Insert Standard Story Here
The story places you as Kit (Jet Li), who is a bodyguard for what seems to be a Hong Kong Triad Boss. Things begin to get messy and your adventure begins. Like an action movie the story is pretty standard, however it is needed as a reason for all those cool action sequences. Throw in a love interest and comic relief and you have got yourself the complete ensemble.
Jet Li himself motion captured his digital counterpart and it really shows. All the moves employed are 100% authentic and it really does look like one of his movies. This is also due to the incredibly cinematic influences throughout the game. You can pick up and throw objects like chairs, run up a wall slightly and kick nearby enemies, and even smash opponents through tables. Yes, that is correct. Unlike most games, the seemingly unusable background objects actually react when an enemy is knocked against them. You can even grab enemies and, if you are in the right position, smash them through a fish tank, drag them along some laboratory benches or even do a nice face-plant into a red-hot grill. The action also goes into slow motion when you achieve some of these backdrop destroying feats or after a long combo.
Fight with honour
The fighting mechanics are where a game such as this succeeds or fails. Well Rise to Honour does both. All attacks are directed by the right analogue stick. Yes, that means that if you wish to attack someone north of you, you need to move the stick in the up direction. This is great because it allows you to perform perfectly fluid combos aiming blows exactly where they are needed without wasting extra time moving your character around. However it is also rather hard to get to grips with at first and you will feel incredibly useless. Throws are accomplished by holding R1 (the block button) and moving the right stick where you wish to grab. After grabbing an enemy you can either drag them to a nice hard object and slam them into it, push them into other enemies or perform a more complicated throw technique. There is also a counter mechanism that involves holding L1, R1 and then pressing in the right direction at the right time.
With these 3 types of action (throwing, countering and fighting) there is enough variety to vary your attacks. However someone enemies just can't be thrown/grabbed no matter what, and some seem to block your attacks indefinitely, or counter every hit. So you absolutely need to use a certain technique on certain enemies. It isn't a new concept, but it would have been nice if perhaps a certain method was more effective, but not necessary, thus leaving it up to you. Also a nice touch is that blocks don't involve sticking your arm out, they make your character duck, wave and use some blocking motions to avoid damage. It is a great touch that again adds to the cinematic feel.
Tag team action
The much needed spice in this sea of combat comes in the form of weapons, adrenaline attacks and teaming up. Various enemies wield weapons such as a roast chicken, wrench, clubs, bats etc and when defeated drop the weapons for your use. Two weapons can be wield at the same time,and basically function the same as regular attacks except have all their own animations and are much more effective. In certain parts of the game you can team up with a parnter, and by using the grab move on her you can execute a variety of team moves. They look nice and work well, but are only really used because it is a good way of making sure she doesn’t die. The adrenaline button can be used when the bar is full, and this enhances your fighting. It either increases the speed and length of your hand to hand combos, gives you special weapon based attacks, an interesting spin team move or a slow motion bullet-time like dive with your guns.
There are several gun based sections and they consist of basically holding down the fire button and aiming at targets with the right analogue stick. There is also cover to be used, although mostly it is a waste of time. Whilst there are some good moments and the adrenaline move is fun, the gun sections just feel tacked on and generally lacking.
The graphics are good overall and the detail in the environments such as objects breaking and windows cracking is very well done. Whilst not jaw dropping the game is quite slick and doesn’t suffer any slowdown. All the dialogue is voiced (with Jet Li helping out again) and includes Chinese and English options with subtitles. The enemies also offer taunts and quips at times during fights which is nice. There is not a great deal in the way of music, but what is there works well. The fight sound effects are good and are exactly as you would expect.
All in all Rise to Honour is a quality game but in the end can get quite repetitious. Fans of action flicks (especially Hong Kong ones) and Jet Li will love it though, provided they stick with it and get a grips with the controls. Those who aren’t however might not see the appeal.
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