Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

The Good
Experiencing a few good WWII Medal of Honor games, seeing this one was an immediate capture of interest. Going to the eastern front this time, seeing a World War II from entirely new perspective using different strategies. Well, it appears EA was just blowing their horn, nothing more. Still, it has a few bright moments and it can be addictive at times, so let's take a whack at those few there are...

Right from the start, you'll feel the dynamic of Pearl Harbor mission, trying to escape out of the ship alive for the first 10 minutes. Needless to say, the level of details was neat, and you were running so fast for your life that it is admirable they did it with such care even though none (or maybe just a few) of players will stop to check out on things. So, the moment you get on the upper deck, you see the real deal, fighters coming in from all the sides and you start shooting mindlessly. Of course, they do sink your ship... but a nearby gunboat rescues you. Now starts the best part of the game... to which I was hoping of seeing a bit more, but to no avail. You are finding your ways on the burning waters among all those USS ships, just seeing them sinking one by one as swarm of Zeros come from all sides, and no matter how fast you shoot you just can't take 'em all.

The other missions aren't so dynamic, but will let you run through the various jungles, daytime or nighttime, navigate your way onboard an enemy carrier, and encounter a couple of towns. That is all just swell, and the missions are quite long. It is also neat to observe enemy's behavior, how they use forest to their advantage as they are using camouflaged uniforms (one german officer actually hide behind the plant in the hotel lobby as he was having green uniform, dunno if it was on purpose or just due to cause of gameplay, but it was neat nevertheless), run for some cover, or try get to a nearby machine-gun nest. Those that somehow pop up close to you may rush at you with their bayonets instead of shooting atcha.

The Bad
Well, they don't get any dumber AI then you can find it here. Your comrades are probably the stupidest in the entire game, mindlessly rushing at the enemy, pointlessly yelling to attack thus giving away your position, and being unable to defeat a single enemy even when surrounded from all sides. Of course, reason why they may act so stupid may be that they appear to be invulnerable. I dunno if that should be considered a good point or a bad one, but enemy's intelligence isn't any better either. They sometimes rush blindly, sometimes dunno where to shoot and sometimes if you shoot them and they turn to other side they continue shooting that way until they realize you're not there. Looks like best AI is the one of pre-defined plane routes, even though they have lack of being able to explode and continue burning all the time and even again coming atcha. Still ,sometimes it's fun, especially that with the planes. I'm thinking this might be a much better game if it's be a fighter simulation only.

Music is neat, orchestral as ever, and not a one step closer to the point of being epic (just as LOTR movies are far from it). Still, it is fine for the background during constant shooting, so you don't have to pay too much attention. Personally I find the one from Allied Assault series far better and ambient than this one, but it could be just my opinion, I'm sure they probably invested a great deal into this soundtrack. However, cinematics that are using ingame graphics are terrible. They could've done a few of pre-rendered like in that trailer, but nooooo, why, everybody cares about the gameplay only. Well screw them all, the trailer FMV would be perfect to open the first mission, nothing should even be changed. Besides, they are not hard to make nowadays, not for a company such as EA. I mean, they make tons of them for all kind of trailers yet they exclude them from their all games. Talking about false publicity and promises. Ah well, that might've been crossed off a list if they only did a little better character models, they are far too unacceptable from a company of such caliber. Also, more the merrier is not a rule to stick to when it comes to cheating. Enemies can be many, but not that they just pop out of nowhere. I was on the middle of a wagon and was standing on entrance and was facing the exit, yet enemies just respawned on both of my sides like they came in through walls. Now that is really a terrible. If EA team can't get them to become interesting and to plan a few neat ambushes, then they shouldn't use such a cheap trick, I don't believe even Doom games are using this. Shame on you guys, really.

The Bottom Line
Why is this game on 2 discs is a thing that will haunt me for ages. It has but about an 8 or so missions from which last 2 I believe take place on second disc. Well, I like more discs, I never don't that, I just cannot see what can possibly require such a space. I mean, Allied Assault was much longer and for PC with high-polygon models and high-res and all that PC can handle yet game was on 2 CDs which is still less than a single GameCube disc. Maybe they just didn't want to bother with compression and were just leaving it all as it. I mean, Frontline is no less requiring yet it doesn't span two discs, and is in fact far better game then this one is. Still, it is a neat to add it to you collection, no matter my rumbling (after all, I finished it and I actually liked the bigger part of it), as long as you find it cheap, I don't think it's worth the full price. Of course, when this game came out I could swear it is worth a double. This just proves how you don't know a game until you get it and give it a whole ride through. Never trust the advertisements, especially if they come from EA.