Q&A with David Perry on The Path Neo and Wachowski Brothers -- Page 2

GP: So following Enter the Matrix, what approach did the Wachowski's want to take for Path of Neo?

DP: It was a strange idea to make a movie game starring characters who weren't the principals in the movie. It was like making a Spider-Man game, but you don't get to play Spider-Man. That's a strange idea, and we had a lot of explaining to do to make people understand why that made sense.

GP: And?

DP: And the reason it made sense was because the Wachowski's were making new movie footage for us and that was how we were going to break new ground. We had new footage in that game that would affect your experience of the feature movie. We wanted gamers to sit in the movie beside someone else and watch the movie and have two different experiences.

GP: So gamers would know a deeper context for some scenes than the regular movie-goers?

DP: Right. When a car shows up on the freeway and saves Morpheus. The regular movie-goer assumes the car just got there somehow, but because you played the game you realize that you drove the car there. It was something that would have been impossible without the cooperation of the movie's directors.

GP: Were the Wachowski's thinking about the Path of Neo even at that time?

DP: The Wachowski's broke new ground by blending the movie with the game. So with Path of Neo, we thought, "How lucky are we that we didn't use up Neo in the first game."

GP: You "got away with it."

DP: We got away with doing a massive game without playing our trump card. We never used any of the signature scenes from the trilogy, not the lobby scene, the subway fight, the fight in the park. So it's the perfect time to make a really good Neo game.

GP: Plus you had the Wachowski brothers on board.

DP: The twist to it is: try going to Warner Bros. or Universal and asking them for the Matrix trilogy. You'd pull out your checkbook and they'd be wringing their hands. It would be really tough. It's an entirely different process when the directors say, "We want to make a game based on the trilogy and the Animatrix as well." The Wachowski brothers decided they wanted to tell the story of Neo from their perspective.

GP: Is that perspective different somehow from the one they portray in the trilogy?

DP: There will be some new situations and locations that we are building. But the most surprising turn of events was that being videogamers the Wachowski's called one day and said they knew the ending of the trilogy wasn't going to work in the game.

GP: Why not?

DP: The ending of Revolutions is basically the Christ story. The way the Wachowski's explain it is that the Matrix trilogy portrays the birth, the life, and the death of Neo. In the first movie, he starts out like a normal man where he's trying to take of himself, protect himself, and worry about survival in this world. In the second movie he starts to realize there are a lot of people in world who are in trouble and need help, and he starts trying to help them. In the third movie he realizes there is an incredible need for him to save the day, and he basically sacrifices his life for the good of all mankind. That's the storyline for the trilogy and it's great, but it's not a great ending for a videogame.

GP: Yeah, that's the Matrix the story, but I guess you're going to tell us that they, being the Wachowski', can do whatever they believe is right for the Matrix.

DP: That was the conversation we had. We're telling a very powerful story which is basically the Christ story. But they said here at the end of the videogame you're going hold still and let yourself die and we're going to say congratulations, well done you're the winner. It's just not a classic game ending. So they decided to change the ending of the movie for the game.

GP: As Keanu Reeves once said, "Whoa."

DP: The new ending is so radical we're making new footage for it, and the Wachowski's are going to pause the game and come onscreen themselves to tell you why they decided to change the ending of the trilogy.

GP: Will the ending be playable?

DP: The ending is completely playable, but...let's just put it this way: the story does not end the way it did in the movie.

GP: ...

DP: Okay, I'll tell you the ending, but it's totally off the record.

GP: Alright...hit me.

For more details about The Matrix: Path of Neo, check out the October issue of GamePro magazine, on sale now.

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