By Leonardo Cervantes
“The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience” showcases how powerful next-gen consoles can be. The free demo is only available on the Playstation 5, XBOX Series X and XBOX Series S. Gamers will be very excited if a full game version is ever released.
The game starts off with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, who played Neo and Trinity in the Matrix movies. Midway through telling the story a chase sequence through the city begins as players are being pursued by the cops. The car explosions during the getaway look just like the ones in the movies.
After the cinematic scene players are given the chance to free roam and explore the glorious digitized New York city. The game has a sense of realism because the graphics are so detailed. The building textures look like real-life buildings.
The game civilians were also refreshing to see as they weren’t all the same face types as in other games. The city was filled with multiple genders and races so their faces were not repetitive like previous games.
The driving mechanics in this demo feel amazing and rival racing game mechanics. It’s like an NYC driving simulator. Turning isn’t as simple as in other games, you have to time it right or else the vehicle will feel heavy and steer into the next lane just as it would in real life. There is so much traffic in the streets players will feel like they are truly driving around New York. Cars will be easier or more difficult to handle depending on what model gamers use. Trucks and SUVs are much slower than cars. When you are making a turn it has to be perfect or else you will run into a vehicle.
In this game, cars feel much lighter and are easier to control. Sports cars drive much faster than any other car and can easily reach 110mph. The brake reacting timing is also realistic. If players are going too fast the brake button won’t automatically stop the car and will result in a car crash. Car collisions also accurately damage as they would in real life. After too much damage to vehicles, they will be unable to move. This gives the game even more realism to love. When it’s raining reflections of people walking along the sidewalk and vehicles passing are able to be seen in rain puddles.
There is also an option for the playable player to fly which makes getting around the heavy traffic of New York streets that much faster. This allows players to fly up to skyscrapers and see how much detail the game developers applied. When players peek inside any building it won’t be empty instead, they will see great details of the room. Like TVs, boards, tables, and chairs. Players can also fly to a high altitude and appreciate the infrastructure of the city buildings, lights and cars.
Another cool feature in the demo is that players are allowed to rotate the sun in any direction they want. So it’s possible to play the demo in a light or dark setting.
Unfortunately, players cannot dive into the ocean. This feels like a missed opportunity because the game developers could have shown different types of animals in the ocean. Also, players are not allowed to go to the other Boroughs. Players are only allowed to free roam in Manhattan. Another missed opportunity was not being chased by the police like in Grand Theft Auto. Players can ram into the police but they won’t be pursued.
Although this demo is basically a promotion for the new Matrix Resurrections film, it has many promising features that gamers love. The demo outlines just how promising the future of gaming can be.