The Matrix Online Preview

[GameBanshee News]

WorthPlaying has written up a thorough preview of The Matrix Online, after spending some firsthand time with the soon-to-be-released MMORPG. A little something to start you off:

There are actually two styles of close combat, solely using your fists and feet or using your feet and a gun. In either case, there are five actions that you can perform in combat. Combat in The Matrix Online is based on rounds in the same sense that Knights of the Old Republic was, in that you and the enemy each pick a move and the two go head-to-head after the outcome is determined. The five actions you can choose from are power, speed, grab, block, and flee. In each "round," what you chose and what your enemy chose each get a random number assigned to them, which is generated based on a variety of your character's stats (the higher number of which wins), and your character successfully performs their move. The combat actually looks pretty cool; when your character wins a block maneuver, you'll see your character flip around dodging bullets and blocking punches. Every once in a while when your character really hits the enemy hard, the game will enter a short bullet-time state.