The Wachowski brothers' multimedia crossover experiment exposes its weakest link as Atari and Shiny rush out Enter the Matrix for PC. If you're looking to expand your The Matrix Reloaded experience, well, you might want to look for some good fan fiction.

The Matrix Has Your Wallet
Enter the Matrix is a wonderful idea on paper, a game that marries a film in such a way that the events in the film are almost a reward for playing deeply into the game. Your actions in the game have effects on the plot of the movie, and vice versa. It's actually pretty brilliant when you think about it.

The problem is that the game doesn't approach the quality of the film. To play this game enough to appreciate the ties with the movie, you'll either have to have a will of steel or a masochistic streak a mile wide. Dated graphics battle to take down the fantastic sound effects and music, and poorly designed PC controls quickly drag the game into a quagmire of cursing and frustration. Yay, you can actually look up and down in the PC version---but when that's the highlight of a control scheme, there are some serious problems to address. The Hacking mini-game is pretty fun, but its ties to the actual game are dubious, and if you pay $50 for a poor DOS simulator, you probably deserve what you get.

Endure the Matrix
Since you've most likely already played and tossed this game, you can join in on the refrain: The more you play this half-baked sack of pixels, the more you become convinced that there is no The Matrix game, and the only thing being played here is you.