Whatever you thought of - and six million people liked it enough to part with hard cash for it - it had one gapping flaw. You weren't Neo. Instead of the movie's all-powerful hero, you had to play some Equity-carded extra who'd once been seen sipping tea in the background as Zion burned.
But that isn't the route that Atari are taking with The Matrix Path of Neo. This Shiny-developed time-splitter will follow the famed floppy-haired fop through all of the key scenes of the, now tarnished, trilogy but it will also offer gamers the chance to change history through the choices they make.
With a script by the Wachowski brothers themselves, the game will feature the voice and face of Mr Reeves along with Larry Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Hugo Weaving reprising his hammy old Agent Smith.
In development ever since Shiny finished work on Enter the Matrix, this new game has been making everyone at Atari as thrilled as someone who's been at the red pills again.
Jim Caparro, president and chief executive officer of Atari, was first to blab, "The Wachowski brothers have created a universe that is uniquely deep and rich, with virtually limitless creative possibilities, and the interactive space is the ideal world in which to explore them.
"With The Matrix Path of Neo, the Wachowski brothers will be giving their legions of fans the best of everything: the first chance to personally relive Neo's journey, and the chance to experience new adventures they cannot yet even imagine."
The Matrix Path of Neo will be released for PC, PS2 and Xbox in late 2005
