MOH: Rising Sun

EA Returns to World War II with Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. But can this Pacific Theatre first person shooter compete with the excellent Call of Duty?

Among the many gaming landmarks of recent years, the Normandy beach landing of Medal of Honor ranks among many gamers as being a truly exceptional moment in video games. The sequence was an assault on the senses, the air full of tracer fire, the thunder of landing artillery and the calls of scared and dying soldiers. It wasn't just eye candy, it was terrifying and also a sign that games were growing up and paying respect to their sources.



And so it is with the opening salvos of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. If Frontline/Allied Assault recreated the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan then Rising Sun is perhaps best compared to Pearl Harbour. Just like the movie, the attack on Hawaii is rendered in astonishing and breathtaking detail. Yes it's linear, the player is moved from set piece to set piece – but there is so much going on, so much to take in, that one is left gasping for breath at the true chaos and horror of it all. Once again, EA has managed to draw us in and help us feel those world-shattering events with respect and awe of the true history. But alas, just like the movie Pearl Harbour, the rest of the game is a tired mish mash without much to cheer about – but at least we don't have to put up with Ben Affleck winning the battle of Britain in the game.

Thus begins Rising Sun, and the player heads off into the Pacific theatre as Marine Corporal Joseph Griffin taking in such sites as Guadalcanal, Singapore and Burma – including the Bridge over the River Kwai. Levels require the player to meet simple objectives such as destroy certain target or finding objects. Alongside the main objectives lie hidden sub-objectives that reward the player with a better completion medal at the end of the level. But the levels are so linear that it's almost impossible to miss any of these objectives.

Sometimes such linearity isn't problematic – just look at the very linear Call of Duty, that game is linear yet so full of excitement, atmosphere and brilliant design that being led by the hand doesn't seem too bad. However, Rising Sun is crammed full of so many flaws it's hard to escape the hackneyed level design and lack of freedom.

The enemy AI is particularly bad. If the Japanese army stuck to these tactics in World War Two then it would have been over by Christmas 1943. Japanese soldiers, safe in their machine gun bunkers decide that the best tactic upon sighting the enemy is to climb out of their sheltered bunker and charge headlong at the player. This tactic hardly pays off, their shooting is often wild and in a game littered with health packs, the player very rarely needs to worry. These charging madmen are easily despatched and leaves the player wishing for more of a challenge – for example taking on manned bunkers.

The AI behaviour is equally strange when the player mans a gun emplacement. No sooner has one got behind a chunky looking machine gun, than hoards of Japanese troops come thundering towards the player. Holding the fire button, the player can simply hose down the massed ranks of the Imperial army until there are no more left. Yet if the player doesn't man the gun, none of these crowds of enemy troops appear. Perhaps they are trapped in some underground cavern, whose only door is opened by a pressure pad behind the machine gun, or maybe it's lousy game design, I'll let you decide.

While such AI nonsense was part of the previous game, one would have hoped that much more thought would have gone into the sequel – providing a new and even more compelling game experience. The graphics are equally un-ambitious. Flat textures abound and it seems that all EA has done is load up the creaking MOH: Frontline engine and fill it full of palm trees. Much of the scenery is angular, unattractive, and beset with texture seams. There's nothing truly bad about the graphics – but they just seem so two years ago. Some of the animation is ropey too – with walking animations that caused more than a few titters among the Xploder team.

The sound is mostly atmospheric – as one might expect in a Medal of Honor game. Yet, even the voice acting is weak in areas. Perhaps EA doesn't expect the US market to notice – but some of the regional accents for the none-US troops are pretty awful. It's another thing that makes Medal of Honor: Rising Sun seem such a weak and un-ambitious sequel.

[Alex]

There are moments such as the Pearl Harbour opening; the final level and the sojourn to the River Kwai that make you believe that Rising Sun is a good game. But it isn't, we can forgive linearity in an otherwise superb game – such as Call of Duty, but Rising Sun just feels like a tired cash in. It may be selling like hot cakes – but your money would be better spent getting hold of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

[Harry]

I don't mind linear gameplay too much – sometimes I just like to be led by the hand and blast away without having to think too much. But Rising Sun just grates – it feels like a cash in. In fact, it feels like a poor third party mod or a mission disk – not a game you are expected to part with 40 quid to play. At £20, it would be tempting, as a full price game, it just doesn't cut the mustard.