The Matrix Online: Revolutions
Released to lukewarm reviews in March of 2005, 'The Matrix
Online' was overshadowed on release by it's Goblin bashing rival
'World of Warcraft'. Most of those who joined the game through
the 'friends and family' program complained of massive server
instability, game crippling bugs and latency shooting through
the roof. Soon all that were left were those sold a dream and a
promise, waiting and praying that someone or something would
come along and fulfil the games true potential. And now it looks
like their hopes might, just might, not have been in vain.
In July 2005 Sony Online Entertainment finalised a deal with
Monolith Productions, the original creators of The Matrix
Online, to purchase both the game itself and the rights to an
MMORPG based on the Marvel Superhero comics. Many characterised
this as a cynical ploy on the behalf of Monolith, 'Buy one
license to create a successful MMORPG get another failing one
free', if you will. But in the six short months that SOE have
had control over the game they have shown a refreshing attitude
towards it. Removing much of the bloat and cruft of the Monolith
team (although necessitating the sad loss of the Live Event
Team) has left them with a stripped down development team who
are pouring their hearts and souls into fixing bugs, broken game
mechanics and long running issues; in addition to which they are
also adding new content to the poor fare currently on offer.
The new development team has shown its colours in several
encouraging ways thus far. The addition of "Pandora's Box", high
level content which binds all the individual elements of the
game with a compelling team-based storyline was seen as a boon
by everyone; giving high level characters s reason to team up
and low levels something to strive for. The lot of low level
characters has also been improved since SOE took over. Recent
'district reflows' in the Slums and Barrens areas have resulted
n a far more coherent start to the game, with mobs scaling in
difficulty the further south a player ventures. The addition of
an introductory trail of collectors adds to the already present
tutorial, easing the newer players in while explaining important
game concept to them. These collectors also provide the new
players with reasonably buffed clothing, an improvement over the
unbuffed gear the character creation process provides them.
The relationship between the SOE team and the community has
certainly been improved recently. On the Forums Walrus, Rarebit,
HCFrog and NoRepro are all getting stuck in, with Walrus'
community broadcasts and Rarebit's 'ask the devs an MxO
question' threads being particular highlights. The development
team themselves are supported by an excellent array of Forum
mods, including Penguin, Steelrose, Ryujin and Serenity. In-game
too 'Live Event' activity has been stepped up a notch. Sightings
of the Merovingian, the Oracle doling out cookies and Seraph
duelling lucky players are getting more numerous as the team
starts to get back into the swing of things. These impromptu
appearances are often sparked by events the players dreamt up
themselves; the Merovingian tends to gatecrash private parties,
for instance.
However the most exciting development at the moment is the
imminent 'combat revision', or 'CU 2.0'. Those familiar with
SOE's handling of the combat revision for 'Starwars Galaxies',
and their more recent NGE for the same, may be shuddering in
horror right now; and indeed many veteran players are declaring
this their make or break moment. However what little has been
seen so far is encouraging. The removal of Zero Sum combat
allows groups of lower level players to take on a far higher
level NPC and win, while the addition of a second hotbar to the
user interface is welcomed by most players.
Other element such as the tuning down of hackers (The Mage
equivalent) and the addition of Melee Free Fire look very
promising. Indeed in the brief period that the test servers have
been on-line, many players have expressed delight at the way in
which Martial Artists and Gunmen play a much larger role in the
game, and how surprisingly well the Free Fire Melee fits with
the current 'Interlock System'.
The most important thing for the community, however, is a
statement issued by Rarebit in answer to a question by
"Talauntiar" . He declared that:
"I'm going to jump ahead and answer this one, because I think
it's very important. In fact, I asked out producer the same
question in a full team meeting two days ago. His answer was
that if after all the testing and tweaking and bug fixing that
we can possibly do, you guys as a group still aren't comfortable
with the revamped combat system, then we drop it and move on.
That's it."
Although still early days yet, the future is looking bright for
this much maligned game. The hope among the players is that once
the game is in a fit state to be played that it will be
re-released with the full force of SOE's marketing department
behind it. Backing up this hope is the news that boxed copies
have recently been recalled from all shops; potentially for a
rebranding by SOE before a big marketing push once the Combat
Upgrade goes live. Though The Matrix Online has recently come
through some dark and shaky times, it truly looks as if it may,
at long last, be finding it's feet.