Rise to Honor

"The dishonoring of Jet Li"

The dictionary defines “Button” as a push-button switch and it defines “mashing” as to crush or to grind it. These two definitions are the exact words I would use to describe Rise to Honor. Rise to Honor is a game where one grinds its buttons. Let me begin by saying that I have been a Jet Li fan since I was at a young age. I have watched countless movies and I have witness his amazing career in the film industry. Jet Li's career has taken a nose dive ever since he went “Hollywood” and quite frankly this game is a reflection of that. I have seen Jet Li perform with wires “Once Upon a Time in China” and without “Fist of Legend”. I have enjoyed both types of work and have become quite fond of each technique. While some may hate the wire work, I welcome it with open arms. In Rise to Honor, the action is semi-wire work, mixed with pure skills and kung fu. Few men have the dazzle and chivalrous like characteristics that Jet Li possesses. However, it is arguable that his recent movies have him portrayed as a bad ass, which isn't necessarily bad, but in past movies he has always had heroic trademarks. Rise to Honor, much like his recent movies are movies that are based on him being this kind of quiet but deadly type. Rise to Honor follows the life of an undercover cop. He has infiltrated one of Hong Kong's deadliest triads. I don't know how much truth is in games and movies, but movies like “Young and Dangerous” makes me ponder about life in Hong Kong. Well like that movie the game takes one through the mean streets of Hong Kong and will eventually take one to the U.S.A.

Life as an undercover cop

It is hard for me to imagine what it is like to be an undercover cop. The constant worries of being discovered, one is surrounded by hoards of criminals, and one can expect dangerous tasks. Well for Kit Yun, the ability to dazzle and straight up kick your ass sure helps in the long run. Backed by an assortment of Kung Fu moves along with the quickness and power, Kit Yun is not only one of the crime boss's favorite minions, but without a doubt, Kit Yun strikes fear into the face of many. To say the least, I was pretty please with the storyline that this game puts to the table. I also really enjoyed the fact that the developers decided to include Cantonese dialogue. Apart from the story and syntax, the game goes downhill from there. In fact, the game takes a nose dive to mediocrity and on the verge of a horrific affair. Don't get me wrong, the kung fu and the featuring of Jet Li is a big plus, but the mechanics and overall fun factor of the game ultimately fails in all aspects.

Well here it begins, the fainted heart please click away because from this point on, there will be very few praises and numerous harsh critiques toward this game. As I said before, I am a huge Jet Li fan, which I am sorry to say that this game is an utter disgrace to Jet Li. Rise to Honor uses a very unique control interface and while I love games that offer a unique experience, when a game completely screws up in trying to innovate, the game itself is left uninspired and without any class. The game itself is an action title, but to say the least, it is more of the button mashing types as opposed to the combo based ones. The lack of depth and the lack of variety in the gameplay is what make this game so repetitive. The real point in this game is to fight a bunch of enemies, use your gun a few times, watch a few scenes and with that, the developers were able to slap a game together. I am sorry to say, but in this day and age, there needs to be more then that or else gaming as a whole will be going down the pipe.

The controls in this game are the center of the problems. Instead of using the button layouts for attacks, the game uses the analog sticks to attack. Mashing the analog sticks in certain directions will allow the player to attack an oncoming enemy. The problem begins here because quite frankly the usage of the analog sticks stinks. Sorry to be so blunt, but in order to attack all one has to do is just keep pushing the analog stick in the enemy's direction. Another critical issue that spawns from this type of control is the inability to consistently lock onto an enemy. When enemies surround Kit Yun in the masses, which is highly likely, the enemy can get cheap shots in because of the lack of a lock on feature. Now even with a horrific lock on feature, the game still has such a relative ease to it that enables the mashing of buttons to come into full effect. This is partly because the game is so easy, it makes it a waste of time to even try and strategize.

Apart from the relative ease and the lack of a fundamental control system, the game also suffers from a horrible reverse system and the lack of combos. It wouldn't be surprising if one goes through the game and witnesses the same few combos over and over again. While the moves do look rather fluid at times, the fact is, no matter how cool looking it is the lack of variation hurts it. The reverse system will pretty much allow the player from ever dying. It is easy to utilize and it will pretty much allow the player to breeze through the game. As mentioned before, the game lacks any combos and with that said, the game itself suffers from any depth whatsoever.

Not only does the player get to wail his arms and legs like a kung fu master, but the player can also wield some heavy machinery. With the guns, like the fighting system, it lacks any specific lock on system that really hurts it in the long run. On many occasions, I would shoot at enemies that I did not want to shoot at. The lock on system seems random and lacks any coherency. Going back on the lock on system, during fights one can expect to randomly hit enemies at times because well…you can't switch enemies manually; it is all automatic, which in this case is not a good thing. One other thing is this, the game's control interface is so badly developed that at times when pushing the analog stick, the controls do not respond. So at times like these, when one expects to attack and the corresponding character doesn't follow the command, one can be open to attacks.

The game features a few slow motion effects that do look quite solid; however, the slow motion sort of makes the game feel like some of Li's newer movies. Let me tell you, that is not a good thing. While I like slow motion effects at times, I felt it was unnecessary to include it in this game. The graphics as a whole looks quite solid, but at times it looks like the developers didn't have much care for the details. For the most part, the characters look fairly good, but in cutscenes, the main character looks lackadaisical. What I did like was the environmental designs. Everything seemed to connect very well, which offers a cohesive feeling to it. The game also runs at a very smooth frame rate. The animation follows similarly to Jet Li's real movements, which is a big plus considering the cool factor of Jet Li. Overall, the game's graphics are good, but not exceptional.

The good and bad of Cantonese dialogue

Well on a bright note, the game does have Cantonese voice acting, which gives this game some flavor. However, some of the lines are so cheesy and seems to be so lost in translation, that it made me cringe at the very thought of such poor translation. Now, upon translation, you will hear enemies say things like “it is my turn”, but they say it in a way that it makes it sound…how would I put it…a little stupid. In all the movies, I have watched, I have never heard someone say those types of lines in this way. These lines just seemed so out of place. It is hard for me to explain, but with so much hand on experiences with Hong Kong cinema, you can believe me when I tell you it just sounds so weird. However, the voice acting in the cutscenes is very well done.

The game is fairly short and can be beaten in a rental. The short length and the horrific gameplay mechanics makes this game a forgettable experience. To say the least, Rise to Honor is an average game at best. There are so many games that can be found on the PS2 that offers a far better experience. Now I won't say that I didn't enjoy the game because the game's opening moments did have its share of fun. However, the game gets real old and really fast. There are unlockables that shows some cool Jet Li videos that might be worth unlocking if you are a fan of Jet Li.

Well for one, I loved how the developer uses Cantonese in this game. Even though in some instances the Cantonese dialogue sounds a bit cheesy, the attempt at implementing it gets some brownie points from me. The game's usage of kung fu does follow the material, however, the horrific controls and the inability to have a decent lock on system ultimately hurts this game. Overall, the presentation in this game is sub par, but the tutorial for this game does make up for it…a bit.

In the end, Rise to Honor is a forgettable experience. One can find far superior games on any systems. There were too many issues and problems that came up in Rise to Honor for me to consider it a game worthy of purchase. I bought the game at a bargain price and even at that, I felt that it was a waste of money. The game just reeks of wasted potential, which I am sorry to say is really sad because I am a huge fan of Jet Li. If the developers can continue and work on the formula, then perhaps one day this control interface can be implemented without compromising the gameplay. I recommend all PS2 owners to rent this game first because quite frankly even a huge Jet Li fan will find this game a bit inferior to other games in its genre.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/05