Rise to Honor

"Part John Woo movie and part hong kong flick style gameplay= Rise to Honor"

Who doesn't love a John Woo film? Who would hate a Hong Kong flick style gameplay? I know I can't hate both but to love them. Here comes a game that combines both a John Woo movie and Hong Kong flick style gameplay, Rise to Honor. This game features Jet Li, one of the most well known martial artist and chinese actors. If you'll ask me Jackie Chan can't do what Jet Li did with this game. In other words, Jet Li is one of the few martial artist that fits to make a video game and people will like the idea. So here's what this small head of mine gotta say about this game that not only Sony put alot of effort in but Jet Li himself.

Story: Kit yun(Jet Li) is a honorable man. He is assigned as a bodyguard of a Big boss in China. I won't spoil everything so I'll leave it as a Hong Kong flick type of story. Alot of twist and turn.

Gameplay: This game combine a unique mix of a John Woo movie type of cutscenes and Hong Kong flick style of gameplay. It flows like: gameplay, cutscenes, shooting, cutscenes, and gameplay. Alot of people including myself like this kind of genre which can be describe as a interactive movie ''that'' features Jet Li. His efforts which consists of motion captures and voice acting paid off. The action part of the gameplay is nothing but fun with a help of a new controller gimmick and it works great. Left analog moves your character and right analog can be tilt to any direction to hit your opponents. Since most of the time in the game you'll be sorrounded by five guys in different directions so this new controls works extremely well. Tilt it up, left, right, or down and you'll see our protagonist Jet Li deliver a very nice combo within five opponents. R1 is block and L1 is the adrenaline rush button which Sony borrowed from games like Max Payne and Dead to Rights. The adrenaline button comes in handy when you are sorrounded by strong enemies, I won't spoil it but just try holding the L1 and tilt the right analog stick in your opponents direction, you'll be amazed by the outcome. Shooting part of the game is pretty repetitive. Right analog is to lock on a target and R2 to shoot which works fairly enough. There's a bunch of interactive stuff in the scene where you can take cover and do that pop and shoot technique. This is where you get the adrenaline rush confuse with Max payne, you'll swear that Jet Li will turn into Max payne when you do the adrenaline rush. You run out of ammos but you are limited to use a couple of weapons. Finally there's the run and stealth gameplay which for me adds alot to help this game more fun. In this area the R1 button is your bestfriend which means that R1 is your action button when a command on the screen shows up. There's a part of the game where I had to run from a helicopter that's endlessly shooting at me and I had to rely on the commands. It sounds simple but it'll get your adrenaline(your ''real adrenaline) running like there's no tomorrow.Everything in the background is interactive. You can basically bash anything in your sorroundings.Doesn't this sounds fun when you are having a bad day?

Graphics: Sony did a good job on this part. Since cutscenes occurs everytime, Sony made sure that it'll be movie like and yes it works well. They made Jet Li proud by helping him see what he looks like in polygons and yes it looks exactly like him. Backgrounds are detailed very well. This helps alot due to it's movie type of game genre.

Music and Sounds: My only complain is that sometimes the action tune is doesn't fit well but the sound effects are real as it can be. Jet Li did a good job doing the voice acting and so as the whole voice actors. There's a part of the story where you are in Hong Kong and here all the actors speak in Cantonese with english subs. Again all this great sounds and voice acting makes this a great game.

Lasting appeal: The game can be beaten within 5 to 6 hours but that's because they wanted it to be like a movie.

Replay values: With movies and alot of goodies to unlock, I would definetly say; Yes, alot of replay here people.

Buy or rent, some will be turn off by the length of the game but they will definetly love the gameplay. So rent first if not sure and buy it if you love John Woo movies, Hong Kong flicks or a big fan of Jet Li. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/04