+----------------+ | Enter | | the | | Matrix | |----------------| | Fighting | | Guide | | (Xbox) | +----------------+ By: UnSub )evilasahobby {at} graffiti {dot} net( Date: 24 March 2005 Version: 1.55 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Contents ________ - Introduction & Copyright - General Tips - Body Movement - Hand-to-Hand Combat - Gunplay - Boss Fights - Other Issues - Thanks - Notes INTRODUCTION ____________ The Matrix is turning out as a reasonably good geek-movie trilogy, complete with it's own game that contains original and dedicated footage. Given that I like games that feature a large amount of fighting, I thought I'd pick it up. Having mostly enjoyed my experiences thus far I also thought to join the mad dash of players attempting to get a game guide up in the first days of release. ADDED NOTE 22 July 2004: Well, the Matrix trilogy is all over, and has been for a little while now. Although the second and third films really didn't live up to the promise of the first one, all had some spectacular visuals and fight scenes. Plus Agent Smith, who is one of the best screen villains in a long time.The Matrix trilogy certainly has had an impact on modern cinema - just look at how many films now rip parts of it off! Also, I'm finally getting around to updating this guide. NOTE WELL: The game was played in Normal difficulty by me, but I can't guarantee the platform and / or difficulty used by any of the contributors who's work has been included in this guide. COPYRIGHT: I wrote this, but you are free to use / re-post this guide provided it is a) unchanged and / or b) free. If you wish to change this guide for use, please contact me to get permission. EMAIL POLICY: I'm pretty busy, so don't email me for a chat. I will generally help you if I can and will identify you if I include some info you send me in this guide. Don't expect me to be an expert - the stuff below is merely what I have found to have worked. Oh, and don't send me spam / viruses, just in case you need reminding (which apparently a lot of you do - why the hell would I ever want "Spice Girl's Vocal Demo" or be stupid enough to open it? :-P). GENERAL TIPS ____________ CONTROLS: The Xbox version uses: X as the action / block button, Y as punch, B as kick, A as jump, black button as shoot, white button as throw secondary, left trigger as focus and right trigger as strafe. If you are using a different version, alter these controls to fit. The Xbox has three different control settings you can switch through, so find the one you like and use it. HEALTH & FOCUS: Although health kits are available, generally you can just run around to regain health and focus. Killing enemies will also give you back focus. This means you can hold down the focus for longer if you are killing enemies in the meanwhile. Remember this if you are overwhelmed by enemy numbers. TIPS: The Tips section (accessible when you hit the Start button and look at the menu) will give you a list of lessons you have learnt. It can be useful sometimes to go back and look at this list, if only to remember something you have forgotten. FIRST PERSON SHOOTING MODE: I have only used this to snipe and when fighting the SWAT Copter. Utterly useless since most enemies will shoot at you if you can see them. - Nabini adds: "When going into first person mode, you can zoom in/out with any gun. If you focus while zooming, you should zoom in anywhere from half again to twice as much as without zooming. I don't think it works for sniper rifles though because they have their own zoom measurements (the little thing that moves around in a circle on your scope). for ps2 but it should work for all just like the combos." FOCUS: Using focus is the key to surviving (and looking cool) in EtM. There are three ways to use focus in general - 1) Not at all. The world moves faster around you and you do reasonable damage to enemies. Using focus if more fun, but if you need to heal or get somewhere in real-time, focus won't help. Not using focus will see you health and focus levels build up. 2) Hold it down. Holding down the focus button will slow everything right down and allow you to execute some devastating moves on your opponents. Focus will run out after a while, but it gives you plenty of time to run amok. You become more accurate with your bullets, you become harder to hit and you hit harder. 3) Tapping focus. Tapping focus or burst using focus will see it last longer while still causing a lot of pain. Some special moves are accessible only if you tap focus. You can tap focus to slow down a fight for a moment to dodge some incoming fire, then go into full speed to take out an opponent, depending on the strategy you find yourself. Burst focus while jumping will see you go further while not exhausting yourself before you run into the next ambush. You should also be aware you don't have to hold down focus to execute all your moves. Once you enter an animation that uses focus, let the left trigger go and sometimes your focus will stop going down while the animation continues to execute itself in slow-mo. DRIVING: Focus won't work on driving stages, so it's up to your skill to get past it. As Ghost, you will mostly hang out the window and shoot at cars on these stages. In generally you should shoot up cars that are slowing you down or shooting at you in that order. Cop cars can be destroyed, but cars containing agents or the Twins will only be slowed down by shooting at them. If you are being chased by an indestructible enemy, focus on getting away from them by clearing a path in front of you. This is especially true on the "Twins in Pursuit" stage - 75% of the time should be spent clearing the path ahead of you with the other 25% spent slowing down the Twins. An email from caleb bare says: "You know the driving levels (yeah i hate them too) well thats where the bug is. Ok whenever there is someone shooting at you as long as you DO NOT face them they CAN NOT hurt you. I found this out on that damn twin chase one. I got killed a couple of times because all i would do is shoot at cars in front and shoot at the twins, well everytime I died. So I just shot at the cars in front of me and presto the twins where no longer a problem because they could not damage me. This also works on any other driving part where people are shooting at you." This isn't 100% true, but you do take a load less damage if you can't see what is shooting you. Talk about an ostrich defense! :-) So for those having trouble with the Twins - don't look at them. - When driving with Niobe you can hold down Y to get Ghost to shoot at enemy vehicles. He will stay out there only as long as his ammo bar lets him (it's on the bottom right side of the screen) before pulling back in to 'reload'. To maximise the effectiveness of Ghost you should only use him to shoot at vehicles who are shooting at you (he will only fire on enemy vehicles, but most cop cars won't start firing on you until you are a little bit ahead) and fairly close (about two car lengths). You will need to use the right controller to switch the view behind you to see how far the cop cars are from you - once they start pulling up close have Ghost open up on them. GETTING THE FLASHLIGHT: I've gotten several emails about this so I've brought up the section I had on it to here. There are a number of bugs in this game that sap the fun out of it. I found I couldn't pick up the flashlight (a required item on one stage) until I'd dumped a lot of ammo and weapons. - Mike Wallace wrote in and said: "to pick up the flashlight you only have to fire your MP5 once, that is because the flashlight is attached to an mp5 (later it will be attached to any gun you equip)" I've read similar solutions elsewhere, so make sure you don't have a full MP5 ammo count when going for the flashlight. Cops appear immediately after you pick it up, so be aware. - Nick Proulx reminded me to add: "But its not really a flashlight you "see", it's supposed to be attached to the gun your using i think. So when you equip any gun thats when the light will come on." Once you have the flashlight it will be on any gun you use. Make sure you keep some guns drawn to keep the light on. - A warning from ZeroSeven: "What I wanted to tell you is that the bug with the flashlight or "Level: Waterway" is that if you have done ANY HACKING, including unlocking cheats, then you will not pick up anything...EVEN FLASHLIGHT!! I took my times trying to get that thing and realized, what the problem was, I was completing the hacking mode totally and not being able to grab that light. Talk about frustrating, I had both characters there. Now after that you can hack away, but AFTER picking up that flashlight..." This bug may not effect all platforms, but be aware of it. BLOWING THE ANCHORS: Since some of my friends had trouble with this... You have to drop three demolition charges near the spinning gear. Drop off the ledge to avoid the explosion. Once this is done, the cops will stop spawning, you will have saved your comrades. Exit through the open pipe to the left of the platform the gear was on. Three Flat wishes to add (PS2 version, so you know): "When it comes to shooting the anchors off, I found the explosives to be extremely inaccurate, so I tried shooting at them instead. This works VERY well and only takes a few hits from the right gun." I've heard that a shotgun can work wonders here. OVERALL TIPS: - Watch your direction indicator as it will show you the way to go. It will often appear if you take too long to do something. - Swap your weapons constantly to ensure you aren't left with weak weapons when up against a large number of opponents. This becomes less important later in the game due to the abundance of automatic weapons. Andy Tsai emailed: " - be careful when hiding behind walls as enemies sometimes spawn/approach behind you" BODY MOVEMENT _____________ The most effective defense is not being in the way of an attack. Learning to move in EtM will really help your ability to progress through levels. - When you don't use focus, you've got your usual run and turn maneuvers and pressing A will cause you to jump / climb over obstacles / pull up on ledges. Holding down the right trigger will go into strafe mode which is an excellent technique to learn when fighting - it keeps you facing the enemy and is also used for cartwheeling. Using focus can see you cartwheel, wall run, actively dodge while running and dive forwards / backwards. - Holding focus and X while running will see your character do rolls, flips and short dives to dodge incoming fire. It's nice to see but only really has use if you a) don't have any guns or b) only have a very short way to go. A long dive (by holding focus, having guns aimed at an enemy and pressing A) is a better way to avoid incoming fire while closing the gap and returning fire at the same time. - I've found the two best moves to be dive forward (focus, press forward and A when you have your target selected) and dive backward (focus, pull back and press A with your target selected). By diving forward or backward you will avoid a lot of fire while concentrating your bullets on your target(s). You obviously need room to dodge in this fashion and be careful about sailing over the edge of a platform. Also, if you dive into an enemy they will likely hit you with their weapon stock as you get up. - You can perform a focus dive out of a jump. - Cartwheeling (hold right trigger for strafe, hold focus to make yourself more accurate, pull left or right) is a very good dodge move. I've played around with it some more after reading Andy Tsai's email and found it made firefights much easier. Use it to dodge between cover while returning fire. - Wall running also looks good, but had limited applications. You do tend to dodge a lot of incoming fire while doing it, but a wall isn't always available for use. Plus you can flip off the wall and into those bullets you were avoiding. If you do use wall running, remember to keep shooting while you are doing it. Press A when wall running will see you cartwheel off the wall so take care when doing it - I've flipped over barriers to my death when doing this. Your only offense when wall running is your guns, so make sure you have them drawn when you do this. - You can do a wall flip by running directly at it, focusing and pressing A (Hadley Box notes you don't have to press A since you will automatically flip; I've found pressing A can give you a bit more control.) I asked you would use it for and Gary Frank suggested (David Blade emailed something similar): "Anyway, in your guide you ask what purpose a wall flip serves. well, although not that useful, i have found it to be a lifesaver when you are being chased by agents and have no direct escape. If they are directly behind you and gaining, then run directly at a wall with focus. If timed correctly, you will flip behind the pursuer, which puts you in a position for attack from behind. This also works on regular enemies, if they are chasing you. If looks damn cool if you manage to get behind an enemy and break his neck." If you try to do a wall flip with your guns drawn, you will spin yourself around and go into a dive - very useful if guys are behind you and you need to turn around quickly. - When running at an accessible door (ie has a 'green hand' on the screen) you can press X to open it on the run, rather than stopping to open it slowly. This is important when you are being chased. Bill has reminded me that "You can also kick open doors - use focus while opening a door." - You run faster with your guns holstered. - When in doubt, focus. Slowing things down will make it much easier for you to work out what is about to happen. - You can jump ridiculously far when you focus jump. You can also turn a bit in the air, so use it to straighten yourself if needbe. Andy Tsai writes: "- you can do consecutive cartwheels which are useful when taking out rows of enemies - cartwheels (my favourite) are possible in the middle of a mid air jump - focus can extend the 'air' you get from your jumps - be careful using focus around ledges, a wrong move could mean doing a spectacular dive to your death" HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT ___________________ For me, this is the really fun part of EtM. When you get close enough to an enemy and hit Y (punch) or B (kick) you will put away your guns and open up with some bone-crushing kung fu. You also can block melee attacks using the X button and dodge attacks using the X button and control stick. - Certain moves are only available on certain opponents eg you can only do the staking moves on vampires and some special moves are reserved for Agents / Name Characters. - Remember to mix up your punches and kicks for a bit of variety. Different combos have different effects. I'll go into this in more detail once I've played around with the game more. - Fight dirty. See an enemy on the ground? Kick them in the guts. - Use cover to fight hand-to-hand while under bullet fire. Cover can also give you time to heal / focus up. - You won't take as much damage if you are executing a pre-scripted move with armed enemies around. This is very important as you are less likely to get killed when throwing an opponent whilst under fire. This doesn't work for all moves - I've been doing a wall kick and died after the animation has finished - but I do notice they mostly stop shooting at you when you are (say) disarming a SWAT member. - When running you can press B to launch a jump kick. This doesn't do a lot of damage but does knock an enemy off their feet which can buy you some time. You can also do jump kicks through glass windows which strikes me as kind of cool when you also land the blow. - When you have a gun out, pressing punch (Y) will see you pistol whip / hit the enemy with weapon stock. Pressing Y more than once will see you put your weapon away and start to punch them normally. - Jimmy Carter adds: "When in melee mode, press toward the enemy and your gun button. Your character will kick them in the air while whipping out their gun and then blast them before they hit the ground. If you focus while doing this, then they fall really, really slowly." THROWS: - Throws (Y+B) generally do little damage, but do take an enemy off their feet and can be used to buy you some breathing space. - Focus throwing becomes very important when fighting Agents / Agent Smith / Name Characters. A focus throw is more likely to come off than a normal throw versus these characters and will see you throw them further. Landing a couple of blows before you attempt to focus throw them makes it easier to execute the throw. - You can counter-throw Name Characters by pressing X as they move to throw you. They can do the same to you. I don't believe they can counter-throw you when you use focus, but I may be wrong. - You can throw people who are behind you if they are close enough. If you are surrounded by enemies try going nuts on the throws to buy you some space. - Khyron the Destroyer emailed and said: "I just wanted to add that you can kill an enemy with one throw. Just throw an enemy with your gun drawn. You will throw an enemy, then fire a fatal shot while they are on the ground. There are different throws/shots depending on the enemies position to you, and whether its Ghost or Niobe you use. Ghost has a cool one where he shoves his gun in the guys gut and fires. Niobe has a cool one where she puts the gun under the guys chin and blows their brains out. You can kill one enemy per bullet this way." Tested this and it works great. Depending on the gun, your character will throw them and pump a round or two, taking them out. The greatest difficulty comes from getting the throw executed properly - if you are moving you might jump kick instead. NB: If you have a gun you can perform the gun throw (ie perform a throw with a gun out) on 'green bar' melee opponents (eg Cujo) for an unblockable attack. The damage isn't great, but hey, take what you can get. - Jason Tanner adds: "Sweep and Punch: this is a move only Niobe can use. when holding down focus press (Y+B) together. doing this will let niobe sweep kick the oppenent and then making him flip sideways. Then she will punch him while he is sideways. This is a great move when going against bosses. Grab and Throw: this is a move only Ghost can use. when holding down focus press (Y+B) together. doing this will let the oppenent kick u,and u grab the oppenents leg and ribs, and will throw the oppenent behind you. this move is great for getting enemys out of your way from running somthing or going to something." These are the characters' focus throws. Sorry to say Ghost, but Niobe's focus throw is way cooler. DISARMING: - Disarming an enemy (X button when close) is essential to staying alive. Take their weapon and then give it back to them, bullets first. - There are many different disarm animations. The animations are determined by what weapon is being used against you and the location of the enemy to you when you go for the disarm. They may also alter by the use of focus, but I'm not entirely sure. Your best bet may be to use focus up to the point you start the disarm move, then drop back into normal time. - Disarm maneuvers cause different amounts of damage depending on the animation. For handguns, Ghost may just execute a execute a hand throw and give the cop a punch to the solar plexus which won't kill them outright. By comparision he may, when disarming a submachine gun, shoulder throw a cop and then unload some rounds from the newly acquired gun into them, resulting in an instant kill. Keep an eye out on the animation used to work out if the disarmed cop will be standing up again to cause you trouble. Try to watch your focus bar - killing an enemy will increase it, so you can see when an enemy is finally dead by a sudden jump in focus. - I was wrong... you can disarm an Agent (both Smith and Green), but you need to have finished the game first and then hacked to get the sword. David C says: "It IS possible to disarm Normal Agent's in the game as well as Smith. Use the same method as described to defeat Agent Smith. First attack with a kick or punch, and then use THROW to attack with the SWORD." - Degausser sent this great set of info about disarming: "Disarming an opponant depends on two things. I really started disarming in the game when I went through it as Ghost, and I know Niobe has different animations, but the conditions for disarming are the same. Disarming depends firstly on the size of the gun. If the gun is a two-handed gun, then a large disarm the will kill (or Permanatly KO, some of them don't look lethal) the opponent. However a Pistol/Mac 10 will simply involve taking the gun and doing a moderate amount of damage. I have tried this with almost every gun, from the sniper rifle to the SMG9mm (a normal rifle?) to the Mac 11. Secondly, the animation depends on the angle of approach to the enemy. As far as I can tell, there are three different animations: Straight on, Slightly to the side, and at a 90 degree angle. Also, you can disarm an opponent if you have your guns drawn, but it will result in the gun dropping on the floor (where ic can be picked up by anyone, you or the enemy, and the enemy being hurt, not killed." BLOCKS & COUNTERS: - Pressing X blocks melee attacks. If you time it right you can also catch their attack and unlease one of your own - this is a counter. This timing takespractise. Learning to counter makes fighting Name Characters much easier. - Having blocked an attack on most enemies will leave an opening for you to hit them back. - Pressing an attack (Y, B or Y+B) immediately after a successful block will see you unleash an attack that is likely to hit your opponent. - Using focus will make countering much easier and the counter moves more damaging. - You can counter-throw people if you timing is right when they attempt to throw you. You have to press X when you are being thrown (although I usally just hammer the X button when this happens and usually manage to escape / reverse the throw). FIGHTING MULTIPLE OPPONENTS: - Adanedhel emailed to say: "All you have to do is tilt the control stick in the direction that an enemy is relative to you while in the fighting stance, and you will unleash a blow in that direction. This is important because you won't be able to turn easily or quickly while in the fighting stance, and it allows you to take out multiple enemies while not moving. I found it particularly effective to throw techniques in as many directions as possible to keep all my attackers off-balance and not get hit. Also, if you focus while surrounded by enemies, you can unleash attacks that hit more than one person, like a split kick, or the famous multiple jump-kicks that you see in hundreds of Hong Kong flicks. If you use these techniques, you can give yourself some breathing room pretty quickly, and even a huge horde of bad guys isn't a problem." - Black Mage emailed about doing split kicks: "I have the Playstation 2 version of the game and I found a way to do the split kick on multiple enemies. This is a little complicated: First, enter hand to hand combat with 2 enemies. Make sure pressing up does not push against a wall. Then tap focus, immediately tap up, then tap kick immediately after that. It must be done in quick succession, but I have done more than 15 in a row. I am not sure about the XBox version though, the buttons may be different." - Try not to get sandwiched between multiple opponents; dodge out if you are having trouble taking them out. - I've had several emails asking me "how do I [do this cool move] I once pulled off against multiple attackers?" The answer is: I don't know. There were moves I managed to pull off once or twice, but never again. I think it has to do with camera angle and the exact position of enemies in relation to your charcter, but can't say for sure. Please DON'T email me asking about multiple opponent moves as I won't be able to help you. Ask on the Gamefaq forums instead. FOCUS: - Focus in hand-to-hand combat makes it easier for you to block attacks while making you also hit harder. The best moves are done using focus. - As stated above, you can kill an enemy silently when pressing X behind them. If you do this without using any focus, you will strangle them (actually, it looks to me like a "Guess who?" gag, but anyway). Doing this while holding down focus will see you slam their head into the ground, cracking their skull. Tap focussing (namely pressing focus as your character's hands reach for the enemy from behind) sees you perform a lethal neck snap. - When running near a wall and coming up to an enemy, hold focus and press kick to perform a powerful triangle kick off the wall, doing a ton of damage to the enemy. (I have managed to do this when my back is against a wall and the enemy is right in front of me, but not reliably. Doing it while running is much more common.) - You are very likely to send an opponent flying when using a focus melee attack which can lead to some pain if the enemy gets up again and starts shooting you from a distance. Try to disarm them first. - I've knocked over enemies with a running focus jump before. Although not a great move, it has its uses (like when you hit the wrong button!). COMBOS: - You have three melee attack types: fast, medium and slow. As expectation, fast has the weakest attacks while slow is the most powerful. You execute fast attacks by pushing forward on the controller and punck / kick, medium by not moving the controller (or moving it left and right) and slow by pulling backwards on the movement controller. - The controller movement is relative to the character, so it changes as the camera swings around. Try blocking melee attacks until you are comfortable with the position of the camera, especially to pull off the combo below. - BrightShadow emailed this combo: "To execute a VERY cool combo (both Ghost and Niobe can do this) back+punch back+punch back+focus+punch back+focus+punch front+kick(+focus if you want to see the move in slow mo) This is what happens when you do this; Some sort of punch Another punch Uppercut (enemy is in the air now) Another uppercut (enemy real high now) Forward jump kick (sends the enemy flying far, I mean REALLY FAR) This combo can take out 1/4 of a boss's life on Normal." I played around with this attack and the double uppercut sends opponents absolutely flying - I'm not kidding when I say it took Trinity four or five seconds to hit the ground after being launched with them. - Fast combo attacks (ie pushing forwards and attacking) probably look the best when you aren't using focus and you can really rip into those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. TACTICS: - Hand-to-hand can be very effective, but can see you gunned down quickly. Disarm enemies first, use cover as needed and always terminate with extreme predjudice. - Disarmed enemies will attempt to find a weapon. This will usually give you some time to do other things, but don't let them pick them up too often. - If there are no weapons available, they will then try hand to hand. Try not to get sandwiched between two or more enemies; dodge out if this situation occurs. - Learn to block melee attacks and to counter move. This involves some timing practise but will make your boss fights much easier. To make blocking simple, you can just hold down X, but you won't be able to counter if you do this. SWORD: - After you have finished the game with one character, you can hack the matrix under the Hacking menu to get access to a sword (have a look at the excellent Hacking Guide on Gamefaqs to get the exact way of obtaining the sword). When you load up a game with the sword your character will automatically use it when you disarm or throw an opponent. - The sword is fun for mucking around, but it is really cheap. You can no longer have fun diarming guys as the sword is pretty much an instant kill. On 'green bar' / Name Character fights it makes things very easy since it will do a lot of damage. Overall, play around with it for a little while, but I think it makes the game too easy. - Agents will dodge the sword but it will disarm them - thanks to David C for the info. GUNPLAY _______ EtM has a wide range of guns to choose from which fall into four main categories - pistols, machine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles. Remember to reload after each encounter. If you have a weapon that is almost empty, I find emptying it and throwing it away the best option - you don't want to hit a firefight and switch to a near empty weapon. I also find using the Back button to select weapons is better than using the Directional Pad. - Pistols are usually handled two at a time and I've seen Ghost appear to aim at two separate targets when using them. - SMGs can really dish out the damage while chewing up ammo fast. They can be very effective in taking down the enemy. - Shotguns seem to be one-hit kills on enemies in close to medium range. Try to avoid catching their shells with your character's body since it will hurt a lot. - Rifles (sniper and otherwise) are very useful since most are highly damaging. You can use your focus to slow down time when using a sniper rifle which makes things immensely easier. - Secondary weapons are usually pretty hard to use effectively, given how far you throw them. However, they can be massively damaging in certain situations (although mostly to you, I've found). I'd often finish stages not having used more than 2 grenades out of the set of five I was given, so I didn't find them that useful. GUN COUNTER: - BrightShadow emailed me about gun counters, something I had completely missed when playing EtM the first two times. "you use the black button like you use X. when you think the enemy is about to hit you press the black button (it wont work if the enemy is just standing)." I've played around with this briefly and it is quite cool. Using focus makes it easier to time this, but it isn't essential to pulling off these moves. Your enemy must be attacking you in melee to pull these off. This is an instant kill for any normal enemy - I haven't tried them on Name Characters / 'green bar' fights. - The exact counter you use depends on the gun type you are drawing out. For example, when using pistols Ghost will dodge the punch, slip the guns out and fire into the enemies chest. When he has a shotgun Ghost will kick the enemy into the air before unloading a round into them. - It is possible that only Ghost can gun counter. I can't actually remember doing it with Niobe. If someone can verify that Niobe can gun counter, I'd appreciate it. GRENADES: - Claire Fell adds: "I found that you can focus cartwheel, with your guns out, and also throw grenades. This makes them more useful as your accuracy improves. You can throw them whilst diving forward, diving back, wall running, any move where you can fire guns, you can throw grenades." WEAPONS LIST: In viewing these weapons, the game generally scales up the weapons to the enemy ie a UMP appears to take down most enemies in the sewers as quickly as a G36 takes out the enemies in the nuclear power plant. As such, don't worry too much about what weapon is 'best' as you will usually manage to drop enemies easily with the weapons you are provided with. - You can get a look at the weapon stats under the Hacking menu. It's on the B: drive. See the Hacking Guide on Gamefaqs for more information. - The lists below aren't in any particular order. PRIMARY LIST: ------------- Name | Type | Clip | Capacity | Rate of Fire | Accuracy | Range | Damage ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ P229 | Pistol | 12 | 30 | S/Auto | Medium | Short | Low 9000S | Pistol | 12 | 30 | S/Auto | Medium | Short | Low .380 | Pistol | 7 | 40 | S/Auto | Low | Short | V. Low 92FS | Pistol | 15 | 40 | S/Auto | Medium | Short | Low 1911 | Pistol | 8 | 40 | S/Auto | Low | Short | High .50AE | Pistol | 8 | 90 | S/Auto | Low | Medium | High 18C | Pistol | 34 | 90 | 800 | Medium | Short | Low MAC11 | Pistol | 30 | 90 | 1100 | Medium | Medium | Medium MP5 | SMG | 30 | 90 | 800 | Medium | Medium | Medium M16 | SMG | 30 | 90 | 750 | Medium | Long | High UMP | SMG | 30 | 90 | 800 | Low | Short | High SG-552| SMG | 60 | 90 | 850 | High | Long | V. High RO635 | Rifle | 30 | 90 | S/Auto | V. High | Long | Medium M95 | Rifle | 18 | 24 | 360 | V. High | V. Long| V. High 33SG/1| Rifle | 18 | 24 | 120 | V. High | V. Long| High G36 | Rifle | 60 | 120 | 750 | High | Long | High Entry | Shot | 6 | 16 | 120 | High |V. Short| High SS S/G| Shot | 24 | 45 | S/Auto | High |V. Short| High GP25 | Launch | 6 | 6 | 120 | Low | Short | V. High 40mm | Launch | 6 | 6 | 120 | Low | Short | V. High Crossbow| Bow | 2 | 10 | 30 | Medium |V. Short| V. High M240 | MG | 120 | | 1000 | High | Long | V. High - I got two replies within minutes of each other telling me the weapon I missed. Thank you asdf0fdsa and Navel Piranha for the info. The missing weapon was the M240 Machine Gun that you can get with Ghost in the Airport. - Neo adds: "[...] the M240 which can only be accessed by the weapons drop for the North Point level before the SWAT Helicopter check out the map in view called B5APN.IMG for location on the drop and the code for dropping it. This is the best weapon you'll ever use in this game and will drop the copter in about 3-5 seconds." - I believe the RO635 is called the SMG 9mm in the game. HANDGUNS -------- - Handguns should always be used akimbo (ie one in each hand). If you don't have enough ammo to do this, switch weapons or use gun throws to maximise your single handgun's effectiveness. 9000 S Automatic Pistol - Niobe's starting handgun. You'll upgrade soon enough, but it is effective in the early stages. P229 S Automatic Pistol - Ghost's starting handgun. You'll upgrade soon enough, but it is effective in the early stages. .380 Security Pistol - Weakest handgun in the game but tends to have plentiful ammo in the early stages. 1911 Pistol - Called the Infinity in the Hacking list. I believe you can only find one of these in the castle. Save it for Vlad and / or Cujo so you can gun throw them. 92FS Automatic Pistol - Fairly common and more powerful than the .380. Still, they aren't as good as the machine guns you can get at the same time, so these will probably serve more as a back-up weapon than your primary. .50AE - The Agents' weapon of choice. Don't expect to find many lying around. MAC11 - Chews up ammo at a decent rate especially when used akimbo. You will likely run out of ammo before you know when using this weapon, but it does take enemies down quickly. 18C Automatic Pistol - This can really spit out the ammo. Unfortunately the stopping power isn't huge, but they can be very effective in a firefight provided you are using your focus. Holds 34 rounds (which goes pretty quickly). SMGS ---- MP5 - Good at taking down enemies, but make sure you aren't left ammo-less in the middle of a firefight. Can be used akimbo in the Sewer stages. - Annihilator asked about this exact issue before GDYF wrote to tell me that: "Only Xbox users can hold two at a time. On other systems they still have the stocks on them, so only one can be used." My apologies to those who were misled by this - I didn't know. M16 - You will get his occasionally and usually with only one clip of ammo. This will take down enemies fast but pick your targets carefully to avoid wasting bullets. - Annihilator adds: "[The M16] becomes fairly plentiful in the Nuclear Reactor levels, but not as plentiful as the UMP. " UMP - One of the most common machine guns in EtM. Good at putting down every normal enemy apart from the SWAT troops in the power plant. Very useful. SSG-552 - A comparatively rare weapon, but one that does good damage with a pretty good rate of fire. Use it while you have it. RIFLES ------ SMG 9MM - Not so good. The ammo isn't that powerful and it's rate of fire isn't fantastic either. Use only if you are lacking other non-pistol weapons. I believe the Hacking list calls this the RO635. G36 - The second best weapon in the game. It's rate of fire sees you take down enemies at lightning speed once you've got them lined up. Ammo is also reasonably available for this weapon in the later stages, so you can be fairly free with this weapon. 33SSG/1 - The 'weaker' sniper rifle, but if you aim for the head and it doesn't matter. It does fire slowly though, so make your first shot count. M95 - More powerful and chambers rounds faster than the SSG/1. Not a huge difference between the two though. SHOTGUNS -------- - Shotguns are my weapon of choice. One hit will usually kill enemies outright. Entry Shotgun - Holds only 6 rounds, but the ammo is usually pretty plentiful. It will fall down in a mass firefight simply because it can't hold enough rounds to see you through, so be sure to duck back under cover when you have to reload. Street Sweeper (SS) Shotgun - Holds 24 rounds with ammo being slightly hard to find. This is the best weapon in the game imo - it has a good rate of fire, takes out most enemies in one hit and holds enough ammo to take on a sizeable number of enemy troops without needing to reload. MISCELLEANEOUS -------------- Crossbow - You can get this in the castle complete with two arrows. Save it for Cujo and use a gun throw to ensure you hit him. 40mm Grenade Launcher - Fires explosive rounds. You can get this twice in the game. I don't use it because it is too easy to get caught in the blast unless the enemy is entrenched in one position. GP-25 Grenade Launcher - Fires gas grenades. You only get this once in the game. - XF04 adds: "In the power plant levels with Niobe once you get the GP-25 grenade launcher save the rounds. When you get to the level "Agent Escape" you can use the gas grenades to kill the agents. They die in the same way as anyone else with this gun. Just try not to get yourself caught up in the blast :-). This works on PS2 and I would imagine it should work on XBOX too." - Be careful in using grenade launchers. You want to be a good distance away when you use them so you don't get caught in the blast. SECONDARY --------- - I don't like using grenades. I miss more often than not, the grenades bounce back and I have to run away or end up blowing myself up. Not worth it imo. All grenades come in sets of 5. Stun Grenades - Can take out a small number of enemies if they are close together. Flashbang - You get a bright flash of light that can stun nearby enemies. Offensive Grenades - Explosive grenades that are effective over a reasonable area. Demolition Charges - You throw these only a short distance from you and have a couple of seconds to get away before they explode. They have their uses. Wooden Stake - You can use these automatically to kill vampires in the castle. FOCUS: - You become more accurate when you focus. Andy Tsai wrote in to add: "- focus improves the accuracy of your secondary weapon throws - you can pick off enemies from a distance with pistols if you use focus to make your attacks for accurate" TACTICS: - Remember that if you enter melee mode you will put away your guns. This can cause problems. - Wall leaning (push up against a wall and then left or right) can let you look around corners. Pressing shoot will have you step out and fire fairly inaccurately at a target. I prefer to wall lean, hold down focus and then press A to dive out. Your shots will be more accurate and you will also avoid incoming fire. Run to the next bit of cover and repeat. - Use gun counters to take out melee enemies quickly. This works well if you've disarmed them first. - Try to watch which weapons you use. You don't want to empty all of your machine guns and find yourself left with pistols in the last big firefight of the level. Mix up which weapons you use to reflect what you are being given. - Always dodge as you are firing. You are much more likely to hit them than they are to hit you. - Look for things you can blow up and put a couple of shots into them to take out enemies indirectly. Make sure you are out of the explosion radius. Don't take cover behind / near explosive items. BOSS FIGHTS ___________ During boss fights your health won't go up, which makes things harder. - If you have a gun you can perform the gun throw (ie perform a throw with a gun out) on 'green bar' melee opponents for an unblockable attack. The damage isn't great, but hey, take what you can get. GHOST ----- |SWAT Helicopter| - The helicopter sweeps around the front of the glassed area, swings back and drops off SWAT officers through the skylight. You should hide yourself behind the wall in front of you when the helicopter's chain gun is facing you, but once the helicopter swings back step out, go into first person mode and open fire on the helicopter for as long as possible. Start focussing as the SWAT guys drop through the ceiling and take them out as quickly as possible. If you don't take out the SWAT guys they will most likely seek cover behind the ornament at the front of the area. Avoid their fire if this happens and take them out. Repeat until the helicopter is destroyed. Watch out for more SWAT guys once the blast door opens up. Nikki Britton suggest the following (this worked on the PS2, so be aware if you've got a different console): "When the fight begins, hide in the curve of the left or right walls, as your guide tells. Step out and fire when it's guns stop firing. But when the swat guys come, this is where it get's easy. Try to time a grenade to be thrown about 2 seconds before they BEGIN to descend from the roof, and it should blow up, just as all of them hit the ground. It won't always kill all 4 swat guys, but it usually does. By the time you run out of grenades, the chopper should be dead." Great Dame suggests: "when facing in the direction of the chopper go to the right hand corner and wait for the SWAT team to appear. do what you do( focus and hit them before they hit the ground) and wait until you hear the machine gun for the chopper. get out your MP5, focus and strafe across the open area to the other side, firing continually. rinse and repeat 4 to 5 times until the chopper is destroyed. the chopper generally moves at the same speed as your strafing so you dont need to aim at it." |Agent Helicopter| - From where you start, the helicopter attacks from the north (in front), the east (to your right) and the west (to your left) in that order. It may take a death or two to figure out what the pattern is. The helicopter hovers for a while just shooting at you before moving off to the next location to do the same. To kill it, wall lean (don't stick your head out) on a column and count to about 5, then press focus and A to dive out from behind the column. Open up fire as you go and try to keep moving once you land. If you've got it right, you'll shoot the helicopter while dodging the bullets it fires at you. Again, it may take a little while to get the timing right. You need to know at all times where the entrance to the tower (locked once the boss fight starts) is because it will open up just before the helicopter crashes into the tower. If you don't make it to the stairs in time, you'll die and have to start over again. Nikki Britton suggests something slightly different (which I haven't tested yet): "The Agent Helicoper comes in a pattern, as you have said. It starts north, and this is easier to explain from the north, so I'll explain it this way. The agent helicoper will appear on the north side of the wall, in the center of the wall. Go to the SOUTHWEST pillar of the room, and hide behind it on the WEST side of it. When you see the Agent Heli come in, focus and step out from behind the pillar and unload as many bullets as you can. Doing this will kill the Agent Heli in 2 rounds (maybe even in 1 round if you are good...i did 4/5 damage to him every time). the important part is that you are on the WESTERN side of the SOUTHWESTERN pillar. This allows you to fire at the Agent, but he can't hit you. Continue this from the various directions he comes at you, until he is dead. Also, two things I should note. This strategy works on NORMAL difficulty on the PS2. Since your guide is for the XBox, I can't guarantee it will work, but I'm pretty sure it will. Give it a try." Shadowy adds: "when you are fighting agent helicopter (at least on xbox) you can tell which direction hell be coming by sound. after he leaves face a direction. if you can hear the helicopter then he will come from that direction. if you cant then he wont be coming from that direction. then you can hide behind the post things and pop out every so often and attack with your weapons (shotgun is best)" Great Dame also adds: "wall hug the pillar near the stairwell on the opposite side to where the agent chopper appears and get out your shotgun. when it starts shooting focus and peer around the left side of the pillar. pull off a shot or 2 the duck back to the pillar. when it stops firing go to the side of the pillar that is opposite the site that the chopper will appear on. if you are in the right place there should be another pillar between your pillar and the chopper so dont worry about shooting at it. then go to the opposite side to where the chopper will pop up and do the same as the first time you shot at the chopper. this saves a lot of running around and lowers the risk of dying." Domenic Barbuzzi has another tip: "In one of the stages before it, (sorry, forget which), you can pick up the SG-552. This gun will honestly tear through the copter. On Easy, I did one focus cartwheel constant firing, and killed it, to end on the stairs, the copter only appeared once for less than four seconds, probably more like 2.5. Works on PS2, and probably GC as well, it's the gun, and any difficulty." Mario suggests the direct route: "after getting my ass kicked several times by him i just took out the best machine gun i had, faced the glass before the agent came down, focused as soon as he came down, and manual aimed at his head and took him down without moving and about 4 life left. i did this on ps2 but id imagine it worked for xbox as well." |Cujo| - A hand-to-hand fight. Tap focus to power up your attacks and blocking ability. Pound on him constantly. Cujo has an unblockable attack - he does a big set of arm motions and then does a two-fisted punch (you'll know what I mean when you see it). I haven't yet worked out if you can counter this attack but you can dodge it using X and the left controller to spin out of the way. Once Cujo gets to under half health, he calls down two lackeys to fight you while shooting at you with a shot gun. Use focus to dodge the bullets and use the lackeys to boost your focus levels. When Cujo comes back, beat on him again until you run him through with the stake. |Cain and Abel| - You can beat on them for as long as you like, but to get away from them you have to knock them into the prisoners' arms who will hold them long enough for you to make an escape with Niobe. |Trinity| - Although this is a 'fun' fight, she's got a power bar like a boss, so... it doesn't matter if you win or lose this fight as the game continues regardless. Trinity is tough and will block a lot of your attacks. You will have to have good hand-to-hand skills to beat her. Use her to practise your counter-move timing. Focus moves (especially throws) become vital to taking her out. You will see that both of you will 'pull' some moves, so don't expect every blow that gets through to hurt. |Agent in Core Control| - After you've helped Niobe get to the Nuclear Core (after the stage where you play sniper to get Niobe to the core while fighting off SWAT teams yourself) you will be told you have to clear the area of SWAT before you can plant your charge. Shortly after you get notice of an Agent in the area. Agent Green appears (well, he's in a green suit) and you need to knock him back into the 'sparking servers'. To do this first blow up the servers in front of the green door that Agent Green comes out of by shooting it. From here engage the Agent in melee and fight him back into the damaged server. If you try to run away you will find him fast and accurate with his handgun. |Seraph| - As an aside, what happens when a kid wants to see the Oracle? Does Seraph kick the crap out of them first? Anyway, another Name Character fight. Seraph has some nice looking moves (including a rapid gut punch that looks like it would hurt a lot) but he isn't that hard overall. Throw him around, kick him on the ground and use focus moves to beat his defense. Run away from him to replenish your focus. Once you get him to a small amount of health, he will take you to see the 'new and improved' Oracle. If you fail in this fight, you don't get to do the Agent Smith section and miss out on some fmv footage. Olivier Berneche adds: "Here's the trick: just stand in front of him and just block/use the action button each time he starts to punch/kick/grab you (even easier if you press randomly the focus button to slow his moves). This way, the combat ends quickly (counter-attacks just deals too much damage to him, since he strikes hard; in normal mode, less then 10 will suffice) and with this technique I have just been hit once. Now you can meet the Oracle without sweating"! |Agent(s) Smith| - You can't kill the Agents Smith, only run away. Follow your direction guide at the top of the screen and keep running. If you do get trapped by him, you can try to focus throw him (if there are only one) or wall run away (if there are two or more). You can also wall kick him to knock him over. Agent Smith is a cheap fighter, relying on throws to keep you down. If you get more than one they may start to play pass the parcel which isn't very fun for you. He also has a very powerful kick. Don't bother shooting him as he will just dodge it (but this will slow him down). I did manage to throw him off a building though - that was quite satisfying. :-) Silver D emailed to say that you can get a grenade launcher on the Agents Smith Chinatown stages: "[...]when running from the agents smith (after you leave the building, where you get on the streets in china town). I was running to the phone (the one that would explode) and on my way, I climbed a ladder. I had to go right, but I saw a weapon on the floor on my left. Then I noticed it was a granade launcher. not that I had much time to think, as an agent dropped right in front of me. Then I just fired some 2 times [which killed Agent Smith]" NIOBE ----- |Agent in the Plane| - You have to push the button to open the cargo doors and kick him out. Use your focus throw as it will send him flying. Andy Tsai has covered pretty much everything else. Andy Tsai writes: "Agent in the plane - A hand-to-hand fight with an agent. He has no visible health bar and he'll take any kind of pounding. As suggested by the green tooltip that comes up, you should remember to flick open the green switch to open the bar doors, and repeatedly hit him until you can kick him out of the back of the plane. Use focus combos to make substantial hits and remember to reserve enough focus for the last few metres, because he will block almost all of your normal attacks. Be careful of falling out of the plane yourself, and try to counter-attack wherever possible." |Vlad| - You fight Vlad twice. The first time you just have to damage him for a bit, the second time he has a green health bar and you can kill him. Again, use focus moves to damage to him, especially Niobe's focus throw. He is quick, but not that hard with a bit of practise. Remember to execute counter moves (which generally look better than normal moves anyway). |Cujo| - [copied from above] A hand-to-hand fight. Tap focus to power up your attacks and blocking ability. Pound on him constantly. Cujo has an unblockable attack - he does a big set of arm motions and then does a two-fisted punch (you'll know what I mean when you see it). I haven't yet worked out if you can counter this attack but you can dodge it using X and the left controller to spin out of the way. Once Cujo gets to under half health, he calls down two lackeys to fight you while shooting at you with a shot gun. Use focus to dodge the bullets and use the lackeys to boost your focus levels. When Cujo comes back, beat on him again until you run him through with the stake. |Cain and Abel| - [copied from above] You can beat on them for as long as you like, but to get away from them you have to knock them into the prisoners' arms who will hold them long enough for you to make an escape with Ghost. |Seraph| - [copied from above] Seraph has some nice looking moves (including a rapid gut punch that looks like it would hurt a lot) but he isn't that hard overall. Throw him around, kick him on the ground and use focus moves to beat his defense. Run away from him to replenish your focus. Once you get him to a small amount of health, he will take you to see the 'new and improved' Oracle. If you fail in this fight, you don't get to do the Agent Smith section and miss out on some fmv footage. Olivier Berneche adds: "Here's the trick: just stand in front of him and just block/use the action button each time he starts to punch/kick/grab you (even easier if you press randomly the focus button to slow his moves). This way, the combat ends quickly (counter-attacks just deals too much damage to him, since he strikes hard; in normal mode, less then 10 will suffice) and with this technique I have just been hit once. Now you can meet the Oracle without sweating"! |Agent(s) Smith| - [copied from above] You can't kill the Agents Smith, only run away. Follow your direction guide at the top of the screen and keep running. If you do get trapped by him, you can try to focus throw him (if there are only one) or wall run away (if there are two or more). You can also wall kick him to knock him over. Agent Smith is a cheap fighter, relying on throws to keep you down. If you get more than one they may start to play pass the parcel which isn't very fun for you (but you can counter out of taking damage by hitting X at the right time. He also has a very powerful kick. Don't bother shooting him as he will just dodge it (but this will slow him down). When playing as Niobe I got to see Smith attempt a throw on me but miss and pick up a nearby cop instead. Which side is Smith on, anyway? :-) Silver D emailed to say that you can get a grenade launcher on the Agents Smith Chinatown stages: "[...]when running from the agents smith (after you leave the building, where you get on the streets in china town). I was running to the phone (the one that would explode) and on my way, I climbed a ladder. I had to go right, but I saw a weapon on the floor on my left. Then I noticed it was a granade launcher. not that I had much time to think, as an agent dropped right in front of me. Then I just fired some 2 times [which killed Agent Smith]" OTHER ISSUES ____________ I don't like driving games. The stage where you save Axel didn't help me change that opinion. Niobe has an easier time of it than Ghost. She fights fewer bosses and her driving stages seem much easier than Ghost's. I have an idea about this game - that the team ran out of time to put everything in place. It seems to me that it would have been originally planned that Ghost and Niobe play different (but interlocking) stories rather than over the same ground for certain stages. I certainly got more enjoyment playing the stages that were different for Niobe and Ghost than I did running over old ground. Still, I wonder what if there will be a sequel to EtM to correspond to Matrix Revolutions? If there is I'm sure that Shiny will produce a better product (ie a great game rather than a good game). As a side note, having played Messiah I did notice some parts where the Messiah Engine showed up in EtM. Here's hoping we can possess people in the Revolutions game ala Bob! Hmm, Bob vs Agent Smith ... :-) NOTE ADDED 22 JULY 2004: We all know that this didn't happen - EtM is the only Matrix game to date. The Matrix Online is out there, somewhere in the distance, but we'll just have to see how that goes (and besides, City of Heroes is great!). THANKS ______ To my girlfriend who has actually started to play the Xbox even if you gets the names horribly, horribly wrong (ie House of the Dead III is NOT called House of the Ghosties). To David and Michael Nash for lending me their Xbox so I could play EtM. To Shiny for releasing a pretty good fighting game. Would have been nice if you could have polished out some of the bugs though. Special thanks to those who sent in material to improve this guide: Khyron the Destroyer, caleb bare, Mike Wallace, Andy Tsai, Nikki Britton, Nick Proulx, Jason Tanner, Shadowy, Great Dame, Three Flat, Adanedhel, Olivier Berneche, Domenic Barbuzzi, Gary Frank, David Blade, asdf0fdsa, Navel Piranha, Degausser, Silver D, David C, Jimmy Carter, Mario, ZeroSeven, Claire Fell, Neo, Hadley Box, Bill, BrightShadow, XF04, GDYF, Annihilator, Nabini and Black Mage. No thanks to the person(s) who stole my Xbox. I want my saves back! :-( NOTE ADDED 22 JULY 2004: I never did get back my saves, but I do have a new Xbox by now. Thanks to all those who expressed their condolences at my loss ;-) NOTES _____ Version 1.55: Black Mage wrote in about how to perform split kicks against multiple enemies. Fixed a few spelling mistakes. Version 1.5: Added in all the contributor information that has been sent to me for the last six months and have rejigged the guide to the new Gamefaqs auto- submission criteria. Version 1.22: Added more contributor information. Version 1.21: Lent my EtM to a friend so I haven't been able to play it. Added some contributor information. Version 1.20: Added in a heap of contributor information; haven't had an Xbox for several days so I can't test out some of the stuff I've been sent. Version 1.11: Tinkered again with the Primary Weapons table; added more contributor information; added wall-flip dive technique. Version 1.1: Fixed up the Primary Weapons table (well, hopefully); added more contributor information. Version 1.0: Added full gun list; added fighting moves; added more contributor information. Version 0.98: Completed EtM with Niobe; added in Niobe information; started gun list; added more contributor materials. Version 0.82: Added more contributor materials; altered some information to reflect greater experience with Niobe. Version 0.81: Addition of Body Movement section; inclusion of contributor materials; other added materials. Version 0.8: Incomplete version released. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Version 1.0 | 19/05/2003