Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Written by Phil Cory  on April 08, 2004

Full Review: Fighting the "Super AI!"

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Being a big fan of the Medal of Honor series, this is just a game that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. Although I did here a lot of bad things about this game, I just had to test it out for myself. I went to Blockbuster to go and rent the game and got lucky because I ended up getting the last one. I Got home and popped it in the PS2. After watching the thirty seconds of logo's I finally got to play.

The story takes place during different World War II attacks and missions, in which I found out that I wasn't play as James Patterson anymore, but rather Joseph Griffin. The very first mission, Day of Infamy, takes place during the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. This mission is an excellent way for people not use to the Medal of Honorcontrols, to get use to the movements such because you start of with-out a gun and you have to follow a guy to get topside. While you are trying to get topside, you end up getting a fire extinguisher which can help you on your aim since you need to put out some fires to continue on. When you finally do get on top, you get to man a mounted machine gun, which also helps on your aim because you are shooting down Japanese airplanes.

Right after the first two missions, I knew something was going to be "different" from Rising Suns and the other Medal of Honor games I played. The graphics aren't all that better from Frontline which was a disappointment for me because as I play sequels to games, I expect the graphics to be better than before, like the Final Fantasy series. The jungle environments are probably the worst I've ever seen in a first person shooting game.

Another thing that really bugged me was the AI. They won't see you or shoot you unless you are in a certain range around them. A guy can be looking dead at you with the sniper rifle and you back it him and he won't fire because "he doesn't see you" which is crap. So if you really wasn't an easy game just sit back, tread slowly and sniper.

Oh, but wait, it seems that the developers decided to turn the reality down a bit and made all the enemies "Super Enemies." It seems that a guy can survive two to four shots with the sniper in the neck and literally "shake it off," but yet two shots with the pistol anywhere can kill a guy. What's up with that? I liked it better when the bigger guns were strong than the little guns. Rising Sun does have authentic World War II weapons, but I see no point in that when the Welrod can take someone out in one hit and it takes three for the sniper.

They did add something new to the game called "Letters from Home." I don't care what anyone else says about this, but I actually like it because it teaches you about the role that woman played back home during the war. In actuality there were a lot of posters trying to recruit woman to help with the war. Not to be in it, but rather play the "secretary" role and do all of the typing of death notices, etc.

They also added co-op mode so you and a friend can beat the game together because that's always fun to do. The only bad thing is that you look exactly alike and are the same person. If you're going to put co-op mode in a game, I think it would be good to include a couple skins so you can tell each other apart.

I for one, never did get to play the game online because it couldn't "detect" my hardware. That again, was something that angered me. It seems that all my other PS2 online games work except Rising Sun. I wouldn't play this game online for a while, maybe 1-3 rounds, due to the whole weapon strength disability.

I will say this, the music in the game was probably the BEST I have ever heard in a fps or any game rather. It fits each environment you are playing and speeds up when your in a heated battle, etc. Christopher Lennertz did an exceptional job composing this music and I suggest that you pick up the Medal of Honor: Rising Sun soundtrack if you like the game or not. I got mine and haven't stopped listening to it yet.