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

Background

I've been a big fan of LucasArts games since the 90s, especially their adventure games with a run of back-to-back classics very reminiscent of Pixar's first decade in terms of creative output. Tim Schafer was one of the prominent developers involved in a number of these adventure games, particularly as project lead for memorable classics such as Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. As LucasArts shifted away from adventure games in the late 90s, Tim Schafer eventually left to found Double Fine Productions, whose first two games were Psychonauts and Brütal Legend.

While I didn't play any of these games on release, I appreciated Double Fine's remasters of classic LucasArts adventure games, which prompted me to eventually take a shot at some of their original releases.

Production

Brütal Legend is an open world action game with major set pieces that include elements of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. It's also a love letter to the heavy metal music genre and has one of the strongest examples of art direction I’ve seen in a game. This starts from the game menu itself, which is a charming live action FMV showing Jack Black, best known as the Chicken Jockey guy from the Minecraft Movie, flicking through a vinyl album. The game world feels like you've stepped into the cover art of a heavy metal album: a fantasy realm filled with magic, demons, medieval weaponry, umlauts, and V8 hot rods. The locales and factions are inspired by various metal subgenres, from gleaming glam towers to spooky fog-swathed gothic swamps and hellish wastelands.

The soundtrack is a comprehensive library of licensed music across heavy metal’s many subgenres. Not being particularly well-versed in music, I personally discovered a number of songs and bands that are now part of my regular playlist. The music is so integral to the game’s feel and atmosphere that it would be a real shame if any tracks had to be removed in the future due to licensing issues.

The voice cast is stellar, from Jack Black and Tim Curry providing the star power to voice acting veterans like Jennifer Hale, along with cameos by heavy metal legends such as Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, and Ozzy Osbourne.

Gameplay

Brütal Legend’s gameplay is split between open world action and real-time strategy battles. Both modes have significant overlap, as you're always controlling the main character from a third-person perspective. The open world starts off as a basic hack-and-slash action game and gradually introduces new elements such as magic and a car for traversing the map. Magic is creatively implemented as heavy metal riffs, cast by playing a short rhythm minigame. Combat is serviceable but lacks the responsiveness of more polished melee-focused titles.

The world has a few settlements and outposts but isn’t very interactive. There’s some local wildlife, some of which can be tamed as temporary mounts, and enemy mobs, but nothing especially challenging. Sidequests and minigames are scattered throughout, but none are particularly memorable. You can spend currency, earned through story missions and side activities, at an upgrade merchant, but there’s no meaningful economy.

Early missions are mostly linear dungeon-like segments with boss fights, but the game later adds new mission types like races and the showpiece Stage Battles.

Stage Battles introduce the RTS elements. These take place in closed-off arenas with a stage at each end. Your stage acts as a base where units are spawned, and your goal is to destroy the enemy stage. The stage can be upgraded to unlock better units, with the full upgrade level tied to story advancement. Capturing resource nodes provides currency to spawn units and upgrade the stage.

A unique mechanic during Stage Battles is the main character’s ability to fly, letting you view the battlefield from above and quickly respond to threats. You can also fight directly and take control of specific units for unique abilities. Dying as the main character in this mode is a minor setback, as you will eventually respawn back at your stage. While you can issue basic commands, the lack of a traditional RTS top-down view makes micro-management clumsy. There is also an enemy commander that flies around with similar abilities to the player character, although the limited AI makes them mainly a nuisance in the single player.

Unfortunately, Stage Battles become tedious as most battles devolve into zerg rushing to the nearest flashpoint with your units and dropping a few spells to press the advantage. Some missions can take over an hour if you aren’t optimizing every step, made worse by the lack of mid-mission saves. There are only a handful of Stage Battle missions throughout the single player campaign, so when they occur there isn't much variety in how they play. The only other game I’ve played that tries this hybrid formula is Giants: Citizen Kabuto, a janky cult classic from 2000 which also struggled to balance such gameplay. Brütal Legend might have benefited from cutting down the RTS layer and focusing on third-person action, similar to MOBAs like League of Legends, which interestingly launched the same year.

The Stage Battles are also the core of the multiplayer mode, although I didn't spend much time here as it's not that enjoyable for me.

Technical Note

I played the PS3 version, which should be avoided at all cost. Besides the typical performance issues of PS3 games compared to the Xbox or PC versions, there’s a game-breaking bug that corrupts your save if you get too far into the 100% completion checklist. This remains unpatched in the PS3 version and effectively forces you to skip sidequests and exploration until after the main story. The game also includes DLC with trophies that is no longer accessible on the PS3. Despite these issues, I pushed through to complete the game because I appreciated the artistry behind it.

Conclusion

Brütal Legend’s artistry is second to none, and stands as a unique heartfelt tribute to heavy metal. However, its gameplay, especially the RTS elements, struggles to keep up. For me, this makes it a mid game overall, though one that's definitely worth experiencing for the world, the music, and the style.

7/10 Worth playing for any gamer, if you get the PC or Xbox version

or

3/10 for the PS3 version - avoid

Background

I’ve always had a soft spot for adventure games, going all the way back to the DOS era. The depth of their stories and characters always resonated with me more than the often bare-bones narratives found in many contemporary games. The golden age of LucasArts adventures in the '90s produced a string of classics that still stick with me today. While the 2000s were something of a fallow period for the genre, the 2010s brought about a revival, largely driven by indie studios. This resurgence also marked a split in the genre between traditional puzzle-heavy games and more narrative-driven experiences, popularized by Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

Life is Strange 2 falls firmly into the latter camp, aligning more with the narrative style of Telltale’s work. I've played through most of the Life is Strange series up to True Colors, but I had put off playing Life is Strange 2 until recently. The premise never grabbed me as much as the others, and early online discourse suggested it wasn’t as strong as the rest of the series.

Production

As a narrative-driven adventure game, Life is Strange 2 lives or dies by its story and writing. Structurally, the game takes a road trip approach, a notable shift from the first Life is Strange, which was largely confined to a high school and its surrounding town. While this new format offers more variety in terms of settings, it comes at the cost of character depth. The transient nature of the story means most supporting characters appear in only one or two episodes, often reducing them to broad archetypes rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. This stands in contrast to the original game, where the static setting allowed you to grow familiar with a cast of well-developed personalities.

The heart of the narrative lies in the relationship between Sean Diaz, the player character, and his younger brother, Daniel. By centering the story on two Mexican-American protagonists traveling through a politically tense, Trump 1.0 America, the game directly engages with themes of racism and social justice. While these are bold and commendable narrative choices, the handling can feel a bit heavy-handed at times, likely due to the limitations of the episodic structure and limited runtime per chapter.

One of the game’s biggest weaknesses is its pacing, especially in the early episodes. The first episode, in particular, drags in places and struggles to find narrative momentum. Fortunately, this improves in later chapters as the writing team appears to find its rhythm and better balance character development with plot progression. The episodes also feel more self-contained and rarely end on cliffhangers like those in Life is Strange 1, which reduces the urgency to immediately jump into the next episode.

Where Life is Strange 2 truly shines is in how it handles player choices. While it also concludes with a major final decision, the game’s ending is much more responsive to the cumulative decisions made throughout the journey. This gives the story a more organic and emotionally satisfying denouement, especially compared to the binary choice that closed the first game. In fact, I’d argue that Life is Strange 2 sticks the landing much better whereas Life is Strange 1’s final episode felt rushed and tonally inconsistent, the sequel ends on a far stronger note.

On the production side, the art direction is excellent. It builds on the digital painting art style of the first game with a more refined look. Character models, especially for background NPCs, are noticeably improved, adding a level of polish that helps elevate the overall presentation.

Gameplay

Gameplay in this genre will always be somewhat limited, and Life is Strange 2 is no exception. Unlike the first game, which featured a time-rewinding mechanic that played a central role in both puzzles and narrative choices, the superpower in Life is Strange 2 has a much lighter touch in terms of gameplay. It's more of a narrative device than an interactive mechanic.

Traditional puzzles are virtually nonexistent. While there are moments where your decisions influence the story, these choices tend to shape character relationships or determine minor outcomes rather than create complex branching paths. The game follows a mostly linear structure, and it lacks the high degree of narrative divergence seen in titles like Detroit: Become Human.

Conclusion

While I had to push myself through the slower early episodes, the journey that Sean and Daniel go through gradually grew on me. Life is Strange 2 ultimately tells a stronger story than its predecessor, but the less engaging superpower mechanic and a cast of less memorable side characters hold it back. It lands as a solid, upper-tier “mid game” which is more emotionally resonant than mechanically compelling.

7/10 Worth playing for any gamer

Background

Superliminal is an Indie first person puzzle game that was released in late 2019, right before the COVID19 era. I recall vaguely hearing about this around the time it was originally released, but never gave it much thought until I saw it was one of the games that was going to be removed from the PS Plus catalogue in late 2024.

Production

For those familiar with similar titles, Superliminal is best described as a hybrid between Portal and The Stanley Parable. The game is a first-person puzzler built around a unique gimmick reminiscent of Portal, while the tone and atmosphere evoke The Stanley Parable—from its eerie abandoned offices and maze-like backrooms to the quaint British narrator. As the game is premised on exploring and escaping from a dream world, the level design becomes increasingly surreal as the game progresses.

The graphics and controls are serviceable but have a distinct "basic Unity-game" feel to it, where it lacks the level of polish that would bring it to the next level. While it's not the sort of game to push graphical boundaries, I could see it greatly benefiting from a ray tracing remaster down the line where a more realistic presentation would enhance its unsettling "liminal" atmosphere. Unfortunately, the controls—whether in character movement or camera handling—suffer from a noticeable floatiness, making interactions feel imprecise.

Similarly, the writing and voice acting for the narration are competent but fall short of their inspirations. The game clearly aims for the tone of Portal and The Stanley Parable, with a disembodied voice guiding the player through an abandoned facility, yet it lacks the same humour and charm, making the experience feel somewhat underwhelming by comparison.

Gameplay

Superliminal’s core gameplay mechanic revolves around perspective manipulation—objects retain their apparent size relative to the player's viewpoint, while their actual size changes based on the background as the player moves the camera. For example, a player can pick up a normal-sized apple up close, where it fills most of the screen, then turn to face a distant ceiling while keeping the apple in view. Upon releasing it, the apple "resizes" accordingly into an enormous house-sized apple falling from above.

The early puzzles gradually introduce this mechanic before ramping up in complexity. While genuinely fun, the limitations of the system soon become apparent: the perspective-based interactions lack the deliberate precision found in other puzzle games, often leading to frustrating trial and error when adjusting an object’s size and orientation. As the game progresses, the puzzle design starts to feel repetitive, with many later challenges boiling down to finding the right object to create a ramp. Although new mechanics are introduced, many feel like one-off gimmicks that aren't expanded upon in later puzzles. Towards the endgame, puzzle-solving takes a backseat, and the game shifts into something more akin to a trippy walking simulator.

The game is relatively short—my first playthrough lasted around four hours, yet certain sections still felt padded for length. A speedrun achievement for completing the game in under 35 minutes highlights just how quickly it can be breezed through.

Conclusion

Superliminal is built around a genuinely innovative mechanic, but struggles to fully explore its potential in a meaningful way. It’s clear that Superliminal draws heavy inspiration from Portal and The Stanley Parable, but this unfortunately invites unflattering comparisons. Where Portal excels in precise puzzle design and gradual mastery of its mechanics, Superliminal often feels imprecise and inconsistent. Likewise, both Portal and The Stanley Parable uses sharp writing and humor to create a compelling world, while Superliminal’s storytelling lacks the same charm and wit. Ultimately, Superliminal feels like an ambitious experiment that's definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre, but falls short of being a truly good game.

6/10 worth it if you're a fan of the genre