5/5
If you are a fan of Jet Li movies, you have to play Rise to Honor. This game plays marvelously and is as close as you can get to an interactive Jet Li movie. The plot is your typical martial arts movie plot, which unfortunately I don’t remember much, since I played this game in 2004, but I remember it has a lot of references to various Jet Li movies. There is a part where Jet Li climbs down a building, dropping from balcony to balcony, similar to what he did at the start of Cradle 2 the Grave.
Rise to Honor is a 3D action game that leans more towards a beat ‘em up. You fight a lot of Triad enemies in Hong Kong, and that’s about it. There is some shooting, too, the controls of which are not very well done, but it is fortunately minimal. The brilliance of the game, however, is in its unique combat system. Instead of pressing buttons to attack your enemies, you use your right analog stick to attack in the direction you want. This might seem counter-intuitive, but works very well, especially when facing multiple enemies at the same time. By simply wiggling the analog stick, Jet Li can do incredible combos and attack large groups of enemies coming from every direction. This cinematic 3D beat ‘em up, then, is at bottom a game of crowd control. The focus is not so much on executing complex combos, since the combos are practically automatic, but on controlling the crowds of enemies that swarm you. It’s an innovative mechanic that I have not seen elsewhere, and it feels amazing to use, because it flows perfectly. Jet Li also has an adrenaline bar that gives him super speed and strength when used. There are some bosses in the game, and predictably they are not as fun to fight as the Triad crowds, since as I said the combat system really shines against groups of enemies. If I remember correctly, there were also block and grab buttons, which were useful.
In sum, Rise to Honor is in my view a must-play for every beat ‘em up fan, not just Jet Li fans. It’s an immersive action game that resembles the best Jet Li movies and plays extremely well.
The Stillest 