Long before Second World War games were considered tedious and cliché, they could be compared to an Italian suit. Stylish, sophisticated, and with just a tad of modest reserve which gained respect from anyone beholding it. Of course, times change. But it doesn't hurt to take a look back on what was considered great back then.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun was the second PlayStation2 game in EA's Medal of Honor series, and the fifth installment in total. Set during the Pacific War (the conflict between the Japanese and the Americans during WWII), the player assumes the role of Corporal (later Sergeant) Joseph Griffin of the United States Marine Corps.

In terms of gameplay, Rising Sun does not make for an unmissable gameplay experience. Quite the opposite, in fact; controls are clunky (I only found a control scheme I liked when I manually programmed it in), character movement is slow and can lag badly, the aiming system is absolutely miserable - on-target shots seem to almost always miss their targets - and the lack of any form of decent AI prevents Rising Sun from being even a half-decent game. However, the inclusion of a form of ADS zoom is a good inclusion, and the immersive environments are true to their historical counterparts.

Graphics in Rising Sun are probably the game's best feature. Considering when the game was released, they're realistic and 'special' effects such as water and fire textures are very impressive. However, character rendering needed more work, as did tanks - they all have very sharp edges; the badly rendered features make the actual objects seem like afterthoughts, rather than meaningful parts of the game.

The so-called 'additional features' feel exactly that - additional. As though they've been forgotten about until the very end and then clumsily sellotaped on with five minutes to spare until launch. Online, when it was still active, was difficult to understand for the non-technical and when you finally got into a game, it was lumbering and sparsely populated. EA were making a good move when they shut the servers down.

I don't enjoy giving bad reviews to games. When I play a game, I really want to enjoy it, whatever it is. But there just isn't a way around it - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is a disappointment in almost every sense of the word. If you are collecting retro WWII games, doing research or have nothing better to spend your money on, then Rising Sun might be of at least a little use. However, if a normal person buys this out of choice, then they ought to be shot.

Linford

Labels: PS2, Retro review, Review

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