Medal of Honor: Rising Sun Review





Developer: EA Publisher: EA
Release Date: November 11, 2003 Also On: GCN, PS2 and Xbox

After fighting at Normandy, a German sub, in German cities, and more, it is now time for EA to travel to Pearl Harbor, when Hawaii was not yet a state, the Philippines, and other locations.

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The first thing that you will notice in comparison to Frontline, is that Rising Sun is much more linear. The first level, Pearl Harbor, has you running around your ship, which was just attacked by a Japanese aircraft. You try to get outside of the ship, where you will man a gun and try to shoot some of the kamikazes down, but you must first extinguish the fires.

When you first look at Rising Sun, it actually looks like a run-down, more gritty version of Frontline, other than that RS takes place in the eastern hemisphere. The Pearl Harbor level had little of an affect on me, especially when considering how emotional you could get while watching a movie such as Pearl Harbor or Saving Private Ryan. The character-designs were weak, as they were in the last game, especially considering there isn’t a huge variety.

Outdoor environments are tough to execute, but with green walls, paper-like trees and shrubs with jagged edges, and blurry textures, Rising Sun just doesn’t cut it. EA couldn’t even get the forests down in size; it looks as if the forest has a set path, instead of being at least somewhat open. I’d hate to say it, but this is something that I would expect from a N64 title.

The impressive thing about RS is how many planes and/or enemy combatants you can get on the screen without any lag; that is equally disappointing, due to the fact that EA relied on making the game “difficult� by sheer enemy numbers, not by making them intelligent.

Time to talk about enemy AI; unlike in the last title, these enemies are plain stupid. Their aim is poor (an antonym of a complaint used by critics about a much better title, XIII), they do not adapt to their environment, nor do they use different tactics. Instead they always charge at you with their bayonet or standstill dumbfounded.

All of the excitement is taken away throughout the game, since everything feels scripted. There isn’t much freedom at all and levels are designed poorly. Rising Sun will go down in history as being one of the most over-hyped, overpriced, and oversold titles of 2003, next to Enter the Matrix.

Graphics: 4
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 5
Creativity: 3
Replay Value/Game Length: 5
Final: 4.9
Written by Kyle Review Guide

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