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The Dutch Official Playstation 2 magazine published an interview with the head of Shiny, Dave Perry, who’s in charge of the creation of the Enter the Matrix videogame. Since most of you don’t understand Dutch, I’ve translated the interview for your reading pleasure:
Q: Several weeks ago you told us at the presentation that the game is huge. Did you find a good solution for the data-compression or will this be the first PS2-game on multiple discs?
A: You’re right that this game -with more than an hour of filming material- takes lots of space. But with the compression techniques we currently use, we succeed in storing the data without any concessions in quality. It looks like we’ll get it onto one DVD (at least we hope so).
Q: At our visit we got to see some of the action elements of the game, can you tell us more about the further aspects: the racing, hacking, flying, etc.?
A: Concerning the car part, we especially want to make clear that it’s not some ordinary race-game. In Enter the Matrix driving is part of the action in pure Hollywood style! We’re talking reckless stunts, crashes, explosions and intense action. Let me illustrate this with an example: there’s a level where you have to get to a phone booth very fast to escape from the Matrix. On the way you’ll get across cops, ‘agents’ and other enemies who’ll do anything to prevent you from reaching your goal. Once back in the real world starts the flying with the hovercraft. You’ll feel the adrenaline rushing through your blood here too. Sentinels will pursue you through ancient electric tunnels and sewers. You’ll have to fly a quickly as possible or shoot the enemies, before they can clamp themselves to your ship and pierce through the wall. For the hacking system we got inspiration from old-school text adventures from the 80’s. You can hack your character or your console to discover secrets or unlock new game play-elements.
Q: Will there be any interaction with the environments? On PS2 Third Person games often enact in empty and uninspiring surroundings. How do you go to work?
A: The surroundings in Enter the Matrix can be totally shot to pieces. My favorite weapon is the shotgun. You can really gun around with that one. Documents fly out of cabinets, light bulbs snap, paintings fall to the ground, tiles tumble from the ceiling,… don’t worry, the surroundings will be everything except empty. The Wachowski Brothers gave us access to all the film sets and we can count on the help of all the designers who’re working on the film. This means that the environments in the game will be exact copies of those that appear in the second film.
Q: Will there be many non-playable characters with whom you can communicate or will the story be unwrapped in another way? Will the storyline of the game be as thorough as the movies?
A: The story for the game has been written by the Wachowski’s. So there’ll be interaction with lots of characters from the movie. On top of that they’ve created some characters that’ll only appear in the game. The story is a complex interplay between the movie and the game -there are multiple storylines that are initially parallel to each other and cross at certain moments. You can wander about in a game scene and a few seconds later you’ll end up in a scene from the film.
Q: Will the game use any online possibilities?
A: Not in some form of multiplayer game, but you can expect some surprises in the hacking system.
Q: At the press presentation you told us about the ‘real-time bonus system’. Do you use any other impressive techniques that can be called innovative?
A: The ‘real-time bonus system’ is indeed a unique feature. We think it’s very important to show the characters closely to get a more film-like direction.
Q: Another question on the hacking system: do you know the Japanese RPG .Hack? It is a game within a game. You can destroy enemies by changing the data code of your opponents. Will the Matrix game have anything like this? Is it possible to change The Matrix by hacking?
A: No, it works different. You can explore the insides of your PS2 to unlock more of your own skills. You can obtain new fighting skills for example.
Q: What kind of music will accompany the action?
A: The soundtrack design shows once again the unique collaboration between Shiny and the Wachowski Brothers. The music will be composed by the oscar winning team that created the music for the Matrix. Such a symbiosis between game and movie has never existed before. It’s all to thank to the genius of the Wachowski’s.
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