Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Encyclopedia
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is the fifth installment of the Medal of Honor series
, released by Electronic Arts
in November 2003. Like its predecessors, Rising Sun is a first-person shooter
set in World War II
. Unlike predecessors,Rising Sun is set during the Pacific War
. It features single-player and multiplayer capabilities (multiplayer terminated as of November 2006). In single-player mode, the player assumes the role of Cpl.
/Sgt.
Joseph Griffin of the United States Marine Corps
.
A sequel was originally planned in which players would have assumed the role of Joseph's brother Donnie. However, this was canceled after Rising Sun received only mixed reviews.
where corporal Joseph 'Joe' Griffin wakes up in his bunk on the during the attack. Joe then makes his way to the topside and aids in shooting down Japanese planes. A few minutes later, he is blown from the ship and lands in the water, where a PT boat carrying Jack 'Gunny' Lawton, Frank Spinneli, and Silas Whitfield. Joe then shoots down more planes and also aids the to escape the harbor. Joe is then sent to the Philippines
to destroy a bridge, and he meets his brother Donnie. Donnie is unable to escape the islands because his tank was overwhelmed by Japanese troops, forcing Joe to leave without him.
Joe then goes to Guadalcanal
at night to take over an airbase. Days later, the airfield is still taking heavy artillery fire, so Gunny assigns Joe and two other marines to destroy the artillery nicknamed 'Pistol Pete'. On the way Joe meets Edmund Harrison, a demolitions expert, and the real life Scottish guerilla fighter Martin Clemens
. After this mission, Joe is promoted to Sergeant and recruited into the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS).
In his first OSS mission, Joe is tasked to infiltrate a top secret Axis summit in Singapore
. Under the guise of a German Colonel, and with help from Major Bromley, a British intelligence agent, and Ichiro 'Harry' Tanaka, a Japanese-American soldier, Joe is able to complete the mission and steal a film reel containing intel, while learning that an Admiral Shima is behind a plot to replace Joseph Stalin
in Russia
with an Axis-friendly man named General Borov. Afterwards, Joe and Bromley accompany Flying Tiger pilot Raj to Burma, but Raj is shot down when surveying a temple. Joe heads to Raj's crash site, only to find he has been taken by the Japanese. Tanaka and Joe then go to rescue Raj while Bromley destroy the AA guns so that they may call an airstrike on the temple. After a tough battle, Joe rescues Raj and escapes just as the airstrike begins.
Joe is then sent to destroy a bridge in Thailand
before a train loaded with stolen gold can make it across, but Joe accidentally falls out of the plane and lands in the jungle. With the help of some Chindits and an elephant, he makes it back to Bromley and blows the bridge.
After blowing the bridge, they fly directly to a Japanese Taiho Class Fleet Carrier, where Tanaka thinks the rest of the stolen gold is stored. Joe is tasked with opening vents, destroying the fuel monitors, and breaking the fuel valves. After that is done, Bromley sets a bomb and they find the gold, only to find it was a trap and get knocked out by nerve gas.
When Joe wakes up, he finds that he and Bromley are being interrogated by Admiral Shima. Shima reveals that he is holding Donnie prisoner in the supercarrier. Suddenly Bromely manages to break free, and at the same time Tanaka cuts Joe loose, but has his throat sliced by Shima after doing so. Bromely then throws a machine gun to Joe and they take out the guards. After Joe searches for his brother, Shima escapes with Donnie in a plane. Joe fights his way to the flight deck, where Bromley has stolen a plane. After multiple failed take-offs from Bromley, they finally take off. After a slow- motion view of the carrier blowing up, and lamentation for Tanaka, the credits roll.
The ending to Medal of Honor: Heroes revealed that Joseph was planning POW rescue raids which means that Donnie Griffin was eventually rescued by Joseph later in the war.
The online multiplayer was one of the more successful elements of the game, coming at a time when online play titles for the PlayStation 2 were not widely available, the online mode attracted and retained a loyal player following right up to its closure in January 2007.
Offline multiplayer is also available, where up to four people can play against each other and alongside AI bots.
gave the game a rating of 8/10, the same rating as its predecessor. The game also garnered an average rating of 68/100 from Metacritic
, indicating mixed or average reviews. Gamespot
rated the game a 6.4/10. The game was noted for poor artificial intelligence, linear level design, and some of its unnecessary plot elements. The PS2 version suffered from several ingame glitches and was one of the many reasons for lower ratings by gaming magazines such as EGM. A planned sequel to this game which would have resolved several elements of the game's cliff hanger ending was canceled due to the game's poorer reception.
Medal of Honor (series)
Medal of Honor is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, with an October 2010 reboot based on the conflicts of present day Afghanistan. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for the PlayStation game console...
, released by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
in November 2003. Like its predecessors, Rising Sun is a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
set in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Unlike predecessors,Rising Sun is set during the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
. It features single-player and multiplayer capabilities (multiplayer terminated as of November 2006). In single-player mode, the player assumes the role of Cpl.
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
/Sgt.
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Joseph Griffin of the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
.
A sequel was originally planned in which players would have assumed the role of Joseph's brother Donnie. However, this was canceled after Rising Sun received only mixed reviews.
Plot
The game starts at Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
where corporal Joseph 'Joe' Griffin wakes up in his bunk on the during the attack. Joe then makes his way to the topside and aids in shooting down Japanese planes. A few minutes later, he is blown from the ship and lands in the water, where a PT boat carrying Jack 'Gunny' Lawton, Frank Spinneli, and Silas Whitfield. Joe then shoots down more planes and also aids the to escape the harbor. Joe is then sent to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to destroy a bridge, and he meets his brother Donnie. Donnie is unable to escape the islands because his tank was overwhelmed by Japanese troops, forcing Joe to leave without him.
Joe then goes to Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
at night to take over an airbase. Days later, the airfield is still taking heavy artillery fire, so Gunny assigns Joe and two other marines to destroy the artillery nicknamed 'Pistol Pete'. On the way Joe meets Edmund Harrison, a demolitions expert, and the real life Scottish guerilla fighter Martin Clemens
Martin Clemens
Major Warren Frederick Martin Clemens CBE, MC, AM was a British colonial administrator and soldier. In late 1941 and early 1942, while serving as a District Officer in the Solomon Islands, he helped prepare the area for eventual resistance to Japanese occupation.His additional duties as...
. After this mission, Joe is promoted to Sergeant and recruited into the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS).
In his first OSS mission, Joe is tasked to infiltrate a top secret Axis summit in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Under the guise of a German Colonel, and with help from Major Bromley, a British intelligence agent, and Ichiro 'Harry' Tanaka, a Japanese-American soldier, Joe is able to complete the mission and steal a film reel containing intel, while learning that an Admiral Shima is behind a plot to replace Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
with an Axis-friendly man named General Borov. Afterwards, Joe and Bromley accompany Flying Tiger pilot Raj to Burma, but Raj is shot down when surveying a temple. Joe heads to Raj's crash site, only to find he has been taken by the Japanese. Tanaka and Joe then go to rescue Raj while Bromley destroy the AA guns so that they may call an airstrike on the temple. After a tough battle, Joe rescues Raj and escapes just as the airstrike begins.
Joe is then sent to destroy a bridge in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
before a train loaded with stolen gold can make it across, but Joe accidentally falls out of the plane and lands in the jungle. With the help of some Chindits and an elephant, he makes it back to Bromley and blows the bridge.
After blowing the bridge, they fly directly to a Japanese Taiho Class Fleet Carrier, where Tanaka thinks the rest of the stolen gold is stored. Joe is tasked with opening vents, destroying the fuel monitors, and breaking the fuel valves. After that is done, Bromley sets a bomb and they find the gold, only to find it was a trap and get knocked out by nerve gas.
When Joe wakes up, he finds that he and Bromley are being interrogated by Admiral Shima. Shima reveals that he is holding Donnie prisoner in the supercarrier. Suddenly Bromely manages to break free, and at the same time Tanaka cuts Joe loose, but has his throat sliced by Shima after doing so. Bromely then throws a machine gun to Joe and they take out the guards. After Joe searches for his brother, Shima escapes with Donnie in a plane. Joe fights his way to the flight deck, where Bromley has stolen a plane. After multiple failed take-offs from Bromley, they finally take off. After a slow- motion view of the carrier blowing up, and lamentation for Tanaka, the credits roll.
The ending to Medal of Honor: Heroes revealed that Joseph was planning POW rescue raids which means that Donnie Griffin was eventually rescued by Joseph later in the war.
Multiplayer
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun has two multiplayer modes, Deathmatch: a free for all match, and Team Deathmatch, in which the player can choose teams.The online multiplayer was one of the more successful elements of the game, coming at a time when online play titles for the PlayStation 2 were not widely available, the online mode attracted and retained a loyal player following right up to its closure in January 2007.
Offline multiplayer is also available, where up to four people can play against each other and alongside AI bots.
Reception
The game received mixed reviews from critics. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game a rating of 8/10, the same rating as its predecessor. The game also garnered an average rating of 68/100 from Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, indicating mixed or average reviews. Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
rated the game a 6.4/10. The game was noted for poor artificial intelligence, linear level design, and some of its unnecessary plot elements. The PS2 version suffered from several ingame glitches and was one of the many reasons for lower ratings by gaming magazines such as EGM. A planned sequel to this game which would have resolved several elements of the game's cliff hanger ending was canceled due to the game's poorer reception.