animatrix, and the subject of this post itself, the videogame Enter the Matrix, which was also released in May at the same time as The Matrix Reloaded. While the ambition is admirable, it's clear that the release date of the Enter the Matrix was driven by the requirements of the wider media franchise itself rather than when the game would be in a complete state.

Production Enter the Matrix is a third person 3D action game incorporating melee combat and shooting augmented by the "bullet time" system. The game includes a significant amount of cinematic footage that was shot concurrently with the Matrix sequels. The plot of the game ties in very closely with The Matrix Reloaded, which in game events expanding on scenes within the movie itself. The game even includes a teaser trailer for The Matrix Revolutions as part of its ending. The game has two selectable player characters: Niobe and Ghost. While each of them have slightly different melee movements, gameplay wise they seem indistinguishable. While the overall chapters are similar for both characters, each character has their own unique path through the levels with a few exceptions.

The menu UI is functional and leans heavily on the imagery of the Matrix franchise, from the green digital rain to the sound effects. The whole presentation plus the exclusive footage makes it feel like an integral part of the Matrix franchise, rather than the standard licensed game of the time where the license feels more like window dressing. The in game aspects itself are where the cracks start to appear. While the 3D environment tries to evoke real world locations, the basic geometry and texture work, especially in the latter levels, gives it a previous gen or low budget look. Character models have the early 6th gen console look, with the protagonists benefitting from the bulk of the effort. A lot of works seems to have gone into the animation to account for the various melee and gunplay moves for the protagonists, although animations still appear to be canned and not physics driven. Some particularly egregious examples of bad 3D models include vehicles with angular wheels.

Gameplay

The majority of the gameplay are third person combat sequences through linear levels. Health and Focus, the resource for bullet time, both regenerate on their own after a couple of seconds out of combat so there are almost no resource pickups except for health packs located sporadically throughout the maps. Shooting is similar to the original Tomb Raider games, where the character aims automatically at the nearest enemy, while melee is similar where initiating melee combat locks the camera into a more side on view with nearby enemies, and also seems to reduce or prevent enemies further away from shooting at you. I suppose that's one way indulge the fantasy of melee combat against armed opponents. Melee combat includes punches, kicks, and throws. There's also a disarm move, particularly handy for reducing the threat of armed enemies, while sneaking behind enemies also allows for an insta kill move. Counters are also possible although its only relevant during melee boss fights. There seems to be a lot of depth in the melee system, including light medium and heavy attacks, which depends on your direction inputs when fighting enemies.

Focus is the cornerstone of the combat system. Activating focus puts the world into slow motion allowing you to run quickly while dodging visible bullet trails to close the distance with enemies or giving more time to aim and shoot at various enemies. Jumping while using guns in focus mode also gives you cartwheeling or diving moves which seems to improve bullet evasion. Focus also improves your melee moves, making them less likely to be blocked and also allowing for more powerful focus specific moves. There also certain context specific moves, such as running on walls or wall kicks.

While the combat system is ambitious, it's clear that significantly more polish is needed. The biggest combat issue for me is hit registration. There's little visual feedback when the enemies get hit, apart from some canned animations which seem to get overridden when the enemies move to their next animation. Shooting in bullet time seems inconsistent, with many shots looking like they miss the target. Melee combat has the same issue, particular for melee boss fights where it's hard to tell when your hits are being blocked.

While there are a variety of guns, you'll mostly be sticking with the shotgun or automatic weapons once you get them from the enemies. Grenades are included but using them is inconsistent and potentially dangerous due to unpredictable bounces off level geometry.

The levels themselves are mostly unremarkable indoor areas, although there are certain rooms with columns that are clearly meant to evoke the iconic lobby firefight from the first movie. Progress through the levels are mostly linear, with a few switches to trigger or doors that unlock once an enemy opens them, but otherwise no puzzles or keys to collect. Certain levels require you to run way from pursuing Agents, since they're not beatable except for certain set pieces.

90% of the enemies in the games are armed cops. There's a level midway through the game with a focus on melee enemies, which allows the melee system to shine, but otherwise most of the game involves grinding through varieties of cops, from lightly armed pistol wielding guards to armored SWAT teams that require a lot of firepower to take down. In most instances, closing the distance with bullet time then disarming enemies seems to be the most effective combat tactic. Enemies with firearms do high damage, which encourages you to be evasive and use the Focus system. While there's some instant Focus regeneration if you manage to kill an enemy in melee, there's still a lot of waiting around needed at certain points to get your health and focus up for the next battle.

The game also has a couple of levels which involves either driving or shooting from the vehicle, depending on which character you choose. The latter can be annoying as the AI driver sometimes gets stuck in geometry.

The game has a checkpoint system, with long periods between checkpoints. On occasion it's possible to trigger a checkpoint at low health/focus that makes the next sequence more difficult, but otherwise it's a matter of looking for a safe spot to regenerate. There are no upgrades in the game, so there isn't much of a reason to replay once you've done both the Niobe and Ghost paths.

Technical Note

I played the PS2 version emulated on an Android handheld, so it's possible that certain effects could be more visible on a big screen, but otherwise the game runs fine in ARMSX2. There are some bugs here and there with enemies sometimes getting stuck, but nothing game breaking.

The biggest issue with the PS2 version are the awkward controls. The game is from the era where twin stick 3D controls were still not settled, so it uses the left stick for forward, backwards, and turning, while the triggers are bound to strafing. While it works, it has not aged well.

Conclusion

The elephant in the room for Enter the Matrix is the existence of Max Payne, the 2001 third person shooter which pretty much got bullet time gun play perfect right out of the gate. While Max Payne is more of a conventional third person shooter where you have to actually aim, the crisp gameplay sells the bullet time fantasy far better than Enter the Matrix. Of course, Enter the Matrix also has the whole melee combat system as well, but the shooting and melee system here don't feel seamlessly integrated.

Overall given its uneven gameplay and very weak level design, it's at the bottom tier of mid games.

4/10 Some cool moments but otherwise a janky relic of a bygone era

Please try to refrain from mentioning a certain nerd

First Encounter with the V10: An Unexpected Surprise During Hospitalization

Just to be clear: this isn’t a 2026 “must-buy.” It’s a $20 surplus-unit experience.

The real value is GBA pixel-perfect display, not strong performance for every console.

ArkOS is no longer updated on this device, so it only handles basic emulation well.

The $20 price on Xianyu may not be replicable for buyers outside China.

I recently bought a surplus unit. The price-to-performance ratio is still very high, but it may not be suitable for everyone.

Last summer, I was sick and spent a month in the hospital. The internet connection there was quite poor. I thought about buying an open-source handheld to play games, and I stumbled upon the PowKiddy V10. It was cheap, and the gaming experience was decent. This handheld left a deep impression on me. It supports 2x pixel-perfect scaling for GBA games, which looks very different from playing on a phone emulator.

Although this technology is common now, for me personally, the open-source handhelds I bought before the V10 were not suitable for playing GBA games. This device gave me a different experience.

The Awkward Positioning of Being Born Too Late

Recently, I found surplus stock on Xianyu, a Chinese second-hand marketplace owned by Alibaba, priced at only 138 CNY (about $20 USD). It was brand new, a great deal, so I bought a second one.

Its biggest problem is that it was released quite late. The PowKiddy V10 launched in China in July 2024 with a starting price of 198 CNY. However, there are already too many handhelds that can play GBA games with pixel-perfect scaling, such as the Miyoo Mini Plus and the Anbernic RG35XX (2024 version), which have already matured this kind of experience. It has an obvious product positioning problem: players who demand high performance won't choose it, and players who want a hassle-free experience might buy more expensive handhelds.

Hardware Review: A GBA Beast, PS1 is Passable

The specifications of this handheld are as follows. Its biggest feature is that it plays GBA games very well.

There is a habit among Chinese handheld reviewers to test using the GBA game Dragon Ball Advance Adventure. The reason is that this game has vibrant graphics, making it easy to see the display quality of a screen. There is an interesting meme circulating among players: "Did you hit pixel-perfect today?" Many veteran GBA players care about this. The display effect is shown in the picture. Of course, you can use it for testing, and the game itself is quite fun.

Secondly, playing PS1 games is also not bad. Although it is not as suitable as playing GBA games, most games run relatively smoothly. Some games with higher hardware requirements may suffer from frame rate drops. I have no complaints about the hardware, especially since it is quite cheap.

Software Shortcomings: Discontinued System and Pain Points

However, the software aspect is quite average.

First, it does not support independent volume and brightness adjustment buttons; you can only achieve this using button combinations. Also, it defaults to maximum brightness and volume upon reboot. Second, the system updates have stopped. The ArkOS system uses EmulationStation as the default frontend, with RetroArch as the emulator backend. It can only meet basic functional needs. Finally, the DS gaming experience is very poor. It lacks a touchscreen, the screen aspect ratio is uncomfortable, and gameplay isn't very smooth.

Quick ArkOS Hotkeys

If you are new to ArkOS, these common hotkeys may help. On many ArkOS devices, Select + Start exits a game and returns to EmulationStation. Select + R1 saves a state, and Select + L1 loads a state. Select + X usually opens the in-game RetroArch menu. Brightness and volume are often controlled through combination keys rather than dedicated buttons, but the exact mapping can vary by device and firmware version. For the PowKiddy V10, it is best to check the current ArkOS build or test the hotkeys directly.

Buying Advice: Is the $20 Surplus Unit Worth It?

I believe that in today’s open-source handheld market, the system experience takes priority over the hardware itself. It is very suitable for playing GBA games, but that is about it. I hope you truly need the PowKiddy V10, rather than choosing it just because it is cheap. It is best to apply a tempered glass screen protector, otherwise, it easily collects fingerprints.

If you have a budget of $20 USD, would you choose to buy this handheld? Or would you spend a bit more for a safer choice?

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1422450/view/680766201707627248

Today marks the end of our first Ranked Beta Season. Players who participated in Beta Season 1 will receive their commemorative Hideout plaque of their highest achieved rank once the new season rolls over.

Beta Season 2 begins now, and will end on Thursday March 11th 2027, lasting four months.

Seasonal Rank Reset

Ranked players will see their rank soft reset at the start of this new season, and can begin their climb through Beta Season 2. This soft reset is significantly smaller than the previous one. On average, players can expect to see their rank decrease by around 1 badge as part of the soft reset. We will also be using the players' winrate in the previous season to make further adjustments of 1-2 subranks to help place players in the correct relative spots. Existing Ranked players will not have to complete calibration again at the start of this season, players who did not participate in Ranked last season will need to calibrate as usual.

Global Rank Redistribution

After monitoring the Ranked playerbase throughout this first season, and accommodating for the recent influx of new players in the game, we will be running a global redistribution at the start of this new season. This means that some players may see their rank actually increase rather than decrease at the start of the new season despite the soft reset.

To summarize, both of these rank adjustments are being made as a two-step operation. The first is taking everyone's existing ranks and redistributing the curve as described above. Second is taking the new post-redistribution numbers and applying the soft reset of ranks by about -1 badge on average. The final result of this is going to be different for everyone, some may gain ranks despite the soft reset and others may get moved down slightly more.

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Rule changes to Ranked for Beta Season 2

We are making a few changes to the way the Ranked system works for Beta Season 2 based on how things played out in Beta Season 1, as well as all of the useful feedback we've heard from the community.

Rank Loss Protection (Shields):

Players within the Phantom, Ascendant, and Eternus ranks will no longer have any rank loss protection shields (previously 5 on full ranks and 2 on subranks).

For all other players, we have reduced the number of rank loss protection shields. For full rank boundary, the shield count is reduced from 5 to 3 (i.e. if you are at Mystic I with 0 rank points, you will now maintain the Mystic badge for only 3 losses before dropping to Sentinel instead of 5). For subranks (i.e. Mystic III → Mystic II), the shield count is reduced from 2 to 1.

Rank Points:

Per Match: The points for a game has been increased from 300 to 350.

Ranking Up:

The points required to reach a new badge from a final subrank have been decreased from 2000 to 1500. The points between subranks remain unchanged at 1000.

Hero Bans:

We have increased the number of hero bans per match in Ranked from 3 to 4.

Initial Placements:

The highest players can be placed in the new season will be Ascendant I, with some potential for up to Ascendant III based on performance in the previous season (up from Oracle VI max last season).

Hero Unlocking Requirements:

We still feel strongly that it is very important that players in Ranked have deep knowledge and confidence piloting a hero they are using for the sake of all players involved, however we also recognize that there is room for improvement in how we measure this. Unlocking a hero in Ranked now uses a point system, rather than only progressing based on wins. Unlocking a hero now requires 35 points, you will gain 2 points for a win and 1 point for a loss. With the previous 15 win system (assuming 50% WR), it would have required an equivalent of 45 points (15 wins = 30 points, 15 losses = 15 points, 30+15=45).

Ranked Leaderboards:

• We've reworked the backend to how leaderboards work to fix numerous bugs.
• Each Ranked season now has its own leaderboard.
• To show up on a leaderboard, you must play at least 50 Ranked matches in that season within the last 30 days. Ranking is based on your current badge progress.
• To show up on a hero-specific leaderboard, you must play at least 15 Ranked matches with that hero within the last 30 days. Ranking is based on your current badge progress and your recent win/loss performance on that hero.

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Beta Season 2 begins today, we'll see you there!

AFP did an interview with him afterwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QmRxuM04E

Today's super little article is about a nice new development for the Panasonic 3DO. Developer Todd Gill has released 3DO ODE Menu, a replacement interface for several popular optical drive emulators that makes browsing and managing games stored on SD cards easier.

It introduces cover artwork, favorites, recently played games, faster navigation, customizable themes and some useful improvements for multidisc games like Wing Commander III. Gill has also created a companion Cover Maker utility that can automatically find and prepare game artwork, which is a particularly nice touch. I've included plenty of screenshots showing the new interface and how it all works.

I love seeing developers continue to improve the experience of using original hardware, especially for consoles like the 3DO that don't always receive as much attention as Nintendo and Sega's machines. It's not a new emulator or a replacement console, just a nice, useful quality-of-life improvement for people still enjoying their 3DOs more than thirty years later!

Stealth in DS3 is so OP. It's also helped by enemies having only a really short attention span in DS3.

This is a play on this meme which was also previously posted here

I can't for the live of me find the artist of the original Silver Archer artwork (it was reposted way to often). Earliest sign I could find was someone using it in 2014 as their avatar (at least according to TinEye).

Original artwork:

Today’s game is some more 007 First Light. I sunk all my free time today into beating this one. Maybe more time than I should have. I was just really hooked though and wanted to make it to the end.

I liked Greenway and Jame’s bond. It felt like he provided a parental figure to James, and in a way a friend. I like how they chose to have him grow with James and become close to him.

I also liked the Mega Complex that Webb Industries has. I love big ass mega complex’s like this. From just an appreciation view they’re really cool to see and look around.

I would like to go back and 100% it, or at least 100% it as far as Steam is concerned. I find that’s a good way to really experience everything without going crazy and burning myself out. So I might give that a try. Or maybe I’ll move straight too Uncharted 4.

I came across this on heise.de: it's an app that lets you play games from Steam, Gog, Epic and elsewhere on many Android phones (Pixels excepted, apparently). I've tried a few that run fine and others that do not, but I think the idea is amazing, especially for older, less demanding games. I'm finding the controls the biggest challenge, but I'm sure this can be tweaked.

Anyone been playing, deep dish dungeon?

I've been thinking about how Sony, and others, are no longer planning to sell physical games, but fuck! What's next? Next thing you know, they'll be charging a subscription fee for using the software. I hope they don't hear me say that, lest I give them the idea. https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/

#gamedev #gameaudio #news #opinion