ENTER THE MATRIX, Publisher: Infogrames, Platform: Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, PC CD-ROM, Price: £39.99.

BY the time you read this, Matrix Reloaded will have hit the cinemas and the nation will be gripped.

True Matrix fans need know only one thing about this game - it contains one whole hour of brand new, exclusive, footage.

That's right. The Wachowski Brothers worked more closely with the designers of this game (Shiny) than any other movie tie-in. According to Infogrames the resulting software is more than just a game based on a popular film - it is part of the film.

At certain points of Enter... the character played by Keanu Reeves walks straight out of a movie scene and into your game. If you play this through before watching Reloaded at the flicks you'll be able to spot the points when film and game seamlessly overlap.

It sounds like hype to say you haven't truly experienced everything the sequel has to offer unless you have played the game but it's true. The game fills in crucial parts of the back story only touched on in Reloaded.

If you believe the hype, the actors spent more time working on the game than the film. Given the expense of hiring top-line talent like Keanu Reeves, I rather doubt this claim.

So on one level Enter The Matrix is the ultimate film tie-in; on the other even if you haven't watched either film, Enter... is an action adventure accessible to gamers of all skills and experience. There's fighting, driving and flying levels; the button combs are easy to pull off and the story is interesting (albeit confusing if you aren't a devotee of the films). After a superb rendered opening (created by Squaresoft, the team behind Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) you can choose to play as one of two character - Niobe (Jada Pinknett Smith in the film) or Ghost, described as a 'Zen Buddhist Apache Assassin' (yeah, right).

Niobe is a dab hand at flying while Ghost is better at stealth, so make your choice with care. The gameplay varies slightly depending on who you elect to play as, although the main thrust of the narrative remains the same.

Fighting is easy - perhaps a bit too easy.

All the fancy moves are mapped to individual buttons. The game decides which one to select depending factors such as your proximity to the bad guys or whether you have a weapon. Gaming virgins will find this a blessing because it's possible to make good progress just by random button bashing. Devotees of the fighting genre will find themselves wishing for more control.

Skills can be up-graded and the skilful will progress further faster but this is not a title for the hardcore beat-'em-up fan.

The driving sections too are fairly simple although they do help break up the flow of the game by adding some variety although the flying sections are poorly executed.

This being a Matrix game you'd expect spectacular fightings, big explosions and slow-motion action sequences. It's all here.

Your character can enter focus mode - when time slows down and your attacks are far more effective - to take on the bad guys or end of level bosses.

Similarly you can have a gun fight in slow motion - provided your focus meter is well topped up.

Enter The Matrix needs no recommendation from me in order to be a smash success. The hype surrounding the movie should ensure massive sales.

As a game it doesn't take the medium forward in any major way. However it remains a reasonable introduction to games playing for the curious movie fan and a must-have souvenir for the determined Matrix fan.

WAR OF THE MONSTERS, Publisher: SCEE, Platform: PS2, Price: £39.99

DID you ever watch those old Godzilla movies when you were a kid and wish you could've been in charge of the on-screen mayhem?

The Japanese may have created the 400ft high titan of terror but they didn't know what to do with him.

After a promising debut in King of the Monsters way back in 1955, when he levelled much of Tokyo, the Big G turned into a wimp. Despite a well publicised dust up with King Kong in 1966, Godzilla spent much of the following decade rescuing irritating Japanese kids from the clutches of duff bad guys like Mecha-Godzilla and Ghidra.

Frankly, he was a laughing stock.

We've had a Godzilla video game before. A title starring the big fella was a launch title for the Sega Dreamcast console but never actually managed a UK release (yes, it was that bad).

If the truth be told, War of the Monsters on PS2 isn't a Godzilla game.

The publisher was unable or unwilling to acquire the Godzilla licence; instead we have a 400ft tall giant lizard who just happens to resemble Toho Studio's finest creation. What this game does do is allow players to live out those total destruction fantasies - strolling around the city and trashing everything.

War of the Monsters is focused on battling monsters. It's the ultimate beat-'em-up with all the protagonists as big as sky-scrapers.

Just as the copyright cops prevented the programmers calling Godzilla by his own name so you won't find archetypes like King Kong or Mothra; although their body doubles are all available for selection if you get the drift. It's a bit like ISS football where all the on-screen characters resemble real-life sportsmen but have different names.

It's fun, in a brainless kind of way, but brawling behemoths soon become passe and there's a lack of real depth to keep you hooked. With amazing beat-'em-ups like SoulCalibur 2 just around the corner this title is going to face some pretty stiff competition.

Still it's a laugh while it lasts and is certainly a decent weekend rental candidate.

VIRUS WATCH

PALYH

Virus experts have reported a worldwide epidemic of the Palyh virus.

It was first picked up on May 18 in America, Denmark, Britain and New Zealand, but the number of reported infections has increased drastically since.

Palyh is a massmailer, spreading as a Windows file attachment, which can be as big as 59,000 bytes with an uncompressed virus code of around 110,000 bytes.

The key to the worm's success is that the message which carries it. This has been disguised so as to appear to have been sent from Microsoft Support.

Palyh has the ability to download from four different websites, meaning it can upgrade itself at any time and download other applications, such as trojans.

If you are on a shared network, the worm can also identify other computers on the network and attempt to copy itself to their auto-start directories.

Palyh creates a file in the Windows directory containing all the email addresses it has collected. It is advisable to warn everyone on this list that they may receive the virus.

* For more information, updates and downloads, visit www.f-secure.com.

Published: 30/05/2003