MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN

First of all, the game is even more dramatic. It starts off with the Pearl Harbor bombing scene, which is even more dramatic than the Omaha Beach scene Frontline started with. The game's levels are much more fun, and are more exciting. Rather than leading you down a linear path like in Frontline, there are several paths, and many ways to get each thing done. However, there are no puzzles, just bigger and more complex levels.

Rising Sun takes place in the Pacific. Certain levels have you in a boat, and the water effects are incredible. Graphics are very good, with more detail than in the first. There is still no blood or gore. The sound effectds are again excellent, and the music adds to the cinematic feel.

Control is great as well. There are two setups to choose from, just like in Frontline. One is classic, using one analog stick. The other is a dual analog stick setup that plays like Red Faction 2 or Halo. You can also fully customize it from the options menu.

Multiplayer is included this time around. It feels much better than the muliplayer mode from Frontline. The levels are well designed, and there are over 15 of them. There is no online play, but four player split screen is supported.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is a must buy FPS. It is historically accurate, and Frontline's flaws are cleaned up.

I bought the game on Friday, the day it came out, and beat it today, Wednesday. It took me about five hours spread over 3 playing sessions to beat it.

There has been a lot of hype over how realistic the Pearl Harbor scene is in Rising Sun, and unfortunately it was undeserved. Instead of the breathtaking gunfight the ads promise, you basically flee to the deck of the sinking ship and then fire blindly at enemy planes with a rifle. Then you get on a gunboat and fire blindly at some more enemy planes. End of level. They could have done so much more with this Pearl Harbor scene.

After the somewhat unique first level, the game retreats to what is practically a clone of MOH Frontline, except you are shooting Japanese instead of Germans. Rising Sun is identical to Frontline on even the most basic levels. For example, there is a bell tower in Frontline you must go up in, and, guess what, there is one you must ascend in Rising Sun too! As far as weapons go, you get the same sniper rifle and assorted machine guns. Allegedly, there is also a bazooka available, but in the only level in which I found the bazooka missiles, the bazooka itself was nowhere to be found, so I never got to use it before beating the game.

The ending of the game, as other reviewers have pointed out, is the biggest sham I have ever seen in a video game. You make your way through an aircraft carrier, get into a plane, and blow up the aircraft carrier once you have taken off. Even the ending is a clone of Frontline: for those of you who have played it, Frontline ends with you taking off in a plane.

To say I was shocked when the game credits started rolling after I blew up the aircraft carrier would be an understatement. I thought I had at least a few more levels left, if, for no other reason, because I had not yet used the bazooka. Not to mention that the ending to the game was simply anti-climactic.

The people at Electronic Arts must have been behind schedule on the development of the game, and, determined to release it in time for Christmas, resigned themselves to releasing a sub-par product and propping it up with extensive marketing.