Medal Of Honor Rising Sun

First and foremost being a huge fan of the series I was expecting possibly one of the greatest gaming experiences to grace my Gamecube well since Front Lines, and did it ever deliver. I am not that far through it, but from what I’ve seen I’ve enjoyed it so much I thought id sit down and write some impressions.

Rising Sun starts off on the day of infamy when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor during World War 2. While Front lines took you deep behind enemy lines Rising Sun gives you different perspective of the actual war.

The first thing that caught my eye was the graphics upgrade; the graphics engine was upgraded 100% you really noticed it during the cinematic sequences. Textures are more vibrant, and cinemas are way above front lines, also a new designed menu system which makes it easier to change settings.

When you first turn the game on the opening cinema is beautiful. Bombs dropping on Pearl Harbor, they also use some freeze framing and slow motion effects as the bombs explode to give it a more dramatic feeling to it. It really portrays the event very well. And the detail is just amazing. My hats off to EA, gorgeous work.

You take control of a member of the United States infantry trapped inside of a burning boat that was seriously damaged, so your first objective would be to find your way out. Once you get out your next mission would be to jump onto a boat and start bringing down the Japanese fighters. One of the finer parts about this mission is with all the stuff going on around you the game maintains a pretty decent frame rate, I mean you have boats exploding, bombs dropping, fire and smoke everywhere, planes being ripped apart by machines guns smashing into things and blowing up, all while reflecting off the water, it is absolutely beautiful. The game is chalked full of eye candy which is kind of rare to find especially with EA having third party status with Nintendo. Usually you only see games looking this good from first or second party publishers.

As for the game play Rising Sun very closely mimics Front Lines, which is what made that game so damn good… Anyways back to foiling Hitler’s plans so check out my full review a little later on.

Written By Trevor Siemens 11/30/03