Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

I'll have to admit right up front that I'm really not a fan of Jet Li, at least when it comes to his films. Now, I know that the guy definitely has a great style, and he's definitely fast, I'll give him that, but save for one film, that being Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I'm not much of a fan of the martial arts genre when it comes to cinema. So, when it was announced that Jet Li was planning on working with Sony in an effort to create a video game based on his moves, it didn't leave too much of an impact on me. Then, the demo disc arrived shortly before the game was released, and after playing through the teaser, I really didn't have high hopes at all for the title. But, I figured I might as well give it a go, as a demo often times isn't nearly as polished as the final product.

Maybe at the time when I played the demo, I just wasn't in the right mood, but I quickly realized that all of the negative opinions I had regarding Jet Li's Rise to Honor might have been a little premature. After my initial disdain for the title was absolved, I soon found myself sucked into the game, something that came as both a shock as well as a feeling of delight.

In Rise to Honor, players will assume to role of Kit Yun (Jet Li.) Kit is a bodyguard in Hong Kong working for a notorious and influential crime boss known as Chiang, but just like with any other crime boss, Chiang has enemies. After a grueling battle with a rival gang, Chiang is killed, but before his death, he passed onto Yun a letter that he wishes to be delivered to his daughter Michelle who is living in San Francisco. However, this is one of the opportunities that he's been waiting for. Yun is really an undercover cop who has been trying to stop this faction of the criminal element, and a trip to the United States might bring him closer to achieving that, unless the gang members that are after him stop him first.

Rise to Honor is just about as close to playing movies as you can get, save for the fact that this isn't based on a movie, and instead is an original concept. Every effort was taken into making this as close to being a fully interactive experience as you can get. This is a title that's been three years in the making, a time frame which is usually unheard of when it comes to creating a video game as most of them are released within under a year from initial concept to final product, unless of course the game happens to be Halo, but we won't get into that.

Instead of using fancy full computer generated cut scenes or live action sequences, the product instead has cut scenes that look just like the graphics in the game, much like what has been seen in other recent Sony titles such as The Getaway or the Ratchet and Clank titles. As a matter of fact, one interesting feature is that you can access levels that you have previously played. While this may not be something unique, I do like the way that the menu is set up much like the scene access menus that you see on just about every DVD title that is released. I also appreciate the fact that the designers actually have Cantonese-speaking voice actors in the scenes that take place in Hong Kong as opposed to having actors with horrible sounding Chinese accents. It's those subtle touches that add a sense of realism to the game. Best of all though, most of the cut scenes tend to be on the shorter side, thus keeping the game flowing are a fairly good pace.

It's not often there the focus starts with the cinematic as opposed to game play, but again, that's how this is set up, but in case you're wondering, you do in fact get to play as well. As Kit, you will be faced with wave after wave of trained martial artists, street punks, and just about any other baddie you could think of that you would find in a martial arts film. But, this isn't going to be just another fighting game, nor is it some Final Fight knock off. Rise to Honor is done in full 3D environments, and you won't face just one enemy at a time, you will face several, save for the occasional boss fight that you will run across. However, the controls are what might throw many players off and cause them to drop the game soon after they've started.

For those that have played The Mark of Kri, some of this will be very familiar. You're left analog stick will be used to move Kit around while the right stick is used to fighting. The way this works is that if enemies surround you, you can throw a few quick punches at the guy in front of you, slap to the right and nail the villain trying to sneak up on you, then tap down to throw a few kicks at the punk that's trying to pull a fast one. What you get is a fighting game that allows you to do 360 degree attacks very easily, and with the combo system that's in place, should you manage to get some good attack in, and in a good order, you will be treated to a quick cut scene. What these feature is Kit doing some slow motion moves, such as kicking an opponent through the air, and overhead view of a nice leg sweep that takes out several foes, or any number of other things. It's also a nice break, for a few second, to give your thumb a break. Kit also has an adrenaline meter, and when it's flashing, simply hitting the L1 button, Kit will break lose with more devastating combos and make quick work of the gang punks that are trying to put him six feet under.

However, another thing that might throw some for a loop is that this isn't just about fighting, and the block and defense buttons are the handiest features in the game. The R1 button is used to block attacks, and while you can hold it down and keep blocking, keep in mind that you also have a meter, and should it run out, you will be an easy target. Holding the R1 and L1 button together however will allow you to perform counterattacks, a very handy feature indeed, and easy to perform for the most part. In fact, through most of the battles, you can hold both of these buttons down, making some of the fights go a little smoother. Kit also can pick up objects. Chairs and such can be thrown at foes, and occasionally you will run across weapons that can be used to hand to hand combat. The move sets do seem to change depending on what weapon you're carrying, and that's nice to see considering many games don't go so in-depth. Kit also will be able to do things like jump off walls to perform moves, in certain spots of course, or some other cool moves like kicking motorcycle riders off their bikes.

There are a few other interesting aspects to the fighting. You can grab opponents and either unleash a barrage of punches and kicks on them or, if you're in a higher area with a railing, toss them over the edge. The grabbing option will also allow you to team-up when you have one of your friends close at hand, Michelle in this case, and two can always fight better than one. Most of the stages also feature plenty of breakable objects, or even some nice features like throwing punks in to trucks and seeing them dent, or kicking a group of through a series of nearby tables and chairs and watching them splinter.The game though, goes beyond just hand-to-hand combat.

Some stages will feature Kit with a pair of guns for a bit of John Woo inspired two-fisted gun slinging. The control set up is essentially the same; the left analog stick will let you aim in the direction that you want to shoot while R2 is used to fire. L2 on the other hand will allow you to target objects inside of people. Your adrenalin now will give you the option to dive will shooting and R1 now will let you hide behind objects in order to keep out of the line of fire. What action film wouldn't be complete without gunplay, and why should this game be any different?

Most players are going to find that the game is fairly easy to get into. You will receive pop-up messages along the way to instruct you on how to perform Kit's moves, and even reminders for some of the features that aren't performed quite as often. Rise to Honor also features an auto save function that is done very frequently while playing the game, and that's a good thing considering that it would get a little too irritating having to play through the same fights time after time. Even better, there's no need to worry about health, and after passing one section, you generally will gain it all back for the next series of fights.

Rise to Honor also contains quite a few unlockable features. Some of these will simply allow you to look at the modeling for the characters from the game as well as the environments. You also can take a look at the storyboards for the game. There is also some live action footage as well that will allow you to have a behind-the-scenes look at the title, but of course, you'll have to complete various stages in order to unlock these.

While the game did impress me a bit more than I had hoped, there are still a few issues that I had with it. The controls are the main problem. It's not that they are bad, and actually once you get used to them, the game plays very smoothly, but in many ways they are so different that many gamers may not give the title a fair chance and be put off by the play mechanics. The story itself, while fairly good, isn't anything that's highly original, and much of it is very predictable. Kit had his father murdered early on, and now part of his reason for joining the police and going undercover is to avenge his fathers' death. There's the token fat guy that's not good at fighting at all, but acts more as comic relief, and then the tough girl that our hero hasn't seen in years, and despite the fact that she also knows martial arts, she ends up getting herself captured, as do the rest of our heroes. It's basically a standard plot device in most films in the genre, and very overused much of the time. There also are a few issues that I had with the graphics, such as the characters looking a bit too blocky in some of the cut scenes, but that's really more of a minor issue and doesn't take a way from the game play, although it is a shame that you can't skip them once you've seen them.

Although I had a negative attitude about the game initially, I'm actually very pleased with the final product. This is a title that's going to appeal to more than just Jet Li fans. The more unique fighting aspect makes for some interesting game play, but again, that's if you can get past learning how to use the controls, which is very simple. The game is on the rather short side, and there sadly isn't any two player mode, but that's just one of those thing that you're going to have to deal with. This is one game though that instead of seeing in franchised out as a sequel, I would much rather see other games that feature Jet Li in a different video game role as opposed to reprising the same character each and every time. Rise to Honor shows what really can be done with the fighting genre with a little ingenuity, and is as action packed as anyone who knows the name of Jet Li would expect. This is one license that has a lot going for it, and fans of the action genre would do well to pick this one up.

-mike-