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Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

2004

So, before I left San Francisco last year, I rented a couple of games to pass the time since I was unemployed, and one weekend while crashing at my friend Evelyne's place, I went over to Hollywood Video and picked up "Medal of Honor: Rising Sun."  I haven't bought a game in this series since the very first game came out on the PlayStation, and if "Rising Sun" is any indication, the "Medal of Honor" series has completely run out of gas.

As always, the music and the gun sound effects in "Rising Sun" are both very good.  The score for all of the games in "MOH" is a series hallmark.  However, the sheer paucity of branching paths (try, uh, none) and simply ridiculous bad guy A.I. makes this game a laugher throughout.  Have you ever seen so many bad guys miss from close range?  How about a game where so many bad guys run right up to you to try and kill you at close range?  Soldiers that don't take cover?

Then you get some levels where you have to take out baddies with the "help" of a CPU-controlled partner; ugh.  I guess that your partners can't be killed, since on some levels they seem to take massive amounts of gunfire only to not die...and worse than this, they don't seem capable of killing anyone, so unless you kill everyone on a level, you won't be moving on.

Did I already mention that the level design blows?  Maybe I didn't mention that the game is completely, totally over after about eight hours of gameplay.  Man, I would have been burned if I had paid full price for this.  My brother and I played through the co-op campaign a couple of months after I rented this, and I think as a two-player game, "Rising Sun" can make for a fun afternoon.  And, in either version, the first level of the game is just whoop-ass, thanks to a good move on the part of Electronic Arts to start you off in the midst of danger:  a sinking battleship in Pearl Harbor.  Good times.

But, overall this was pretty bad, given the pedigree of some of the other games in this series.

Rating:  Rental

 

Feedback?  Comments?  Hot doughnut tip?  justin@bellviewmovies.com

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  Buy this game right away, and don't ask me any questions as to why that's a good move.  A game experience that will almost guarantee repeated controller abuse, lots of ManScreaming and high resale value, you will assuredly play this bad boy for months on end. 

"$40":  Usually after games have been out for a while, they drop in price slightly, or can be bought for slightly cheaper in combination with other new games.  Usually, that's about $40.  You'll feel good getting the game for this price, since it isn't quite run-out-and-get-it-right-now good, but it has enough game in the box for a few weeks' worth of enjoyment.

"eBay":  This game is not too bad, but you'd be better off buying it used from either half.com or eBay.  You also might let a friend buy this game, let s/he beat it, and then try to buy it from them to make them feel better.  Yes, this does tend to feel like "Sloppy Seconds."

"Rental":  Like my cousin Ron, you should always rent games that you aren't sure about first, to make sure that your $50 is going towards something worthwhile.  For games in this category, this is the maximum amount of money ($5) and/or time (3-5 days) you'll need to either gain satisfaction from the game, or beat the game in its entirety.  Rental-rated games are also sometimes perfect for a weekend when you are going to be at home on your ass, with some time to kill.

"Dogshit":  Games like this should have never been released.  If you play this game for any reason, you will regret every second of the experience.  Further, if you can get this game for free, don't do it, because even for FREE, it will still be a negative experience for you!