As mentioned in the previous update, Rise to Honor features Jet Li, who is one of the world's most popular action stars. Li plays the role of Kit Yun, a bodyguard for Boss Chiang; the leader of one of Hong Kong's most powerful gangs. An assassination attempt on Chiang is successful, but just before he dies, Chiang whispers his concern for his daughter's well-being to Kit. Kit has an opportunity to end his life as a criminal, but he decides to retain his honor and loyalty to Boss Chiang.

Kit makes his way to San Francisco to search for Chiang's daughter, Michelle. Initially, his only objective is to return her to Hong Kong alive and well, but as the saying goes, "it's easier said than done". Don't think that you just run around the game beating up thugs until you find Michelle, because Kit eventually becomes involved in a larger plot that will truly put his honor and dedication to the test.

Details on the gameplay are a bit sketchy, but with Jet Li providing his signature moves for the game using motion-captured technology, the fighting system should be quite good. In fact, Sony says "Rise to Honor lets gamers simultaneously battle multiple enemies through a multi-faceted fight system" that includes combos, attack blocking, counter moves and special moves. In addition to hand-to-hand combat, players will be able to weapons and objects in the environments -- most likely chairs and such.

Rise to Honor isn't due out until fall, so expect new information around E3 time.

August 20, 2002 Update

Earlier today, SCEA announced a brand new action game called Rise to Honor (working title). Those of you who are fans of Hong Kong martial arts films will be pleased to know that Jet Li (The One, Romeo Must Die, Kiss of the Dragon, etc) has signed on to do the motion cature work in the game when it comes out next fall.

Rise to Honor will take place in San Francisco and Li's character, Kit Yun, will need to find his dead bosse's daughter so that he can take her back to Hong Kong.

"Working with the Foster City Studio team to create a game for the PlayStation 2 has been an exciting experience--very different from making a movie," said Jet Li. "The motion-capture system allows for extremely realistic movements, and, in addition, we were able to use a lot of actions in the game that we can't normally put in a film. The results in the final game should provide the player with a genuine feel for the action."

I'll have more info on Rise to Honor later.

Additional Media
Click here for all the screenshots and movies for this game.