Rewind the clocks and say hello to Hawaii, circa 1941!  

Except that the 10 seconds of peace doesn’t last as it’s December 7th of the same year, a day that will forever live in infamy. Pearl Harbor. 

As the 5th installment of the long-running Medal of Honor FPS series, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun drops you right into the action and shoes of Joseph Griffith, USMC Marine. 

As the follow-up to its well–received predecessor, Medal of Honor: Frontline the series takes on the Pacific Theatre of World War 2 for the first time instead of staying in Europe as it’s been inclined to do. 

The story begins rather straightforwardly: as Griffith you experience a wide range of locales from a burning Hawaii to the jungles of the island Guadalcanal and even a Japanese Supercarrier at the end of the game. 

However, in typically Medal of Honor fashion, your mission changes halfway through. Inducted into the secret OSS branch, you begin to infiltrate deep into Japanese territory and conduct operations behind-enemy-lines. 

The game’s voice acting is decent, but nothing to write home about (ironically as Griffith does). Characters often pronounce their thoughts instead of leaving interpretation to the player, but it doesn’t detract from the experience. 

On the other hand, the games‘ controls have not held up compared to the rest of the nostalgic experience. Aiming is slippery and imprecise, and the precedent set three years by Halo: Combat Evolved proves that a better system was already implemented for controllers. 

Unfortunately for EA Games at this point, the Dualshock 2 couldn’t match the competition. 

Though the game’s graphics haven’t held up spectacularly with blocky textures and fewer polygons per face, the game’s animations are the shining factor. 

Enemies don’t just spot you, they point, yell, motion to others, and exhibit remarkable AI for a PS2 gem. The hidden developer behind-the-scenes videos in both Frontline and Rising Sun show the remarkable amount of work put into these dozens of animations unique for deaths, melee, reloading and so much more. It’s very impressive. 

I realize much of the praise I have for this game stems from its extreme nostalgic ties to my childhood, and the multiplayer is effectively dead. 

However, there is a solid and concise 5-hour or so single–player campaign in a theatre of combat not often explored by the series’ contemporaries. Medal of Honor is “honored” with treating its subject matter very maturely and fine–tuning the smallest of details in terms of realism and story. 

 Though the technicalities of the experience are lessened by its age, it’s still worth your time. 

For something additional on this column, I’d like to add in what I’ve been playing/watching/binging and recommending some Entertainment for you to check out! 

I’ll keep my explanations to one or two sentences, short and sweet. 

A Game You Should Play: Fallout: New Vegas. Although getting there in age and bug quality, it’s one of the best modern RPG experiences and one of my favorite games. 

What I’m Playing: Enter the Gungeon. If you like varied weaponry, copious callbacks to retro games, and rogue-likes, look no further. 

A Movie You Should Watch: Hot Fuzz. Edgar Wright is one of the best modern directors with a unique style only described by this hilarious and action-packed cop film. 

What I’m Watching: Nothing at the moment, the NFL and Premier League are back!  

A Show You Should Binge: Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston is at his absolute peak which says a lot, and the show is considered one of the best of all time for good reason. 

A Show I’m Binging: The Legend of Korra, Season 4. I’ll say it…it’s as good as Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

What You Should Listen To: George Strait’s 22 More Hits Album. Absolute quality top-to-bottom if you enjoy feel-good country. 

What I’ve Been Vibing To: Fleetwood Mac and You Make Loving Fun. That bass is FUNKY. 

What You Should Read: Anything! Books are good for the soul. 

Life Advice: Call mom more. She misses you. 

That’s all for this week! Make sure to check out last week’s episode of The Entertainment Hour for more in-depth discussion! This week Mason, Diego, and I discuss The Mandalorian and Black Adam’s new trailer and look forward to what’s coming out on the horizon. 

Plus we’ve got a sick new logo as you can see. 

 Follow us on Twitter @TheEntHourPod to shoot us a DM for a recommendation for what to talk about and we’ll give you a shoutout! Also, drop a comment below or send me an email at frostan@bvu.edu for a future review piece! 

On the agenda for next week, I’ll be in the Mario Mood with the highly anticipated release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars by running the opposite way of quality and reviewing the highly infamous cult classic…Super Mario Bros. film of 1993. 

It’s a doozy. Trust me. 

Until next Sunday, stay healthy, and “Thank you so much a-for-to reading my column!”