Playing a Jet Li movie

Hong Kong action means GUNS! (and runs)

The fighting is not just limited to physically delivered attacks. We saw Jet Li’s character pick up a chair and fling it at someone. Of course, no Hong Kong-style action title would be complete without guns. Several levels of the game will have the main character put away his lethal moves in exchange for dual-pistols. The targeting system works much the same way as the fighting system. By tapping the right analog stick in the direction of each target, the player can lock on to multiple bodies. Then tapping one of the shoulder buttons will cause bullets to fly at all acquired targets. The gun sequences didn’t seem nearly as fun to play (or watch) as the hand-to-hand parts; but really, unless you’re Max Payne, what third person shooting game is fun?

Run jigga run

A third gameplay mode in Rise to Honor is called Chase, which we quickly likened to those hilarious ‘chase’ levels from Crash Bandicoot. Instead of being chased by a boulder, you’ll be fleeing from whatever the Triads can throw at you.

Naturally, this game has to feature realistic movements. Jet Li and Hong Kong director Cory Yuen worked with the Sony development team for two months to capture Jet Li’s moves for the game using motion capture. Unfortunately, it seems that they forgot to capture any motion for Jet Li’s face, as his game character bares the exact same wooden expression no matter what situation he’s in (see screenshots). It’s important to note that Rise to Honor as we saw it was only 30% complete, so there is still a lot of room for improvements such as facial animation.

My throat hurts

Crack

Rise to Honor is hoping to be the Jet Li movie that you play. It will feature a typical Hong Kong action movie storyline, which pretty much serves as a vehicle for the action scenes. One particular point that pleased us to no end was the voice acting. We’re not referring to Oscar-worthy voice acting here, but what made us so happy was that Rise to Honor will feature a full Chinese soundtrack – and not just one Chinese soundtrack! Just like the Hong Kong movies you can buy on DVD, you’ll have the option of selecting either Cantonese or Mandarin.

Currently, Rise to Honor feels like the average beat-em-up, but there’s still much development time to go before its release January 2004. If the gameplay manages to live up to the skills of the star associated with the game, Rise to Honor has the potential to be the best American-made Jet Li production yet.