Idea Info Name: The Matrix Connected Index: Primary Category: Online Submitted: 11/12/2003 8:37:48 PM Written By: BebopDaBebop

The Matrix Connected

Lean Summary:  Characters from the popular movie series, The Matrix, do battle against one another in intense online clan action!

Hefty Summary:  The four main powers of the Matrix battle against each other in intense Matrix-style action, each with distinct abilities and powers.  The Agents are extremely powerful in hand-to-hand combat, have the ability to land superjumps from any height, and they can 'teleport' virtually anywhere by taking over civilian bodies.  The Surreals have two distinct classes of characters.  One is the vampires and the other is the ghosts.  The vampires quickly regenerate health and damage.  Due to this they are extremely powerful in combat and can also jump from nearly any distance.  The ghosts are beings capable of bending the rules of gravity and passing through walls.  The humans are incredibly wily creatures, adept at dodging and able to use any form of weaponry available to them in The Matrix.  They are also able to slow down The Matrix by using a unique ability called Bullet Time.  The last power, Agent Smith, is quite possibly the most unique of them all.  Smith is able to overrun all the other powers with sheer numbers and his ability to quickly turn civilians into another Smith.

Storyline: None.  Although there are some "Team missions," and levels designed to the Matrix world that can be played that have elements of storyline from the movies, there really is no focus to storyline in this game.  If you want good storyline, watch the damn movies!

Genre: The Matrix Connected is an online FPS game (though there is an option to view in 3^rd person).  And in a typical fashion, the controls are a keyboard and mouse.  Or, if the game is on a system, a joystick can be used (though this game would be significantly easier to control with a keyboard and mouse).

Objective:  When the game begins, all the players are required to choose a team.  Every game has four teams (unless the server chooses to disallow one or more of these teams) and each team is one of the powers from the Matrix.  So when a player begins the game, that player is able to choose whether he/she wants to be a member of the Agents, Surreals, Humans, or Smiths.  Each team has significant strengths and weaknesses, and each team has different ways of gaining points, and there are some levels that have mission objectives which, if completed, result in bonus points.  Every team can simply kill a member from an opposing team to gain points, but each team also has a unique way of gaining extra points.  While every team can simply kill to gain points, only humans are able to gain extra points from "Bullet Time Bonus."  All the other teams also have unique ways of gaining points as well, but this will be explained in greater detail later.  The main objective of The Matrix Connected is to be the team with the most kills by the end of each round (rounds end either from a certain elapsed time or a team gains a specified amount of points).

The Agents:  The Agents have very explicate strengths and weaknesses, which means that if Agents are used properly they can be effective killing machines (so to speak), but if used incorrectly they can seriously get their asses’ kicked.  The specific strengths and weaknesses are listed below.

Quick Stats

Hit Points: 125

Weapons: Handguns and Fists

Appearance: Black suits, black ties, black sunglasses, tall.

Basic Strategy: Surprise attacks and raw, surging power

Picture: The Agents from Reloaded

Strengths

Overwhelming power:  Agents have an enormous amount of raw, surging power.  When this power is used against other players those players may quickly find themselves lying dead on the floor.  This power is most commonly used as a melee attack.  An agent is able to charge every melee attack.  As a normal attack (meaning a non-charged punch or kick), an agent can do 75 hit points of damage (human players without armor have 100 hit points, surreal ghosts have 100, Smiths have 100 and player-controlled Smiths have 125, agents have 125, and surreal vampires have 150, while ghosts only have 75).  And as a maximum charge, an agent is able to do up to 500 hit points of damage, breaking through walls and doors with ease.  However, to attain that much power the player must stand in one spot for five seconds and then let the attack go, otherwise if the player moves some of the power is lost.  An agent is able to charge up to 200 hit points worth of damage and still move around with out losing it.  But this power only remains charged when the agent is unequipped (isn't carrying a gun).  Also, every hit point worth of damage done to an agent makes that agent lose five hit points of charged power, and for every second an agent remains in "bullet-dodge" mode, the agent loses twenty points of charged damage.  When used correctly, this charge can easily throw another player off guard by breaking through walls or smashing them with a sneak attack.  If a player is caught off guard with an agent's charged attack, it is quite possible they will die in a single shot (or even worse, the power would hit the player off a building or something, giving the Agent more points--more on that one later).

Extra Points 1: The first way for Agents to gain bonus points is to use the agent charging ability to hit an enemy hard enough that the enemy is knocked off a building, hit through a wall, ceiling, or floor.  If an enemy is killed in such a way, the Agent gains two extra points for the kill, for a total of three points.

Extra Points 2: The second way to gain extra points as an Agent is similar to the first.  Again, the Agent uses the charging ability to hit an opponent.  And, if the opponent is hit into another opponent and both die, the agent gains a bonus.  If two enemies are killed in this way then the agent gains one additional point, for a total of three.  However, if the agent kills three, he/she gains an extra two points, for a total of five.  If the agent kills four, the agent gains four extra points, etc.  It is very difficult to kill enemies with this technique, but if done correctly it can score up a whole lot of points very quickly.

Pin-point Accuracy:  As touched on in the "weaknesses" of the Agents, one will learn that Agents are only capable of using handguns.  But, Agents do not suffer any recoil from shooting.  This means that when an enemy is targeted, the Agent is able to shoot fast, taking the target down without having to worry about correcting the aiming.  This precise accuracy does wonders and allows an agent to have remarkable precision even from long distances.  It also allows Agents to specify where to shoot their enemies.  Leg shots make enemies’ speed lower for a given amount of time.  Arm shots jolt the aim of the enemy.  And head shots are one-shot deaths.

Extra Points 3: Another way to gain extra points with Agents is to kill enemies with a shot to the head.  Head shots are worth one bonus point.

Sturdy Legs:  Agents are capable of performing a “superjump” by holding the crouch button and jump buttons at the same time.  This allows agents to jump as far as 40 feet in the air!  What is even better is that agents do not suffer damage from landings.  This means that an agent could jump or fall a distance of 400 feet and suffer no damage at all.  This also adds an extra attack to the Agents arsenal.  By performing a superjump from an enormous height, upon landing the ground will shake, causing near-by enemies’ aim to shake.  Also, if the height is high enough the jump is also capable of dealing damage.  And if the Agent is precise with the superjump and lands on a target directly, it is almost a sure-fire kill.  Normal-height superjumps (40 feet) are incapable of dealing enough damage.  So to perform this attack well, the agent must jump from the largest heights available.  This attack works especially well on Smith, for if the initial impact does not kill all the smiths, then the shockwave should spare enough time for the agent to gain the upper hand.

Agent Bullet Dodge: Similar to the movies, when an Agent goes into “bullet dodge mode” that agent moves so fast the agent’s image is blurred and the agent is able to dodge bullets.  When playing as an agent, the top of the screen has a “dodge bar.”  When the bullet-dodge mode is activated, the bar lowers.  When the dodge meter reaches zero, the agent is forced out of bullet-dodge mode.  The total time for bullet-dodge is ten seconds.  And after the time is used up, it takes 1 second to recharge 1 second of the bullet-dodge meter.  This means that after the mode is all used up, it takes only ten seconds to fully recharge again.  Bullet-dodge mode, however, is not a form of invulnerability.  Agents may only move so fast, so while in bullet-dodge mode they are only capable of dodging so many bullets at once.  The largest amount of bullets an agent can dodge at once is about equal to a medium machine gun (AK47, M4A1, etc, and anything lower).  Agents are incapable of dodging chainguns or a lot of gunfire from several enemies, though they are capable of dodging some of it.  When dodging so many bullets, the agent will dodge some of the bullets but will also get hit by some.  This dodge ability of the agents, although flawed in some areas, can be extremely useful.   In a one-on-one fight between an agent, and an enemy with a machine gun or lower weapon, the agent can dodge an entire clip of bullets from the enemy and then fire back at them.  This is also a great ability to use if the agent is taken off guard.  Though it is certainly not perfect and an Agent may find trouble if there are multiple enemies, or if the enemy is using a gun that has a lot of ammo per clip.  The dodge is a brilliant ability when used sparingly, but when used too often the Agent will find him/herself in a heap of trouble.

Teleportation: Agents are capable of teleporting, well to an extent anyway.  Any wandering civilians are capable of being turned into an agent; or rather the agent is capable of teleporting into a civilian’s body.  When the given button is pressed, the agent is taken to a view outside of the agent’s body.  Right away, the view shifts to the closest possible civilian to take over.  If the agent does not want to take over that civilian, then the agent can just hit the left or right arrows to find another civilian.  When a civilian is selected, the agent teleports into the body of the civilian, overwriting the civilian’s existence and bringing back the other civilian the agent overwrote (an agent may only exist in the matrix if the agent overwrites a civilian.  When the agent dies the agent disappears and the civilian returns.  If the agent overwrites a different civilian, then the other civilian returns).  This sounds confusing, but it is actually rather simple.  At the start of the game, the agents overwrite a civilian to enter the matrix.  And when the agent dies or teleports, that civilian is returned.  If the agent died, then the civilian returns as a corpse, and if the agent overwrites a different civilian, then the former civilian returns to where the agent was and walks away without realizing anything strange happened.  Overwriting another civilian only takes about four seconds, but during this time the agent is vulnerable to attack.  And during these three seconds the civilian screams in agony, as the process is rather painful for the person.  This means that it is ill-advised to overwrite a civilian too close to an enemy.  But if the agent overwrites a civilian that is close to another enemy, the agent may easily take that enemy by surprise.  Another note, in some levels civilians might be driving cars or trucks or something along those lines.  If one of these civilians is overwritten by an agent, the agent can use that vehicle.

Agent Sense:  My agent sense is tingling!  Okay, enough funny stuff.  The agent sense is the ability for an agent to see through walls, but this ability is extremely limited.  The agent may only see through walls when very close to them, and the agent may only see enemies and nothing too detailed.  When near a wall (within about ten feet) the agent is able to sense about ten-twenty feet (depending how close to the wall) on the other side of the wall.  This means that if an agent is next to a wall and there is an enemy close by, the agent will actually see a green outline of zeros and ones of the enemy.  This means an agent can quickly get the jump on unsuspecting victims.  What is even better is that this sense is actually radial.  This means that Agents are able to sense behind, forward, above, and below themselves.  And when an enemy is sensed, a green arrow is placed on the lower portion of the screen, pointing to where the enemy is.  This sense is an excellent tool in the agents’ build, allowing them to take enemies by surprise.  And remember, most walls, doors, ceilings, and floors are able to be destroyed by an agent’s charged attack.  Combining these two elements is one of several keys to success when playing as an agent.

Leader Agent:  The last strength of the Agents is the leader agent.  The leader agent is the agent amongst the group that has the most total points (from kills or bonus points).  And this leader of the agents gains 25 hit points and does an extra ten percent damage.  And any other Agents around the leader gains an extra five percent damage as well.  This may not seem like much, but it can change the tide of battle.

Weaknesses

Little Weapons:  Agents are only capable of using handguns and their own bodies as weapons.  Any weapon higher than that is not allowed for agents to use.  Agents may not even use knives or swords—only handguns.  This means they miss out on a lot of raw firepower.

Dodge is limited:  The only way an agent is able to dodge attacks is with the Bullet-Dodge ability and the superjump ability.  This means they are often subject to attacks very easily—making them easy to kill in large firefights.

Often Outnumbered:  Agents are excellent at surprise attacks and one-on-one duels, but they are not so good at taking out large numbers and winning large firefights.  A pistol is not an admirable weapon for taking out large numbers, nor is it likely to win in large firefights.  So in the event of large firefights and enormous numbers, an agent is likely to lose.  Smith is often a major problem with Agents, but if the Agents start off the engagement with a surprise attack, they are likely to gain the upper hand.

Open = Bad: Because of the Agent Sense, the ability to smash through walls, and the pure power of melee attacks, Agents do not like open areas and favor more closed areas.  In wide open streets, agents are much more vulnerable because their only choice is to fire upon their enemies with only a pistol.

Strategies:  Because of their distinct strengths and weaknesses, Agents have specific strategies and usually adhere to them.  Well, if they want to survive, that is.  The following is a list of basic strategies for Agents to use to gain the upper hand in battle.

Stay away from open areas:  A specific weakness of the Agents is open areas.  This is because they have a severe lack of long range.  Given, they do not suffer from recoil, but a pistol is only so accurate and the longer the range the more inaccurate the pistol gets.   Because of this, agents should always roam in more tightly-packed areas.  Office buildings, hallways, and alleyways are usually a good bet for Agents.  And if, as an agent, you find yourself running through open streets, then the best idea is to find an alleyway, or find a building and simply smash through a wall.  Always keep in smaller areas, as it is easier to take opponents by surprise.

Surpise! Attack?  Yes that is right, surprise attacks are the best way to boost points for agents.  A charged up melee attack is the quickest way to smash an opponent, and if you are lucky you will smash your opponent out of a building or into a wall, gaining more points.  But the charge is easily disrupted.  If you are forced into bullet-dodge mode or you are hit with damage, then you lose the charge fast.  This means the best solution is to simply take an opponent off guard.  Pay attention to the agent sense when in closed areas.  And when you sense an opponent, smash through a wall and bust out your pistol.  If done right the player will be taken off guard and you have yourself a free kill.  Another good way of gaining a surprise attack is by carefully aiming at the head.  This will gain extra points and a quick kill.

Treat abilities with care: If a player uses an agent without thinking, that player will likely score their enemies some points and the easiest way to misuse an agent is to misuse the agent’s abilities.  Bullet-dodge is probably the easiest ability to misuse.  This ability should be used in a similar fashion to old wild-west shows.  In a typical gunfight, the two people hide behind something for cover while their enemy is shooting at them.  And when that enemy has to reload, then the person whips out their gun and starts blasting.  This is exactly how the bullet-dodge mode should be used.  When the enemy starts firing, turn on the bullet-dodge mode.  And as soon as you hear that enemy reloading, stop the dodge and start firing.  It is a quick and easy way to destroy enemies, though one must be very cautious because some weapons can shoot for a long time without reloading.  And not all weapons are able to be dodged.  The other ability that is very easy to misuse is the teleportation.  Teleporting and overwriting another civilian must be used with extreme caution.  If a careless player teleports into a room with an enemy, that player is simply giving him/herself to the enemy.  This is because the agent not only makes a lot of noise while taking over a civilian, but the agent is also vulnerable to attack for a whole four seconds while transporting. 

Final Thoughts:  Agents are unstoppable in unarmed, melee combat, they retain no recoil from firing their handguns, and they can smash through walls with their incredible strength.  However, to effectively use an agent, a player must know how to gain a surprise in their attacks.  Agents rarely work well against large numbers, or in massive firefights, so the wise player tries to steer clear of those.  But a truly expert player is able to surprise large groups and butt into massive firefights to take advantage of a bad situation and gain a lot of points.

The Surreals:  The Surreals have two very different types—vampires and ghosts.  Vampires are excellent in large firefights and mowing down large numbers.  They can use any weapon and suffer very little slow down in movement and little recoil even for larger weapons.  However, the ghosts are the polar opposite and can only use knives and prefer to silently kill individual people.  To have a truly effective team, the Surreals must have experts in both categories to take advantage of any situation.

Basic Stats (Vampires)

Hit Points: 150

Weapons: Any—Hands, Knives, Swords, Handguns, Machine Guns, Shot Guns, etc

Appearance: Black suits, purple ties, short

Basic Strategy: Find large numbers and mow them down, sniping.

For the record: Vampires are unaffected by daylight.  Since this is the Matrix the sun is artificial anyway.

Picture: The vampire from Reloaded

Strengths

Weapon Variety:  Vampires are able to use virtually every weapon in The Matrix.  They can use knives, swords, handguns, machine guns, and shotguns.  Because of this weapon variety, they have a good adaptation to several situations. 

Vampire Strength: Vampires have a great amount of strength behind them, so they have very little recoil when using larger weapons.  This means that they are excellent at taking out larger groups as the big weapons are usually made for such reasons.  And because they have no recoil, they are able to shoot off a quick spray of bullets, especially great at mowing down a group of people in a hallway.  Vampires also make good snipers because the recoil does not jerk their movement very well.  And since they have no heartbeat, it is easier for them to aim.

Blood Vision:  Using Blood Vision allows vampires to focus only on heartbeats and blood flow.  Yes, to make things easier, Smiths and Agents also have heartbeats and blood flow (or at least something similar enough for Vampires to detect).  When a vampire focuses only on blood and heart beats, all the surroundings get darker while Agents, Smiths, and Humans turn bright-red.  This means that a player will quickly see an enemy and react much faster.  This ability is used very well when sniping but not as well when running around (as it is more difficult to see obstacles with blood vision on).

Extra Points 1:  The first way a vampire can gain extra points is by shooting an enemy directly in the heart.  With blood-vision activated, the heart is highlighted with a dark shade of red.  This means that everything around an enemy is dark, while the enemy is bright-red and the heart is dark-red.  This means the heart is very easy to distinguish.  And, when using a sniper rifle, a vampire is able to shoot an enemy directly in the heart.  If the vampire manages this, the vampire gains two extra points.  With a point for the kill added, that comes to a total of three points for a heart-shot.

Regeneration:  Vampires regenerate hit points at a very fast rate—two hit points every second.  This means that if they are damaged, vampires are able to retreat and regain their hit points, something Agents, Smiths, and Humans are incapable of.  Regeneration makes vampires excellent at hit and run tactics; fighting for a while, and when too damaged they retreat to gain their life back.

Bloodsuck:  When an enemy is at very low life, to finish them vampires can suck blood from their veins to gain their life back and increase their strength.  When the enemy is at low life, all the vampire has to do is finish them off with a single hit or shot, and then when the enemy is falling to their knees, to hit them with a melee attack.  This is a very difficult technique to use but it really pays off.  After the blood is sucked from an enemy, which while the process takes places leaves the vampire vulnerable for three seconds, the vampire gains regains all lost hit points, gains an extra 50 hit points, and gains a ten percent bonus to attack and movement.  This process is not retroactive, however, and the gained hit points can not be regenerated unless the vampire sucks more blood.  The effect of bloodsuck lasts for two minutes or until the vampire is killed.

Extra Points 2:  The other way for vampires to gain extra points is to perform a bloodsuck.  After a vampire sucks the blood from his victim, the vampire gains an extra five points for a total of six with the kill.

Superjump:  Similar to Agents, vampires have a form of superjump that allows them to jump large distances and heights.  However, they are only able to jump twenty feet in the air and they take damage from large falls.  However, because of the regeneration, they can fall from a high distance and simply regenerate the hit points.

Scale Walls:  Since Vampires have such great strength and strong nails, they are able to climb virtually anything.  However, it takes a long time to climb and if a vampire is spotted climbing, they are incredibly vulnerable to attack as they cannot fire back while climbing.  This ability is excellent to use to gain vantage points as a sniper.

Weaknesses

No dodge: Vampires have no way of dodging on-coming attacks except by strafing back and forth, hiding behind obstacles, and ducking.  Because of this, vampires often get destroyed in one-on-one attacks.  Even their regeneration is sometimes not enough when they can not dodge on-coming attacks.

No training:  Because vampires have no real combat training at all, they have a few distinct weaknesses for it.  Number one, they take longer to reload than normal, twenty-five percent more than normal, to be exact.  And number two, they have no melee training and therefore do only 25 points of damage with their fists, 30 with a combat knife, and 35 with a katana.  This makes them weak in melee combat and also makes them vulnerable to attack while they are reloading.

Bad Start Locations: After a player-vampire is killed, that player may only come back from a dead corpse.  In every level there are specific areas with several corpses that regenerate just so vampires can come back, but they are very limited.  On the positive end of things, if a vampire is killed they are able to come back in the dead corpse, taking revenge on the one that killed them.  However, when they regenerate from a freshly-killed corpse, many of the wounds are still retained, meaning when they first awaken from their dark slumber, they must regenerate the hit points.  The first five seconds of an awakening the vampire gains 10 hit points every second, after that it is a normal 2 hit points.  Average corpses retain about 50 hit points, but freshly killed corpses only have about five hit points, if they have any at all.  Some corpses are unable to be awakened into, as they have taken too much damage.  A way to prevent an awakening is for the other players to pump the dead corpse full of bullets, making it unable to be regenerated.  This, however, cannot be done to the corpses specifically set in levels for regeneration.

Basic Stats (Ghosts)

Hit Points: 75

Weapons: Knives

Appearance: White suits, long and white hair, black glasses

Basic Strategy: Sneaky kills, taking out people one at a time

For the Record: No, Ghosts can not use large weaponry like in Reloaded.

Picture: The Twins from Reloaded

Strengths

Ghost Mode: Ghosts in The Matrix Connected have a very unique ability that allows them to not only fly through walls and dodge bullets but also to regenerate lost hit points.  When this mode is activated by the ghost, the ghost loses control and moves at the same speed and direction the ghost was moving to begin with, if the ghost was not moving at all, then the ghost stays in the same place (*note, gravity does not affect ghosts when they are using this ability).  The ghost may only use this ability for five seconds at any one given time, so they can not simply stay in ghost mode for forever.  Any player that is a ghost has a “ghost meter.”  And when the player uses this ability, the meter is drained.  If the player uses the ghost mode for five seconds, the entire meter is drained and the ghost is forced back into the physical plane.  And it takes two seconds in the physical world to bring back one second on the ghost meter.  Also, when in ghost mode, the ghost regenerates wounds it had from previous battles.  For every one second in ghost mode, the ghost regenerates ten hit points.  So a ghost can regenerate a total of 50 hit points in five seconds, but then it is forced out of ghost mode.  And when in ghost mode, everything to the ghost appears transparent.  This is because the ghost’s entire body is partially transparent, including their eyes, so they actually see everything as transparent.  This is great because it allows the ghosts to have a “clairvoyance” type of effect.  By simply going into ghost mode, the ghost may look around and find any possible targets for attack.  However, the enemies too are half-transparent so it is difficult to see.  When scouting, it is better for a Ghost to use Clairvoyance mode instead.

Clairvoyance Mode:  This ability is similar to Ghost Mode, except the ghost does not fully step into the spectral plane; instead the ghost merely goes half-way into the plane to take a look at the surroundings.  When in this mode, the ghost can still take damage, as only the eyes are really in the spectral plane.  And hit points are not regenerated, either.  However, when in this mode the ghost is granted excellent vision.  All walls, buildings, and surroundings become transparent, except for all other players.  They are still seen clearly.  This allows ghosts to clearly locate enemies within the surrounding area.  Also, Clairvoyance mode lasts twice as long, meaning the ghost may stay in this mode for a total of ten seconds at a time before forced out of the spectral plane.  It is always a good idea to use this mode right when the player starts.  Knowing where the enemies are from the getgo always gives the player an added advantage. 

Rapid Hands: Due to their focus on only using knives as weapons, Ghosts are very efficient at it.  Their attacks with knives are twice as fast as other players, meaning they can slice and dice their opponents much quicker.

No Steps: Ghosts are very stealthy beings, so they do not make a single sound when moving at a normal pace.

Sprint:  Ghosts are able to make a quick sprint to catch up to enemies.  Ghosts have a sprint meter, and are able to sprint for five seconds before the meter is all used up.  It takes five seconds in ghost mode, five seconds of standing still in the physical world, or ten seconds of regular movement to recharge the sprint meter.  Speed may increase to a total of 25 extra percent, giving them an added advantage.  Strategic players use the sprint mode right before going into the ghost mode, giving them an extra boost for flying through walls (or other players ;)).

Extra Points: Ghosts are able to gain extra points through a bonus called “Stealth Attack.”  A stealth attack is when a ghost kills an opponent without receiving damage.  When a ghost gains a stealth attack, the ghost gains one point for the kill and an extra point for the stealth attack.

Weaknesses

Limited Weaponry: Ghosts are incapable of using any weapon besides knives, meaning that in the weapon category, they really have no variety in strategy.  They are meant to stab their opponents in the back; any other strategy does not work very well with knives. 

Low HP: Ghosts have a very low HP (total hit points).  With only 75 hit points, Ghosts are not good at all at fighting in large groups or firefights.  Meaning that when around a firefight, usually the best bet is to run like hell.

Bad Respawns:  Ghosts have an almost completely random respawn.  They do not have specified respawning locations, so it is a royal pain trying to locate teammates to work together because of the bad respawns.

As a Whole: Teamwork is absolutely essential when playing as The Surreals, which is difficult at times because of both the vampires’ and ghosts’ horrible Respawns.  But when the two work together, it can yield devastating results.  Since vampires make such excellent snipers, they can pick off a lot of enemies from afar.  But, teamed with a ghost, the sniper has infinite vision.  The ghost uses the Clairvoyance mode and then tells the vampire where all the enemies are.  And, many times a sniper is caught off guard while looking through the scope of their gun.  But, when a ghost is nearby, the ghost can take out any enemy attempting to sneak up on the vampire.  When alone, vampires and ghosts can be rather weak and are usually wiped out easily by other players.  But when paired together, the ghosts and vampires are an extremely deadly force to be reckoned with.

Strategies

Keeping It Even With Pairs:  For every vampire there should be a ghost and visa versa; this team works best with several pairs spaced out within the entire level.  Since vampires and ghosts have significant weaknesses, they are weak alone but very strong with a partner.  But, it is not usually wise to have large groups of vampires and ghosts together.  Having several snipers in one spot is not usually effective.  But when pairs are spaced out throughout the map, points can be racked up fast.  Another good combination of pairs is when a ghost is paired with a vampire that has a weapon suited for close-range battles such as a machine gun.  When running around, the ghost uses clairvoyance to spot close-by enemies.  And, while the vampire keeps enemies distracted with cover fire, the ghost flies in and attacks the enemies in the back, racking up stealth kills.

Sniper/Scout:  Snipers have good vision alone, as they are able to use their “blood vision” and locate nearby enemies almost immediately.  However, they are incapable of seeing through buildings or walls, as ghosts are.  The ghost uses clairvoyance to locate enemies and then tells the sniper where to aim.  This is an excellent combination because then enemies can be taken out without them knowing what happened.  What is even better is that the ghost can look out for near-by enemies attempting to get the jump on the sniper.

Gunner/Stealth:  This combination works well when the vampire has a large machine gun or shotgun to take out large numbers.  The idea behind this combination is a hit man-style kind of thing.  The ghost uses its marvelous vision to locate any nearby enemies.  Then the two hide to get the jump on them.  The vampire lays out firepower while the ghost sneaks by and stabs the enemies in the back.  Or, it also works for a vampire to lay down fire on a hallway, and have the ghost sneak behind them by moving through walls.

Teamwork: No matter what the situation, it is always best if the vampires and ghosts work together to fight enemies.  Vampires and ghosts both have significant advantages and disadvantages, but when paired together, vampires strengths assets ghosts and visa versa.

Final Thoughts:  The best bet for the Surreals is getting the jump on enemies and taking them out with stealth.  The vampires are excellent snipers while the ghosts are able to plunge through walls and stab enemies in the back.  It is also a wise idea for ghosts and vampires to be paired, giving strength to both of them.  It is better to space out the pairs as well.  Since their greatest strength is ambushes and sneak attacks, it is best to spread the team out instead of having all of them in one large group.

The Humans: Humans are the most widely talented force in the Matrix; focusing on teamwork and sticking together.  They are able to use any form of weaponry, which gives them a variety of strategy simply in that department.  They are also excellent at dodging.  Humans are good for any situation, though they rarely excel in any one particular category.

Basic Stats

Hit Points: 100

Weapons: Any

Appearance: Black Trench coats, black sunglasses, varied physical appearances

Basic Strategy: Large firefights, fighting in big groups

Picture: Neo

Strengths

Weapon Variety: Humans have superb weapons training, allowing them to use any weapon in The Matrix.  They can use anything from knives and swords, to huge machine guns and shotguns.  This allows humans to select any weapon depending on the situation.

Good Start Locations:  Though they are somewhat limited (usually there are three to four human start locations per map), the start locations for humans allow them to chose where they want to go.  What is even better is that a group of humans can all start in the same place, meaning they can start off with backup and not have to run around alone.

Martial Arts Training:  Yes that’s right, humans know kung fu.  They also know a lot of other martial arts as well.  And because of this, humans are adept at unarmed combat.  With a swift jump kick they can knock out the weapon from the hands of the enemy.  And with just a few more kicks and punches, can really lay the smack down on enemies.  They certainly do not do near the same amount of damage as an Agent, but they make up for it by being able to knock a weapon out of an enemy’s hand.

Operations Training:  Because Humans have such excellent training, they are able to drive cars and semis, operate mounted machine guns, and use practically anything else in the surrounding area to gain advantage.  Unlike Agents, Humans are able to simply walk into a vehicle to control it.

Dodge: Humans have a dodge button, and with this button they are allowed to perform diving jumps, rolls, and crouches.  Depending on how much weight the human is carrying depends on how well the human dodges.  At low weight, humans can even bounce off of walls.  At medium weight, they can still perform diving rolls.  And at heavy weight, they are limited to small dives and crouches.

Leaning: Humans are able to lean and peer over corners while they are hiding behind walls, buildings, etc.  This ability is great because it allows humans to shoot at enemies while still being protected.

Superjump: Similar to the Agents’ and the Vampires’ superjump, a human is able to jump at a height of 25 feet.  But, depending on the weight the human is carrying, the human might suffer a lot of damage from the fall.  At low weight, there is no damage with a normal superjump.  At medium, there is slight damage, and at heavy weight there is even more damage.  Humans can also soften the blow by rolling after a superjump, thought this leaves them open to attack for a brief moment.

Extra Points 1: By killing off an enemy in a single shot with a sniper rifle (in the head), a human gains one bonus point for the headshot and one for the kill.

Bonus Points 2: If a human kills an enemy while dodging, then the human gains one bonus point along with the point for the kill.

Bonus Points 3: By killing an enemy with karate moves, the human gains one additional point.

Bonus Points 4:  While using “bullet time” and killing an enemy, a human gains one additional point.  This is cumulative with bonus points 1, 2, and 3.  This means that if a human dodges while in bullet time and kills an enemy, that human gains 3 total points (1 for the dodge, 1 for the bullet time, and 1 for the kill).  However, the bullet time bonus does not add to the bullet time meter.  So in the last case, the meter would only rise for 2 points instead of three.

Bullet Time: This is the most significant strength in the human arsenal.  Not only are humans allowed to slow down time with this maneuver, but if they allow their bullet time meter to build up, they can turn into The One.  Every human has a bullet time meter which goes up to 20.  For each point they receive (kills or bonus points), the meter goes up one.  Depending on when the bullet time is used depends on how powerful the bullet time is.

1-5 Slow-Down: When the bullet time meter is at 1-5 and the human uses it, it slows down the matrix.  Everything around the user is slowed, including the human that used it.  Everything moves at only 25% speed.  This mode is great for dodging bullets and firing upon enemies.  The amount of time this mode is in depends on how much of the bullet meter there is.  If a human has 3 on the bullet meter, then the slow-down will last 3 seconds.

6-10 Slow-Stop: This maneuver is similar to the Slow-Down, but instead of moving at 20%, everything instead moves at only 10%.  And, the amount of time the mode is in is how much the meter is at – 5.  If a human has 10 points on the bullet time meter, they can use slow-stop for five seconds.  However, if they only have 6, they can only use it for one second.

11-15 Super-Speed: When bullet-time is used with 11-15 points, everything but the human is slowed by 25%.  Though it appears that the human is moving at normal speed and everything else is moving slowly, in fact the human is just moving very fast.  The amount of time in super-speed depends on how many points are on the meter – 10.  So if a human uses this with 13 points, the human will be in super-speed for 3 seconds.

16-20 Ultra-Speed: When using ultra-speed, the human moves at normal speed while everything else moves at only 10% speed, giving the human a significant advantage.  The amount of time in ultra-speed depends on how much points are on the bullet meter – 15.  So if a human has 18 points on the meter, that human will be in ultra-speed mode for 3 seconds.

21 and above: After a human reaches a 21 or above point value on the meter, that human becomes The One.  Only one human is able to be The One at any given time.  The advantages of The One are explained below.

The One Mode: When a human turns into The One, they have several advantages.  The first is that they gain twice as much for kills on their bullet-time meter (but not for bonus kills).  This means that if a human kills one enemy, they instead gain two points for the bullet-time meter.  If the human kills an enemy with a dodge, the bullet time meter goes up 3 (two for the kill and one for the dodge bonus).  Also, The One’s dodge is 25% better than a normal human.  This allows The One to dodge well even if heavily equipped.  The One also gains a few more abilities.  And The One begins with a maxed out bullet-time meter.

Flight:  By performing a superjump while holding down the bullet-time button, The One ducks for a second and then takes off in flight.  For every second in flight the bullet time meter goes down one point.

Bullet Stop: By concentrating heavily (and moving hands in a cool, Neo-fashion), The One can stop bullets before it hits him/her or nearby humans.  When this mode is activated, The One is incapable of moving, as all the concentration goes to stopping the bullets.  This mode allows The One, and any close-by humans to be completely immune to bullets while the time lasts.  For every second in bullet stop mode, the meter is drained two points.  So the maximum amount of time in one go is ten seconds, and that is only if the bullet-time meter is maxed.

Weaknesses

Only One The One:  There can only be one The One at any given time, meaning that other humans around The One should protect him/her as The One is greatly beneficial to the humans team.

Wasting Bullet Time: After bullet-time is activated that is it.  The bullet time uses itself up and the meter goes back to zero.  There is no way of stopping bullet time after it has been activated.  That means if a human accidentally uses the bullet time (for instance, when it is already activated by a nearby human), then it is wasted.

Bad Bad Meter: The bullet time meter can be very frustrating, because there are certain numbers when the bullet time is almost useless.  With 1-2, 6-7, 11-12, 16-17 points on the meter, the bullet time only lasts for 1-2 seconds, so it is usually best to simply wait.

Waiting is Sometimes Wasteful: Many times humans are so bogged down about becoming The One they end up being killed before they can use their bullet time.  If a human is killed and then respawns, the meter goes back to zero.

One on One= Bad: One on one in any situation is a very bad idea for humans because other teams are generally much more powerful.  In a melee to melee battle with an agent, a human is almost assured to lose.  And in a one on one gunfight with a vampire, the human will probably lose as well because the vampire has more hit points and regenerates them constantly.

Too General: Because humans are too generalized, it is difficult to take advantage of any specific strength.  Given, they are good in any situation, but they are not great in any.

Recoil: Humans suffer recoil from shooting weapons, even pistols.  Depending on the size and power of the weapon depends on how much recoil there is.  But because of the recoil, it is quite difficult to shoot enemies from afar.

Strategies

Stick Together Men:  Since humans are weak in one-on-one battles, it is always a good idea to stick together in any situation.  Loners are likely to be killed if they are human, for other teams are likely to destroy them in one-on-one battles.

Fight Fire Fight Fire:  The human team always thrives on large gunfights.  Since they are able to take cover behind objects and they have excellent dodging abilities, they are great in large gunfights.  And, it is always a good idea to focus on becoming The One.  When a human is The One, they are significantly more powerful.  And sometimes it is possible to become The One in a single gunfight.

Protect Neo: Or at least, protect the one.  The One is a powerful element in the human arsenal, and it is very difficult to actually become The One.  So when a human does get enough points to become The One, it is always a good idea for the other surrounding humans to protect him/her.

Spread Some, Group Some: It is not a wise idea to have every member of the team in a single group, because if they are jumped or ambushed things can get rather messy.  So it is always a good idea to have a few humans split up and cover the group from atop large buildings or behind obstacles.  It is definitely a good idea to have a human sniper covering others.

Keep Allies Close and Enemies Closer: As a human, one must always stay close to other humans, but also to their enemies.  Since humans suffer from recoil, it is much more difficult to pick off enemies from far away.  Due to this fact, it is always better to fight enemies in closer distances.

Final Thoughts:  Humans are an excellent team when they are in fact that—at team.  Lone humans are likely to be killed by stronger opponents.  But a large group of humans is very difficult to kill.  And The One is a very powerful element if a human is ever able to achieve that status.  Though they may be weak alone, they have strength in numbers and in large firefights.

Agent Smith: Agent Smith is indeed a unique breed.  His focus is sheer numbers and overwhelming other teams with many copies of himself.  Smith only has two attacks—pistols and punches—but Smith is clever and knows how to create other attacks from that.  The key to Smith is using overwhelming numbers to gain supremacy. 

Basic Stats

Hit Points: 100 (“leader smith” has 125)

Weapons: fists and pistols

Appearance: Smith suit, Smith glasses, and Smith face

Basic Strategy: Overwhelming others with sheer numbers

For the Record: A “leader smith” is worth 1 point when killed while other Smiths are only worth ½ point.

Picture: Agent Smith smiling

Strengths

Overwhelming Numbers: The greatest strength of Smith is the overwhelming numbers.  When a player begins the game as Smith, that player is in control of the “Leader Smith,” and has four other “follower smiths” with him/her.  Whenever the player moves, the smiths follow.  When the player fires the smiths also fire at the same location.  And when the player jumps the smiths also jump.  Well, you get the point.  As a player controlling Smith, one is able to command a small army of men to fight enemies.  Two fighters is better than one, three is better than two, four is better than three, and so forth.  This is the way the Smiths think.  There are also several special abilities Smith can use when there a lot of him.

Launch Smith: The Leader Smith is able to pick up any one of his copies and launch the copy forward.  Why do this you ask?  Well, when Smith running down a long alleyway to an opponent, that opponent has a good clear shot on a lot of enemies running near him/her, but when a smith is launched forward that Smith might be able to get the jump on the enemy.  A Smith is able to be launched forty feet forward, though it takes a second or two for Smith to charge the power.

Giving Commands:  The Leader Smith is able to give commands to the other Smiths.  One such command is called “Charge the Enemy.”  When issued this command, all other following Smiths charge the closest enemy with fists.  And when the enemy is at a low enough life, one of the Smiths will automatically “overwrite” the enemy.  Another command is called “Stay Close,” with this command all the nearby Smiths pack as tightly together as possible.  Then the counter command is “Spread Out,” which makes all Smiths spread out.  These commands are great to use depending on the situation.  The Spread Out command works well in open areas and when the enemy has weapons made specifically for taking out large groups, while the Stay Close command works well for smaller areas and enemies that do not have larger weapons.  Another two commands are called “Find Enemies and Destroy Them,” and “Come Back.”  The first forces all the follower Smiths to spread out throughout the map and attack while the second forces them to come back to where the leader is.  The last two commands are called “Guard Here” and “Follow Me.”  The first tells a single Smith to stand guard in the area and when an enemy comes, the Smith will attack.  The second is told to guarding Smiths that are close by, which makes the Smiths follow the Leader Smith again.

Overwriting Life: When an enemy is at low life, Smith is able to stab the enemy in the chest with his fingers and overwrite his/her existence, creating another smith.  What is even better is that depending on what is overwritten, that Smith gains extra abilities.  And when an opponent is overwritten by Smith, the Smith gains an extra two bonus points to a total of three.  When a new smith is created that is more powerful than the current leader smith, the newly created smith becomes the leader and the player controls that Smith.  The following explains the gained abilities for what is taken over.

Agent: When Smith takes over an Agent, the newly created Smith gains an extra 20 damage to melee attacks, an extra 25 hit points, and another ten feet to the superjump.

Vampire: A Vampire-Smith gains an extra 25 hit points, and regenerates one hit point per second.

Ghost: After taking over a Ghost, the new Smith is able to detect enemies through walls, buildings, etc.  Even if the Leader Smith is not a ghost, the player is still able to detect enemies, just so long as a Ghost-Smith is still in the group.

Human: After taking over a human, the Smith is able to dodge like a human does.

The One: If Smith is lucky enough to take over a human player that has become The One, Smith is greatly rewarded, for the Smith gains a version of the Bullet Stop.  The Smith gains a meter, after taking over The One, and when the Bullet Stop is activated the meter drains.  The meter lasts for a total of five seconds and when it is activated, all Smiths are immune to bullets.  To regain the Bullet Stop meter, the Smiths simply have to earn five points.

Superjump: Smiths are able to perform a forty-foot superjump just like Agents and do not suffer from fall damage.  However, they can not use this as an attack.

Smith Switch:  At any given time the player is able to switch control to another Smith.  This is best used when a lot of Guard Smiths were placed around the level, so the player would be able to move anywhere across the level very fast.  However, when the Leader Smith is killed the player has to respawn, the entire follower Smiths still roam around and try to kill things, but the player can not control another Smith without a Leader Smith.

Clones: Every four points in a row Smith receives, a clone of the Leader Smith is created.  This clone is equal in power to the follower Smiths.  Players are able to gain clones even after using the technique “Overwriting Life.”

Follower Smiths are Worth Less Points: Enemies only gain half the points for taking out a follower Smith, rounded down.  So if a human enemy takes out a Smith with a diving roll, the enemy would only gain one point instead of two.  And if the human takes out a Smith with a diving maneuver while using the bullet time, something usually worth three points, would instead only be worth one point.  However, if a player kills two follow Smiths fast enough, instead of rounding down the two individual points to zero the player would get one point for killing the two Smiths.  The Leader Smith, on the other hand, counts as normal.

Weaknesses

Big Weapons: Not only is Smith incapable of using large weapons, but Smith is also rather weak against them.  A human player with the right weaponry is quite capable of mowing down a large group of Smiths in a very small amount of time.

Closed Areas = Bad: Smith is not nearly as effective in small alleyways, hallways, or any compact area.  When running through doorways, only a single Smith is able to make it through at a time, meaning that the enemy could shoot all the Smiths down before they make it through the doorway.  Also, when moving through hallways, gunfire can be more concentrated, meaning that more damage would be done and faster.  Smith definitely prefers more open areas.

Sometimes Hard to Control: It is somewhat difficult keeping track of several different Smiths at once, and it is even more difficult when in the midst of battle.  This is why Smith is, at first, easy to start with but difficult to master.  And since Smith is rather lacking in a variety of strategies, it takes a real master of Smith to think of new strategies and keep from doing the same things over and over.

Bad Start Locations: There are only a few start locations here and there located in each level, meaning there is little choice of where to respawn.  On the plus side though, the spawns are generally located in open areas.

Less Smiths Less Powerful: The more Smiths are killed, the weaker the player’s force becomes.  If a player loses all Smiths but one, he/she has a significant disadvantage.

Strategies

Stay Away From Closed Areas: When in open areas, it is more likely that all Smiths will be able to shoot.  In closed areas, Smiths in the back rows would not be able to fire.  Also, in closed areas, gunfire is more concentrated, making Smith more vulnerable to fire.

Strength in Numbers: All players on the Smith team should stick together.  Five may not seem like a very large number, but that is only for a single player.  If all players stick together, that number could escalade to enormous amounts.  If there are even only five members on each team and all the members of Smith stuck together, that would be twenty-five Smiths.  That is a lot of Smiths.  The strength of Smith definitely relies on numbers and any chance to create more should always be focused upon.

Smith the Civilians: There are always areas in each level that has civilians and these civilians regenerate from time to time.  Smith should always capitalize on this.  Civilians are like free Smiths and taking over civilians can dramatically increase the power of Smith.  Also, when numbers are running low it is always a good idea to flock towards a civilian-packed area to create some more.

Always do the Unexpected: The enemy expects Smith to mindlessly flock towards them, so what do you do?  You jump at them!  Perform a superjump, all the Smiths will follow in turn doing the same, and the enemy all of a sudden sees a flock of Smiths flying in his direction.  Always do something unexpected, otherwise anyone playing as Smith will certainly be destroyed by predictability.

Overall:  First I would like to thank the makers of TS, The Specialists, a mod for Half-Life.  Much of my inspiration came from that mod.  Secondly I would like to thank the creators of The Matrix Trilogy.  Sure the last one might of sucked, but it was a pretty good trilogy overall anyway.

Ah it has been a while since I submitted an idea—feels kind of goodJ,

The Be to the bop

BTW- I wasn’t sure whether to put this as a sequel or not.  It is a movie-game, but it is not at all a sequel to that Matrix game or whatever.  I say it is an online game, but whatever.