The matrix awakens is a Free-to-play demo (not an actual game); that was released for the Ps5 and Xbox series x/s consoles. The Matrix Awakens Gameplay showcases the capabilities of unreal engine 5.
The demo shows little similarity to the matrix movies; save for some of the main characters such as neo and trinity; both of which cannot be controlled during the playthrough of the demo.
The matrix awakens demo was divided into three parts so to speaks. One focused on highlighting the potential of the unreal engine 5 on this new generation of consoles. While the other mainly displayed the mechanics of the game.
The First Part – Intro
The first part showed just how close to reality games have come over the years, and it was quite impressive to say the least. During this part of the demo; it took me a while to recognize when the characters were switched between CGI and their actual self. This just goes to show how close to reality games are becoming.
Some questions are also posed that makes one wonder how successful the metaverse being developed by Facebook might be. Or in another case how real it might feel to us human; if we will be able to tell the difference or not. As nice as it may sound it also seems scary. Although it will be nice to find out in the near future.
The Second Part – Car Chase
The second part which was a car chase scene showcased the brilliant physics of the game engine. The particles, reflections and all-around visual fidelity of the crashing cars; bullet damage, explosions, smoke, bullet time effect, and just the way all the chaos occurred was amazing to watch. The Matrix Awakens Gameplay graphics are amazing!
Looking at old video gameplay of the matrix game on the ps2 console; it shows how good game development has become. Although the visual fidelity is amazing, there is an age-old debate between of good graphics vs gameplay.
There were some instances when the framerate dipped but not enough to disturb the experience. Now, this all boils down to preference, but personally I would prefer both at the same time; having the best of both worlds wouldn’t hurt considering the power of this generation of consoles.
The Last Part – World Exploration
This last part in the Matrix Awakens Gameplay begins with the developers showcasing the different AI within unreal engine 5. These include;
Mass AI – Which handles the crowd and traffic systems on a wide scale.
World Partition – Which allows for open-world streaming.
Lumen – This handles the lighting effects of the game such as dynamic global illumination and reflections.
Rule Processor.
Niagara – An advanced particle system.
Nanite – this handles virtual geometry on a very large scale.
Chaos – this controls the physics and damage/destruction systems.
Temporal Super Resolution – this enables the support for higher displayed pixels/resolutions.
Metasounds – this handles procedural audio generation.
Metahuman – this facilitates next-generation digital humans.
The unreal engine 5 blends all of the AI mentioned above, to portray a visual stunner in the name of the matrix awakens. This last part is a free roam mode, where players are allowed to interact with cars parked at the side of the road. Players can also fly around the city.
While exploring the open world, some buildings have fake 3d model designs of their indoor rooms that just makes the game look and feel more realistic. The car damage system really good. Cars take damage relative to where they are hit, not from pre-scripted damage.
Players are also allowed to tinker with the settings of the world. Such as the angle of the sun, AI visualization, crowd density, traffic density, and number of parked cars among others.
Conclusion
Overall it is a fun experience in understanding the possibilities of gaming with unreal engine 5 in the near future of gaming. Though there are some kinks that need to be sorted out. It’s still worth the time.
The matrix awakens can be downloaded on the playstation store for the Ps5; or the Microsoft store for the Xbox series x/s. The demo takes about 30Gb of storage space.
