Discount Rise To Honor - PlayStation 2

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Any enjoyment you might derive from this game is from playing as Jet Li in an old-school fight setting. When the novelty of that wears off, what you have left is an incredibly repetitive game with a godawful camera and an ill-advised control scheme.

Yes, bonus marks are in order for using Cantonese in Hong Kong with subtitles. (As a native Hong Kong person I can say the dialogue is less stilted than usual, though still flawed) Though I might add that international espionage games like Syphon Filter has been doing that for years. The settings are authentic enough, with the battles in the Hong Kong settings being especially evocative of kung fu films.

But is it worth the very problematic gameplay? Just barely. If you've seen/played the demo already, you'll know that the entire fight system consists of slapping the right analog stick. While the array of moves you can unleash is impressive, motion-captured well from Li's own silhouette, this system is very ill conceived from a fighting-game perspective. Worse still, the camera is so restless that you could be in the middle of a combo against an enemy, and then the perspective shifts so that you're suddenly hitting at air and the enemy's to the side. So many game designers have misled notions about being filmmakers, not realizing that the best perspective for gaming is a fixed perspective. This problem came to a head during the ludicrous "escape from capture" stage where the camera actually cuts you off, preventing you from seeing what's behind you, even though there are guards sweeping flashlights that way that you're supposed to avoid! This is simply a moronic use of the camera.

Aside from this, the fighting gets tired awfully quickly, especially since the designers committed the ol' "this level never ends" sin. This game alleviates this problem by having lots of checkpoints where you can continue the game, but during some of the "one against 14" stages, the endless brawling still gets tired. And whose idea was it to have enemies pull off 18-hit combos, where if you get hit the first time, you get to watch your character get pummelled for 10 seconds straight?

I actually find the gunfight segments of this game more fun than the endless, endless hand-to-hand stages. This is where the dual analog sticks truly shine, allowing you to smoothly run from spot to spot forwards and backwards while your hands can aim independently and a top button allows you to do Time Crisis-style ducking. There's even a crazy level where you fight off about 100 enemies with two nailguns!

This game would probably remain tempting to Jet Li fans because of the role-playing aspect of it. And I wouldn't blame them -this was my reason for buying this game, and there are a few levels that I truly enjoyed. The overall game, however, is really not that great, and I would recommend only playing it in small doses. It will get tired mightily quickly if you sit with it for more than an hour.

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i love fighting games, and in this one you fight, you shoot alot. not much of a story, just enough to give you a reason to kickass, the game has great graphics, and sound, although it is strange not using the gamepad buttons, o button etc, you use the l1 r1 and analog buttons, it is a different, not bad thing.

pros: good graphics, lots of action,

cons: the controls get screwed up, you opponent will get you in a place where you can't turn or block, very frustrating. the game should also have a way to roll away, or straf

all in all i suggest you give it a try.

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First of all this game rocks and you should really consider checking it out. It isn't worth the 40 dollar price tag but if you can get it for around 20 that's well spent money. The gameplay is awesome how you use the right analog stick you can do some really cool combos. The environments are totally interactive like throwing someone in a fish tank and see the fish tank break. The bosses are hard but the levels themselves aren't that terribly hard untill you get towards the end then it's really hard. The game is a tad short but don't let that fool you it's still a good game with great graphics. There's probably going to be a better game like this eventually but this game just set the bar for this new crazy genre.

Honest reviews on Rise To Honor - PlayStation 2

This a well balanced action game that should appeal to all action fans. Particularly unique is the fighting system where you use the right analog stick to both fight and aim, it's a welcome change from the standard mindless button mashing action gamers have been subjected to for decades. This new system tests your skills and reflexes and it will be interesting if future games follow this formula.

For die-hard Jet Li fans, once you complete the game, you can replay any scene using a Wong Fei Hong skin and Chen Zen skin (from the movie 'Fist of Legend') it would have been great if they included the skins from the movies 'Tai Chi Master', 'Swordsman 2' or even 'Black Mask'.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Rise To Honor - PlayStation 2

I played a demo of this game and it is alot of fun. You really do feel like your in a hong kong movie. Really fast paced fighting and the fact that you can interact with almost everything is cool. It's impressive how they blend alot of moves on the fly, and there is alot of moves. Good visuals, good audio, good gameplay, good story, good game.