I'll start by saying I've always believed that MMORPGs based on movies are a risky business. Movies invariably have heroes, and while playing the hero is expected in single-player games, having too many heroes in an online world can greatly diminish the effect of being a hero. When heroes become the norm rather than the exception, they seem a lot less heroic.
Nevertheless, The Matrix is about as good a fit for an online game as you will ever find in a movie. The whole virtual reality setting of the movies simply begs to be turned into some sort of virtual world on the Internet. Even at this stage, Monolith has managed to build a compelling likeness of the Matrix we are familiar with from the movies, but don't count on becoming "the one."
Most of the elements of a good RPG are already here. Character creation has a decent number of options, there are an assortment of thugs roaming around to keep you busy, and the variety of clothing in the game is outstanding. Missions are still being worked on, and it appears that only the most routine ones were available when I was playing. There are plans to offer an evolving storyline through episodic updates.
The obvious departure from the usual MMORPG formula is the MxO combat system. Close combat has a unique "interlock" mechanism that allows for some truly spectacular combat animation. When you go into interlock with an enemy, you will see their arms block a punch, they will double-over appropriately from a low blow, and in certain cases you will even experience slow motion "bullet time" moves. This is really a dramatic change, since other games of this kind offer little or no coordination of combat effects.
At its core, you are still clicking icons to perform your attacks, so don't expect the twitch-based action you will find in an FPS. Interlock basically suspends your characters movement in exchange for some extra icons to play with and a little more control over your technique. Ranged combat can be conducted out of interlock, allowing you to engage enemies in the usual RPG fashion.
Interlocked battles are a delightful spectacle that vaguely resemble the intense exchanges of classic fighting games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. While other players don't go into your bullet time, they do see most of what takes place.
As impressive as interlocked combat is visually, it does have some problems. The camera shifts as part of the transition effect, leaving you viewing the scene from all sorts of weird angles, especially indoors. This forces you to make constant camera adjustments while the heat is on. Getting in and out of interlock can also be tricky. There are various skills that affect interlock, whether inducing it or breaking it, and they become part of the strategy. When you simply want to run away, however, it can be a frustrating proceedure. Snapping in and out of interlock can happen very frequently, particularly while fighting in a group, bringing on a barrage of unpleasant camera movement weirdness.
The skill system is quite flexible and allows you to swap out skills to explore other parts of the skill tree whenever you return to the loading area through a hardline. Hardlines are essentially spawn points into the play space, which currently consists of a large city done in shades of Matrix green. As well as the hardline phone system, there is subway to keep you from having to run excessive distances.
Many of MxO's items can be crafted using bits of code looted from the enemy, although it's relatively routine compared to, say, EQ2.
There are factions and player versus player areas in the Matrix. Aside from dueling, I haven't seen much PvP activity yet, so I'll refrain from elaborating on it at this time.
The cityscape is beautifully rendered complete with street traffic, bits of trash blowing about, and the mandatory weather and light cycles. It should scale up nicely for those with high-end computers. I would like to see a better in-game map and more navigational aids. The interface is a bit awkward at times, but it gets the job done.
Bottom Line
While most of this is pretty standard stuff for a MMORPG, the combat system alone does make MxO stand out from the crowd, even if it is rough around the edges. Watching your character fight is good entertainment in itself, and it captures the choreography of the movies eloquently. There is already plenty to like about MxO, and it's bound to get better as the finishing touches are put on the game. It's nothing revolutionary, and it's not likely to have the broad appeal of WoW, but I think a lot sci-fi fans are going to be dropping the red pill, and loving it.
